Digital Diplomacy

Abstract Digital diplomacy provides opportunities for states to manage the image they project to broad audiences. This occurs through dual processes of identity projection and audience response retrieval. Through digital tools, states are able to craft and refine their projections based on the response to those projections by diverse audiences. This chapter applies Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory to digital diplomacy and theorizes the ways in which states interact with online audiences and, just as importantly, how online audiences interact with states. The dyadic interaction between the state and the audience creates a feedback loop which provides audiences the power to shape and reshape how states bring themselves into existence online. To exemplify the use of this type of micro-sociological analysis, the chapter applies Goffman’s framework to the online interactions between the US, Russia, and Ukraine surrounding the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.