WELCOME
Diplomacy and Development in the Digital Age
This event aims to provide a platform for undergraduate and postgraduate university students in International Relations, Development Studies, Political Studies, Sociology, Economics, Law, Communications, Media and Journalism to gain a better understanding of the career opportunities that are available to them.
The discussion will centre around the theme ‘Diplomacy and Development in the Digital Age: is Civil Society as an Influencer or Influenced?’. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to embrace virtual platforms for daily activities. Businesses moved to a work-from-home model and global leaders conducted multilateral negotiations through large split screens. Digital Diplomacy has had a transformative and disruptive impact on international affairs. Digital platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been used to manipulate voting behaviour, spreading disinformation and targeting individuals to sway their vote. On the other hand, digital diplomacy has also been lauded as ushering in the age of citizen diplomacy, with the electorate having a stronger and more visible voice in policy choices made by their governments. The digital revolution is sure to have an impact on the setting, and achieving, of development agendas in the years to come.
The vast implications and possibilities of cyberspace in the field of humanities and specifically international affairs and related fields remain underappreciated. It is expected that the digital revolution will continue to reshape the world of work significantly. This event will explore the challenges and opportunities that the digital age creates for new entrants from the humanities into the job market by learning and hearing from current practitioners who are passionate about their fields.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and engage with one another. In keeping with the digital theme of this year's event, and being mindful of the still-present risks of the pandemic, this year's exhibition space will be hosted fully online. This website has been created sepcifically for attendees of our event, young people with a passion for the Social Sciences and looking to make their way into the working world. Here you will find information about the two anchor organisations of this programme, and hosts of the Careers Event, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the South African Institute of International Affairs. You can read about this year's group of Scholars and hear about the programme from their point of view.
The overall purpose of the website is to point you in the direction of useful resources and exciting opportunities, and equip you with helpful insight and advice as you tackle the world of work!
About SAIIA
Founded in 1934, the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) is South Africa’s premier research institute on international issues. SAIIA produces the quarterly South African Journal of International Affairs, a fully peer-reviewed journal of academically rigorous policy-oriented articles.
SAIIA provides local and regional decision-makers with independent, evidence-based policy research on Africa’s future economic and political development. SAIIA seeks to respond to the growing demand for innovative policy solutions in Africa, while drawing on ‘best fit’ practices globally.
About Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Freedom, justice and solidarity are the basic principles underlying the work of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). The KAS is a political foundation, closely associated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). As co-founder of the CDU and the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) united Christian-social, conservative and liberal traditions.
KAS cooperates with governmental institutions, political parties, civil society organizations and handpicked elites and seeks to intensify political cooperation in the area of development cooperation at the national and international levels on the foundations of our objectives and values. In the areas of foreign policy, KAS in cooperation with SAIIA is in a position to tackle actual political and economic issues and to feed relevant findings directly into the political process.
