Shaping Techplomacy through shifting sands in the global technological landscape

Abstract

In recent years, the tech industry has made numerous attempts to formulate global tech norms, standards, and guidelines. Motives of these private actors aside, efforts to formulate industry-driven technological policies have been caught between existing international institutions and the way states conduct technology diplomacy (also known as Techplomacy). This is also complicated by an increasingly dynamic geopolitical landscape. In this vein, this case study explores the changing nature of Techplomacy in the face of increasing private sector participation amidst shifting domestic and geopolitical landscapes. The case first highlights the diverging transnational cooperation of technological governance between technological giants and governments worldwide. Although governments worldwide have relied on the practice of inter-state Techplomacy, the case discusses Denmark and China’s recent shift to a more inclusive technology diplomacy that involves private actors. The case explores several factors that will continue influencing the practice of technological diplomacy worldwide, namely tensions between governments and tech firms; rising techno-nationalism; and the waning effectiveness of multilateral institutions.