When working remotely, diplomacy saves time but loses complicity

IForeign policy and defense policy do not lend themselves to telecommuting. “This sovereign domain, characterized by the secrecy of information exchange, requires very regular contact”notes Delphine Deschau-Doutard, a lecturer in political science at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, in a study by the Social Science Foundation. During the crisis related to the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020-2021, diplomats as well as civil and military defense actors had little choice: they, like everyone else, refused to travel and face-to-face exchanges.

Is it possible to work remotely in a field where confidentiality governs the exchange of information? How to conduct diplomatic negotiations in a virtual format? To answer these questions, the political scientist after the 2020 restrictions interviewed many foreign policy and defense policy actors in the Élysée, the UN, ministries or staff. And his conclusion is clear: if the virtualization of exchanges does not fundamentally change their practice, it deprives them of the informal contacts that form the essence of their profession.

When the pandemic began in 2020, the digitization of practices that had been in place for several years suddenly accelerated. “For meetings of the head of state or his diplomatic team with their foreign counterparts, the telephone is preferable for short meetings (less than thirty minutes), video conference for long meetings with more than two interlocutors., explains Delphine Deschau-Dutar. These are the types of formats maintained in preparation for the 2020-2021 French presidency of the European Union (EU) or the weekly update of the then Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parle, with her colleagues. “Taquba” power in the Sahel.

The importance of “hall diplomacy”.

Although telephone or video conferences require a lot of preparation in advance, they turn out to be very useful: the flexibility of digital tools makes it possible, according to the political scientist, to multiply and deepen contacts with cooperation partners – at the stage when this practice emerged during his imprisonment. “In 2022, many meetings with foreign partners, whether internal or interdepartmental, remained in a remote or hybrid format due to the flexibility and travel time savings this solution offers agents with busy agendas.Emphasizes Delphine Deschau-Dutar.