Nepal’s Post Pandemic Diplomacy

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of priortising health and other social and environmental issues and treating them as national security concerns. Taking a small state policy capacity approach-a small state’s ability to make informed policy decisions, this article looks at the nascent efforts being made to pursue regional cooperation in dealing with non-conventional threats in South Asia; and both implications and opportunities for Nepal to diversify its diplomatic engagement with a view to bridging its own domestic capacity gap-heightened by the pandemic. This analytical article argues that this is the right time for Nepal to reframe the issue of health and other emergencies, recalibrate the roles of its domestic institutions and diversify its diplomacy with the regional players and pivotal middle powers for building domestic capacity.

Digital Diplomacy and its Prospect for Nepal

“…In South Asian region, India led the way with its Ministry of External Affairs posting its first tweet in 2010. But after the unprecedented spread of the coronavirus, its use has been embraced and extended worldwide due to the compelling situational circumstances created by various obstacles, including lesser in-person contacts between diplomats (Parajuli, 2021). It is obvious that it has travelled an entrenched trajectory and will make its journey more adaptive and more amiable than before as foreign offices around the globe manage diplomatic and administrative activities sustained by the rapid progress of information technology with innovation springing up, supported by incessant research activities (Galvez, 2017).…”

“…Many of the Nepali actors are engaged in the social media platforms and have been doing digital diplomacy but are limited to messages, notices and communications, especially congratulations and condolences, via respective social media handles. Also, the other actors are limited to the same social media platforms (Parajuli, 2021).…”

“…The then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had participated in the conference initiated by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi (KC, 2020). In September 2020, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli also participated in the Annual General Meeting of the UN using the same conferencing system (Parajuli, 2021). The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the ministry embraced the digital system of dispatching and receiving of messages through the frequent use of Twitter accounts (Parajuli, 2021).…”

“…The physical and social barriers have been eased through the digital forms of diplomacy when all the international activities including international trade, commerce, high-level visits, and meetings had come to a halt (Sharma & Sisodia, 2022). Because of the convenience that the digitization of diplomacy has brought to the diplomatic world, practitioners have begun asking whether the technology is going to aid the traditional diplomacy, or it is going to replace it (Parajuli, 2021). However, many argue that the traditional form of diplomacy is not going to be replaced nor will the digital form of diplomacy reign supreme, instead a hybrid form of diplomacy of use of both conventional and digital forms will be practiced (KC, 2020).…”