Digital diplomacy as world disclosure: the case of the COVID-19 pandemic

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic took world diplomats by surprise, partly because of the novelty of the situation and partly because of the speed with which the pandemic travelled around the world. Drawing on the concept of world disclosure, the paper argues that MFAs’ digital responses to the pandemic offer an excellent analytical lens for understanding how MFAs have made sense and reacted to the crisis. By examining the tweets posted by German diplomats in the early stage of the pandemic, the paper finds that the German MFAs moved slowly in sensing the nature and severity of the crisis, but it then managed to regroup and formulate a credible strategy to balance its domestic priorities and international responsibilities.