Canada and the World, Ep. 3: Twitterplomacy

A new podcast series from OpenCanada.org and The Balsillie School of International Affairs.

By: /
24 August, 2018
https://soundcloud.com/canada-world/twitterplomacy

The first two episodes of Canada and the World focused on the reasons behind the Canada-Saudi spat and the questions the incident raises, especially around the future of bilateral relations between the two countries. This week, we look at the medium where the conflict kicked off — Twitter — and ask: is digital diplomacy any different from its more traditional predecessor? And if so, what are the implications for Canada and how it interacts with the world?

This is the third episode in a new podcast on Canadian foreign affairs. It is produced through a partnership between OpenCanada.org and The Balsillie School of International Affairs.

Our host

Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media. 

This week’s guests

Garry Keller is vice president of StrategyCorp and former chief of staff to John Baird, former Canadian foreign minister. He has also served as government House leader, chief government whip, director of communications to the minister of the environment, director of parliamentary affairs to the president of the Treasury Board, and legislative assistant to the chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

Ferry de Kerckhove is the former high commissioner of Canada to Pakistan and ambassador to Indonesia and Egypt. His other postings in the foreign service include Iran, NATO and Moscow. He retired from the foreign service in 2011 and is now a senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and distinguished research fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

 Canada and The World is produced and edited by Matthew Markudis. Each episode is available for download (below) and can also be found on iTunes and other podcast applications.  

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