1. THE INTERNATIONAL
SYSTEM, US FOREIGN
POLICY & DIGITAL CIVIL
SOCIETY
DIFFUSION OF POWER AND LEGITIMACY IN AN E-ERA
by Daniel Aguirre Azócar

2. Historical and New Structural
Context
 New era in the International System: lacking
exclusive power and influence by state actors
 The Age of Nonpolarity (Haass, 2008)
 Globalization and its effects
 Expansion and reach of new forms of
communication
 Internet, digital citizen participation, bottom-up
& up-bottom interactions in the public „cyber‟
sphere

3. A New Age
 Haass‟ questions:
How does nonpolarity differ from other forms of
international order?
How and why did it materialize?
What are its likely consequences?
And how should the United States respond?

4. Multipolarity vs. Nonpolarity
 Multipolarity, several distinct poles or concentrations of
powers
vs.
 Nonpolarity, numerous centers with meaningful power
Nonpolarity international system is defined by some of the
following characteristics:
-- Erosion of effective power exerted solely by state actors
-- Empowerment and growing influence of non-state actors
(namely: ONGs, terrorist organizations, and as of recent
citizen-level movements)
-- In sum: fragmented centers of power at various levels

5. Caveat & Enter the Digital Space
Caveat: the United States remains the dominant
power based on military capacity
But at the economic level has lost dominance due to
a poor energy policy (oil dependence)
And overstretch theory, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
Haass sees the proliferation of information as
another important cause that has led to this new
age
Proliferation of information enabled by new
technology, namely growing access to information
via the Internet by individuals everywhere

6. Globalization Reinforces
Nonpolarity
Globalization has enabled:
 Transnational flows that are invisible to the
State
 Transnational flows empower all kinds of non-
state actors (terrorist, corporations, drug-
trafficking networks, etc.)
Therefore, weaking State actors

7. Faced with an Age of Nonpolarity
 Might be assumable that the international
system will enter a state of anarchy
 But cooperation through multilateral
organizations, efforts to navigate this new era
can help maintain a stable system (at the UN,
G8, etc)
 Initiatives to engage with citizens digitally by
the US Government and other nations have
become more prominent:
Ex. US State Department, the e>G8 in France

8. TECH CYCLES
Source: Morgan StanleyThe Mobile Internet Report 2009 Setup
http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/2SETUP_12142009_RI.pdf

9. MEDIA USAGE & PC
OWNERSHIP
Nielsen Survey:
• In Chile 57% say
they own a PC
• Highest internet
penetration in
LatAm: 41%

11. More celular phones than
Chilenos!
•March 2011:
17,078.532 people
own a celular phone
•28% have a
contract
•100.2% penetration

12. Mobile Internet Adoption Rate;
iPhone + iTouch
Source: Morgan StanleyThe Mobile Internet Report 2009 Setup
http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/2SETUP_12142009_RI.pdf

13. Internet & the Obama Campaign
 Cost-free commercials, by using youtube the commercials did not
interrupt TV programs and saved campaign money (Savings: US$
47 million for about 14.5 million hours)
 Internet allows citizens to verify and keep candidates honest
 Facebook pages and websites were created and were widely
utilized
 Campaign fundraising via the Internet, micro-donations
 Text messages, about 3 million sent to announce who would be his
vice-president
 Email marketing
Source: How Obama‟s Internet Campaign Changed Politics,
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-

14. POLITICAL SATIRE IN 2008
ELECTIONS
http://www.youtube.com/v/adc3MSS5Ydc&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/v/adc3MSS5Ydc&
feature=relmfu

15. Email Marketing, Joe Biden:

16. CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ry9LnAazwMg

17. CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS
http://www.youtube.com/v/-DZIwklOWEE&NR=1

18. FP TOWARD LATIN AMERICA
http://www.youtube.com/v/UamWnyxfKjI

19. DURING OBAMA VISIT TO CHILE
 IN CHILE, THE US EMBASSY UTILIZED
MUCH OF THE AVAILABLE & POPULAR
PLATFORMS
 FACEBOOK
 YOUTUBE
 TWITTER
 FLICKER
 DIPNOTE

20. US EMBASSY IN CHILE

21. TWITTER & OBAMA
http://twitter.com/#!/BarackObama

22. US EMBASSY IN CHILE &
TWITTER
http://twitter.com/#!/EmbajadaEEUUcl

23. US DEPARTMENT OF STATE

24. Remarks by Sec. Hillary Clinton on
Internet Freedom
January 21, 2010
“The spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for our planet.”
“Now, in many respects, information has never been so free. There are more ways to
spread more ideas to more people than at any moment in history. And even in
authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts
and making governments more accountable.”
“Because amid this unprecedented surge in connectivity, we must also recognize that
these technologies are not an unmitigated blessing. These tools are also being
exploited to undermine human progress and political rights. Just as steel can be used
to build hospitals or machine guns, or nuclear power can either energize a city or
destroy it, modern information networks and the technologies they support can be
harnessed for good or for ill.”
“The same networks that help organize movements for freedom also enable al-Qaida to
spew hatred and incite violence against the innocent. And technologies with the
potential to open up access to government and promote transparency can also be
hijacked by governments to crush dissent and deny human rights. ”
“We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and
ideas. And we recognize that the world‟s information infrastructure will become what
we and others make of it. Now, this challenge may be new, but our responsibility to
help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic.”

25. Spreading American Democratic
Values
 “The US is for one version of the internet for
the whole world, all of humanity should have
equal access to knowledge and ideas”
 Follows the 1st Amendment of the US
Constitution
 Considered a human right as declared by the
UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights
 “Freedom to connect will transform societies”
 The State Department has several initiatives to
promote a Digital Civil Society
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135519.htm

26. SOCIAL NETWORKS:
FACEBOOK, ORKUT, ETC.
 SOCIAL NETWORKS SUCH AS FACEBOOK,
ASSIST USERS BY GROUPING INTERESTS,
 USERS ARE NOT JUST INDIVIDUALS, BUT
ALSO ORGANIZATIONS, GROUPS,
GOVERNMENT, CANDIDATES…, ETC
 COMUNICATION ADOPTS MARKETING
TACTICS : WITH TARGETED MESSAGES
AND HIGHLY PERSONALIZED (WEB 2.0)

28. The Arab Spring
 Characterized by
being organized via
new forms of
technology
 With leaders who
leveraged social
networks to
organize
mobilization and to
decry corruption &
abuses in countries
in Northern Africa

29. CHILEAN STUDENT MOV‟T
„The Chilean Winter‟
 The Economist called Chile finally a normal country (no
more political apathy)
 High School and College Students protest the disparities
that the for-profit educational system reproduces,
demanding a model that counters a market logic
 Mobilizations organized and info spread via Internet
 Chile has one of the highest number of twitter accts. and
active users in social media platforms such as Facebook

30. SMS, TEXT MESSAGES
 DESPITE SMARTPHONE PENETRATION ON
THE RISE, CONVENTIONAL CELULAR
PHONES, WITH THE STANDARD TEXT
MESSAGE IS STILL HIGHLY USED,
COMMUNICATING AND ENABLING CIVIL
MOBILIZATION AROUND SPECIFIC ISSUES

31. CENSORSHIP MAP
Source: http://map.opennet.net/

32. Monitoring & Censorship, China

33. Monitoring & Censorship, Cuba