Reconceptualising digital diplomacy in wartime

Using Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as a theory-building case, this article examines how digital diplomacy can be reconceptualised for contemporary wartime environments without collapsing into strategic communication, propaganda and information warfare. It argues that a ‘new generation’ of wartime digital diplomacy is emerging as a contextual and relational practice through which diplomatic actors seek to convert unstable visibility into legitimate and durable international influence under conditions of permanent contestation. This transformation is captured through five interconnected dimensions: distributed, affective, narrative-centred, security-integrated and constantly contested diplomacy. Together, they show how diplomatic influence is increasingly produced through distributed communicative ecosystems, affective mobilisation, struggles over narrative legitimacy, coalition-building and the defence of credibility. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine therefore marks a conceptual turning point from primarily tool-based and communication-centred understandings of digital diplomacy towards a more strategic, relational and security-oriented practice shaped by the constraints of hybrid warfare.

coalition building · digital diplomacy · diplomatic influence · hybrid warfare · Information Warfare · narrative legitimacy · Propaganda · Russian invasion of Ukraine · security integration · Strategic Communication · wartime diplomacy · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · European Politics and Security · International Relations and Foreign Policy