Visual diplomacy in virtual summitry: Status signalling during the coronavirus crisis

Abstract

On March 26, 2020, the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies (G20) convened in an emergency virtual meeting to discuss the extraordinary situation facing the world. Virtual summitry provided a stark visual contrast to the traditional staging of modern multilateral diplomacy-leaders were suddenly responsible for their own staging, leaving them with new opportunities to create a favourable impression of how they, and their respective state, would be seen. Taking the disruption of virtual summitry as a starting point, we focus on the resulting new opportunities for visual diplomacy. We draw on the symbolic interactionism of Erving Goffman and we argue that status signalling in this context was based on a shared understanding of the symbols and resources that have social value in the interaction order of summit diplomacy. Based on a visual analysis of 51 photographs from the G20 video conference, we find that the visual performances during the extraordinary meeting reflected evident, but not necessarily intentional, attempts at status seeking. The article thus contributes to an increased understanding of how visual performances contribute to uphold status distinctions in multilateral diplomacy.

Emotional labour in digital diplomacy: perceptions and challenges for European diplomats

“…State actors deploy emotional behaviour as a form of communicative power to shape the perceptions of others on the global stage (Hall, 2015). Most notably, diplomatic signalling is the practice in which state leaders and diplomats convey messages that for different reasons are not (or cannot be) articulated directly (Hall and Yahri-Milo, 2012;Danielson and Hedling 2022). Managed emotions may also contribute to the constructive ambiguity that allows these actors to conceal information from each other (Jönsson and Hall, 2003).…”

Reciprocity and asymmetry in digital diplomacy: Geopolitics of national identity in South Korea–Japan and South Korea–US relations

“…A study on one such staged spectacle, the virtual G20 meeting in 2020, demonstrates that participating nation-states' visual choices convey status-seeking performance based on the self-perception of their national identity in relation to other participating nation-states (Danielson & Hedling, 2022). For instance, the US's choice to hold the virtual meeting in the White House Situation Room and include its military officer in the frame signals the nation-state's military superiority, whereas Saudi Arabia's choice to foreground the Quran in the frame of the video signals status as the historical capital of Islam (Danielson & Hedling, 2022). Thus, it may be said that the constellation of facts, images, emotions, and connotations published on social media is premised on the intersubjective nature of self/other identity.…”

“…Just as visual practices in diplomacy are influenced by relational context, visual practices also reproduce social structures that reaffirm the self/other identities through staged “visual spectacles” (Constantinou, 2018, p. 49). A study on one such staged spectacle, the virtual G20 meeting in 2020, demonstrates that participating nation‐states' visual choices convey status‐seeking performance based on the self‐perception of their national identity in relation to other participating nation‐states (Danielson & Hedling, 2022). For instance, the US's choice to hold the virtual meeting in the White House Situation Room and include its military officer in the frame signals the nation‐state's military superiority, whereas Saudi Arabia's choice to foreground the Quran in the frame of the video signals status as the historical capital of Islam (Danielson & Hedling, 2022).…”

The spread of informal governance practices in G-summitry

“…Conspicuous governance does not necessarily involve full-blown ostentatious theatrics, but very often involves at least some performative dimension, such as the annual ritual of taking a 'family photograph' of leaders assembled for a summit. The G-summits held during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate the perceived necessity of such a practice well (Danielson and Hedling 2021). Even when leaders could not meet in person and were forced to instead hold 'virtual summits' online, they still took-and, critically, broadcast to the world-family photographs.…”