People around the world are witnessing the numerous and powerful ways that technologies are changing international relations.  Attendees of Personal Democracy Forum 2009 were fortunate to learn firsthand how the U.S. Department of State is navigating this new level of global involvement powered by connective technology.

Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, began his discussion of 21st Century Statecraft by looking back.  He noted that it was a longstanding principle that those with access to information have access to power.  But now that the Internet is putting information in the hands of the people, power can devolve from structures of the few, like a government, to those of the many, like citizens themselves.

Crediting the wide reach of the Internet, Ross identified three primary categories of sweeping communications changes:

1) Government to People
The U.S. can engage directly with people in other nations. Ross used the example of a recent speech by President Obama in Cairo that was translated into more than a dozen languages and posted on the Internet, so it could be broadly shared with the Muslim world and beyond.  The positive reception has inspired similar distribution plans for future speeches abroad.

2) People to Government
Thanks to technology, there is growing potential for citizens to access information, organize or take action individually to influence their government.

3) People to People
Modern communications as an organizational tool has become the rule, rather than the exception.  Ross even noted that you don’t need a central charismatic figure, just citizens taking action.  “Everyone with a cell phone has a global distribution network.  Everyone can be a citizen diplomat.”

It’s too soon to gauge the success of these new communications models, but the excitement around them at PDF was palpable. Ross acknowledged that it’s early in 21st Century Statecraft, but Secretary Clinton is eager to experiment and engage.

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