The chessboard and the web: strategies of connection in a networked world

The digital age is the age of metaphors. When we go ‘online’, we go everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. When we connect to the ‘web’, we interact with virtual communities that are ever present and never present, and as we try to navigate our way through ‘cyberspace’ we often encounter ‘firewalls’ that prevent our access to information. We are also all members of a myriad of intersecting ‘networks’ that we can neither visualize nor touch. It is therefore fitting that Anne-Marie Slaughter begins her investigation of contemporary diplomacy with two metaphors—those of the chessboard and of the web. According to Slaughter, the chessboard metaphor has long since encouraged diplomats to view diplomacy as a strategic battle of wits in which policy-makers analyse the actions of powerful states while anticipating the counteractions of other states. Yet equally important nowadays is the metaphor of the web, which encourages diplomats to view the world as consisting of a vast infrastructure of networks which connect individuals, groups and organizations. These networks pay little attention to traditional diplomatic concepts, such as boundaries and sovereignty, and thrive on relationships and innovation.