This is a video that I just made with AI. It took me literally five minutes, and most of the time was to find out how to do it. I used HeyGen. Amazing

In an icy March, I attended the 2023 Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA) in beautiful Montreal. It was my third ISA convention, being the first totally online (see my blog post about it here), the second one in Nashville, Tennessee, which was a hybrid format (online and in-person), and this time around, it was only an in-person gathering.
 
Being my second in-person convention, it was a different experience from my participation in Nashville. I immensely enjoyed it, as I knew what to expect and learned about the convention’s culture. 
 
For all new participants in international conventions, I have some advice: do not judge your experience by your first event. Being a newcomer is always challenging. Particularly in conventions like ISA because everybody seems to know each other, and you feel like an outsider the first time. It just takes a bit of time to learn the lingo of the convention and start appreciating it as the rest of the participants. From learning how to get free books at the exhibition hall to finding the much-sought “drink tickets,” once you know the convention´s ins and outs, the experience is much more enjoyable and rewarding.
 
Some of the crucial advantages of participating in such gatherings are easy to spot, such as 

• Learn about current trends in the discipline, 
• Hear and engage with well-known scholars and up-and-coming lecturers, 
• Meet people that you have connected in social media, 
• Listen to book publishers' and journal editors’ recommendations about better preparing texts for publications.

 
Other advantages are not as evident but are no less important. For example, I was able to learn not only about the academic achievement of the different sections’ awards but also about their life experiences and personal stories. In Montreal, I was fortunate to attend the awards ceremonies of three exemplary scholars: Eytan Gilboa (ICOMM section), Nicholas Cull (Diplomatic Studies section), and Amitav Acharya (Global IR section). Finding out about their careers, struggles, and generosity was amazing. 
 
Presenting papers is always a challenge, but as one of the participants commented, it would be a lot harder for scholars to finish their papers without the deadlines imposed by the conventions. The conversations, recommendations, and even conflicting views improve the essays and your understanding of current trends. It also opens your mind to new perspectives and ideas that would be hard to do outside this venue, particularly for practitioners like me. 
 
Attending conventions also allows you to meet people that otherwise would be hard to do. In Montreal, I cherish meeting in-person Juan Luis Manfredi, Vanessa Bravo, Tania Gómez Zapata, Ayca Arkilic, Juan Luis López-Aranguren, Cesar Villanueva Rivas, Christian Lequesne, Guadalupe Moreno Toscano, and Eduardo L. Tadeo Hernández. I even had the chance to speak briefly to Nicholas Cull, Jan Melissen, and Kadir Jun Ayhan. Thank you all for making Montreal a great experience. 
 
Some people say that scholars live in a different world, but at least in IR, they all live the world today and are looking for ways to understand better how it works. 
 
On an upsetting note, many participants from the Global South, even if they lived in the North, could not attend due to problems with getting a visa. Some got a negative response, and others got their visa approved a month after the event. ISA and the community at large need to address the multiple obstacles of attending a convention to meet the standards of inclusiveness and diversity fully. 
 
On this occasion, on Twitter, I enjoyed the hotel carpet’s showcase and followed the most famous person at the convention, Prof Brent J Steele, with whom most participants took selfies. I also partook in the everlasting quest of where to get coffee quickly and cheaply.
 
So, whoever is considering participating in a convention, think long-term and do not judge your experience on the first one; it gets much better afterward. And I invite everybody to become part of a professional association as membership has its privileges. 
 
Note: The blog post's title was adapted from a suggestion from Google´s Artificial Intelligence application Bard, which is the first time I used it.
 
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer or company.

 UPDATED JULY 2023

When I started the blog, I did not know a lot of articles and studies about consular diplomacy. I have compiled some resources about the subject in the last two years. The focus is on consular activities related to diplomacy and foreign policy, with a Mexican tilt. Below are some of the works I have identified, which I will update every few months.
 
This list is in alphabetical order but incomplete, and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. Please feel free to send them in the comments section below or via email. 
 
I apologize for not using any reference-management software, but I do not know how to integrate it into the blog. 
 
July 2023 update:

BOOK CHAPTERS. 
 
Arredondo, R. (2023). Las Relaciones Consulares. In Ricardo Arredondo, Diplomacia. Teoría y Práctica, (pp. 315-374). Aranzadi.
 
Celorio, M. (2018). El papel de la diplomacia consular en el contexto transfronterizo: el caso de la CaliBaja. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 271-285). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Díaz de León, F. J. & Peláez Millán, V. (2018). La gestión consular integral mexicana en Estados Unidos. Su evolución al servicio de la diáspora y sus objetivos estratégicos. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 125-152). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
González Gutiérrez, C. & Schumacher, M. E. (1998). La cooperación Internacional de México con los mexicano-americanos en Estados Unidos: El caso del Programa para las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Extranjero. In Olga Pellicer & Rafael Fernández de Castro (coords.), México y Estados Unidos: Las rutas de la cooperación, (p- 1-23). Instituto Matías Romero and ITAM. 
 
Fernández, A. M. (2011). Consular Affairs in an Integrated Europe. In Jan Melissen and Ana Mar Fernández, Consular Affairs and Diplomacy, (pp. 97-114). Martinus Nijhoff. 
 
Fernández Pasarín, A. M. (2015). Towards an EU Consular Policy. In David Spence and Josef Bátora (eds.), The European External Action Service: European Diplomacy Post-Westphalia, (pp. 356-369). Palgrave Macmillan. 
 
García y Griego, M. & Verea Campos, M. (1998). Colaboración sin concordancia: La migración en la nueva agenda bilateral México-Estados Unidos. In Mónica Verea Campos, Rafael Fernández de Castro & Sidney Wintraub (coords.), Nueva Agenda Bilateral en la Relación México-Estados Unidos, (pp. 107-134). Fondo de Cultura Económica 
 
Hernández Joseph, D. (2018). Lecciones de la protección consular para la diplomacia consular. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 91-108). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Mendoza Sánchez, J. C. (2018). La diplomacia consular ante la demografía y la sociedad de Estados Unidos en el siglo XXI. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 153-183). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Tripp, J. O. (2018). La diplomacia consular mexicana y los riesgos de la hidrocefalia administrativa. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 217-229). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
JOURNAL ARTICLES
 
Chabat, J. (1987). Algunas reflexiones en torno al papel de los consulados en la actual coyuntura. Carta de Política Exterior Mexicana, 7(2).
 
Fernández, A. M. (2008). Consular Affairs in the EU: Visa Policy as a Catalyst for Integration? The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 3(1), p. 21-35.
https://doi.org/10.1163/187119008X266164
 
Fernández, A. M. (2009). Local consular cooperation: Administrating EU internal security abroad. European Foreign Affairs Review, 14(4), p. 591-606.
 
Fernández Pasarín, A. M. (2010). La dimension externa del Espacio de Libertad, Seguridad y Justicia: el caso de la cooperación consular local. Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, núm. 91, p. 87-104. OPEN ACCESS (In Spanish). 
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (1998). Mexicans in the United States: An Incipient Diaspora. Voices of Mexico (43). OPEN ACCESS.
 
Maftel, J. (2020). Application of the Principle of Mutual Consent in Consular Relations between States. Acta Universitatis Danubius, 16(2), p. 88-105. OPEN ACCESS.
 
Melissen, J. (2020). Consular diplomacy's first challenge: Communicating assistance to nationals abroad. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 7(2), p. 217-228. https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.298  OPEN ACCESS.
 
Muro Ruiz, E. (2012). La diplomacia federativa de los gobiernos locales y los consulados mexicanos en Estados Unidos de América, en un multiculturalismo latino. Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de México, 60(254), p. 29-56. https://doi.org/10.22201/fder.24488933e.2010.254.30192
 
Potter, P. (1926). The Future of the Consular Office. American Political Science Review, 20(2), p. 284-298. 
 
Puente, J.I. (1930, January). The Nature of the Consular Establishment. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 78, p. 321-345. OPEN ACCESS.
 
Romero Vara, L., Alfaro Muirhead, A.C., Hudson Frías, E., & Aguirre Azócar, D. (2021). Digital Diplomacy and COVID-19: An Exploratory Approximation towards Interaction and Consular Assistance on Twitter. Comunicación y Sociedad, e7960. https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v2021.7960. OPEN ACCESS.
 
Saliceti, A. I. (2011). The Protection of EU Citizens Abroad: Accountability, Rule of Law, Role of Consular and Diplomatic Services. European Public Law, 17(1), pp. 91-109. 
 
Schiavon, J. (2015). Consular Protection as State Policy to Protect Mexican and Central American Migrants. Central America-North America Migration Dialogue (CANAMID) Policy Brief #7.
 
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS 
 
Acuerdo Interinstitucional entre los Ministerios de Relaciones Exteriores de los Estados Parte de la Alianza del Pacífico pare el Establecimiento de Medidas de Cooperación Consular en Materia de Asistencia Consular. (2014, February 10). (In Spanish).
 
Agreement on Consular Assistance and Co-Operation between the Government of the Republic of Latvia, the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. (2019, December 6). 
 
Instituto Matías Romero (2018, October). Mexico and California’s Strategic Relationship: True Solidarity in Times of Adversity. Foreign Policy Brief 15. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. 
 
Mendoza Yescas, J. & Sotres Brito, X. (2022, August). Acceptance of High-Security Consular Identification Card in Arizona: An Example of Consular Diplomacy. Foreign Policy Brief 21. Instituto Matías Romero. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores.
 

 BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST (04/23)
 
BOOKS:
 
Bada, X. & Gleeson, S. (eds.). (2019). Accountability Across Borders: Migrant Rights in North America. The University of Texas Press. 
 
Bada, X. & Gleeson, S. (2023). Scaling Migrant Worker Rights: How Advocates Collaborate and Contest State Power. The University of California Press. Especially chapter two: The Mexican Consular Network as an Advocacy Institution. OPEN ACCESS.

Berridge, G.R. (2022). Diplomacy: Theory and Practice. 6th edition. Palgrave Macmillan and the DiploFoundation. 
 
Carrigan, W.D. and Webb, C. (2013). Forgotten Dead: Mob violence against Mexicans in the United States, 1848-1928. Oxford University Press. 
 
Casey, C. A. (2020). Nationals Abroad Globalization, Individual Rights, and the Making of Modern International Law. Cambridge University Press
 
Délano Alonso, A. (2018). From here and there: Diaspora Policies, Integration, and Social Rights Beyond Borders. Oxford University Press. 
 
De Goey, F. (2014). Consuls and the Institutions of Global Capitalism. Routledge.
 
Fernández de Castro, R, (coord.). (2018). La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump. El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Gómez Arnau, R. (1990). México y la proteccion de sus nacionales en Estados Unidos. Centro de Investigaciones sobre Estados Unidos de América, UNAM. (IN SPANISH)
 
Græger, N. and Leira, H. (eds.). (2020). The Duty of Care in International Relations: Protecting Citizens Beyond the Border. Routledge.
 
Heinsen-Roach, E. (2019). Consuls and Captives: Dutch-North African Diplomacy in the Early Modern Mediterranean. University of Rochester Press.
 
Hernández Joseph, D. (2015). Protección Consular Mexicana. Ford Foundation & Miguel Ángel Porrúa. (IN SPANISH)
 
Herz, M. F. (1983). The Consular Dimension of Diplomacy: A Symposium. Institute of the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University. 
 
Hofstadter, C. G. (2020). Modern Consuls, Local Communities and Globalization. Palgrave Pivot.
 
Lafleur, J.M. & Vintila, D. (2020). Migration and Social Protection in Europe and Beyond (Volume 2): Comparing Consular Services and Diaspora Policies. IMISCOE Research Series. OPEN ACCESS

Melissen, J. (2005). The New Public Diplomacy: Between Theory and Practice. In J. Melissen (ed.), The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations. (pp. 3-27). Palgrave MacMillan. 
 
Melissen, J. and Fernandez, A. M., (eds.) (2011). Consular Affairs and Diplomacy. Martinus Nijhoff. 
 
Moyano Pahissa, Á. (1989). Antología Protección Consular a Mexicanos en los Estados Unidos 1849-1900.Archivo Histórico Diplomático Mexicano, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. (IN SPANISH)
 
Muñoz Martinez, M. (2018). The Injustice Never Leaves You: Ant-Mexican Violence in Texas. Harvard University Press. 
 
Platt, D. C. M. (1971). The Cinderella Service: British Consuls since 1825. Archon Books. 
 
BOOK CHAPTERS
 
Berridge. G. R. (2022). Consulates. In G.R. Berridge, Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, (pp. 141-157). Palgrave and DiploFoundation.
 
Calva Ruíz, V. (2018). Diplomacia Consular y acercamiento con socios estratégicos. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 205-216). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH) 
 
De Moya, M. & Bravo, V. (2021). Conclusion: Lessons Learned and Future Research. In V. Bravo & M. De Moya (eds), Latin American Diasporas in Public Diplomacy, (pp. 311-324). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74564-6_13
 
Fernández de Castro, R. & Hernández Hernández, A. (2018). Introducción. In R. Fernández de Castro(coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 17-25). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Fernández Pasarin, A. M. (2016). Consulates and Consular Diplomacy. In C. Constantinou, P. Kerr & P. Sharp (eds.), The Sage Handbook of Diplomacy. Sage Publishing. 
 
Gómez Zapata, T. (2021). Civil Society as an Advocate of Mexicans and Latinos in the United States: The Chicago Case. In V. Bravo & M. De Moya (eds.), Latin American Diasporas in Public Diplomacy, (pp. 189-213). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74564-6_8
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (1997). Decentralized Diplomacy: The Role of Consular Offices in Mexico´s Relations with its Diaspora. In Rodolfo O de la Garza and Jesús Velasco (eds.), Bridging the Border: Transforming Mexico-U.S. Relations, (pp. 49-67). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (2006). Del acercamiento a la inclusión institucional: la experiencia del Insittuto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior. In C. Gónzalez Gutiérrez (coord.), Relaciones Estado-diáspora: aproximaciones desde cuatro continentes, Tomo 1, (pp. 181-220). Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. (IN SPANISH)
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (2018). El significado de una relación especial: las relaciones de México con Texas a la luz de su experiencia en California. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 253-269). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Heijmans, M. y Melissen, J. (2007). MFAs and the Rising Challenge of Consular Affairs Cinderella in the Limelight. En K.S. Rana y J. Kurbalija (eds.), Foreign Ministries Managing Diplomatic Networks and Optimizing Value (pp. 192-206). Malta: DiploFoundation.
 
Laveaga Rendón, R. (2018). Mantenerse a la Vanguardia: Desafío para los Consulados de México en Estados Unidos. In R. Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 231-251). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Leira, H. & Græger, N. (2020). Introduction: The Duty of Care in International Relations. In N. Græger & H. Leira (eds.), The Duty of Care in International Relations: Protecting Citizens Beyond the Border, (pp. 1-17). Routledge.
 
Leira, H. & Neumann, I. B. (2011). The Many Past Lives of the Consul. In J. Melissen & A. M. Fernández, (eds.), Consular Affairs and Diplomacy, (pp. 223-246). Martinus Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004188761.i-334.69
 
Leira, H. & Neumann, I. B. (2017). Consular Diplomacy. In P. Kerr & G. Wiseman (eds.), Diplomacy in a globalizing world: Theories and Practice. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press. 
 
Melissen, J. (2011). Introduction The Consular Dimension of Diplomacy. In J. Melissen & A. M. Fernández, (eds.), Consular Affairs and Diplomacy, (pp. 1-17). Martinus Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004188761.i-334.6
 
Melissen, J. (2022). Consular Diplomacy in the Era of Growing Mobility. In Christian Lequesne (ed.), Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the World. Diplomatic Series, Vol. 18. (pp. 251-262). Brill Nijhoff.

Mendoza Sánchez, J. C., & Cespedes Cantú, A. (2021). Innovating through Engagement: Mexico’s Model to Support Its Diaspora. In L. Kennedy (ed.), Routledge International Handbook of Diaspora Diplomacy. Routledge.
 
Neumann, I. and Leira, H. (2020). The evolution of the consular institution. In I. Neumann, Diplomatic Tense,(pp. 8-25). Manchester University Press. 
 
Okano-Heijmans, M. (2011). Changes in Consular Assistance and the Emergence of Consular Diplomacy. In J. Melissen & A. M. Fernández, (eds.), Consular Affairs and Diplomacy, (pp. 21-41). Martinus Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004188761.i-334.13
 
Okano-Heijmans, M. (2013). Consular Affairs. In A. Cooper et al., (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy, (pp. 473-492). Oxford University Press. 
 
Rana, K. S.  (2011). The New Consular Diplomacy. In K. S. Rana, 21st Century Diplomacy. A Practitioner's Guide. Continuum.
 
Schiavon, J. A. & Ordorica R., G. (2018). Las sinergias con otras comunidades: el caso Tricamex. In R.Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 185-203). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Torres Mendivil, R. (2018). La diplomacia consular: un paradigma de la relación México-Estados Unidos. In R.Fernández de Castro (coord.), La Diplomacia Consular Mexicana en tiempos de Trump, (pp. 109-124). El Colegio de la Frontera Norte & El Colegio de San Luis. (IN SPANISH)
 
Ulbert, J. (2011). A History of the French Consular Services. In J. Melissen & A. M. Fernández, (eds.),Consular Affairs and Diplomacy, (pp. 303-324). Martinus Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004188761.i-334.96
 
Valenzuela-Moreno, K. A. (2021). Transnational Social Protection and the Role of Countries of Origin: The Cases of Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In V. Bravo & M. De Moya (eds.), Latin American Diasporas in Public Diplomacy, (pp. 27-51). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74564-6_2
 
JOURNAL ARTICLES
 
Bada, X., & Gleeson, S. (2015). A New Approach to Migrant Labor Rights Enforcement. Labor Studies Journal,40(1), 32-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X14565112.
 
Birka, I., Klavinš D., & Kits, R. (2022). Duty of Care: Consular Diplomacy Response of Baltic and Nordic Countries to COVID-19. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 17(2022), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191x-bja10115.
 
Bravo, V., & De Moya, M. (2018). Mexico’s public diplomacy efforts to engage its diaspora across the border: Case study of the programs, messages and strategies employed by the Mexican Embassy in the United States. Rising Powers Quarterly, 3(3), 173-193. 
 
Cárdenas Suárez, H. (2019). La política consular en Estados Unidos: protección, documentación y vinculacion con las comunidades mexicanas en el exterior. Foro Internacional, LIX(3-4), 1077-1113. https://doi.org/10.24201/fi.v59i3-4.2652. (IN SPANISH)
 
Crosbie, W. (2018). A Consular Code to Supplement the VCCR. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13(2), 233-243. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-11302019
 
Délano, A. (2009). From Limited to Active Engagement: Mexico’s Emigration Policies from a Foreign Policy Perspective. International Migration Review, 43(4), 764-814. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00784.x.
 
Délano, A. (2014). The diffusion of diaspora engagement policies: A Latin American agenda. Political Geography, 41, 90-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2013.11.007.
 
De la Vega Wood, D. A. (2014). Diplomacia consular para el desarrollo humano: una visión desde la agenda democrática. Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior 101, May-August, 167-185. (IN SPANISH)
 
Durand, J., Massey, D. S. & Parrado, E. A. (1999). The New Era of Mexican Migration to the United States. The Journal of American History, 86(2), 518-536.
 
Gómez Maganda, G. and Kerber Palma, A. (2016). Atención con perspectiva de género para las comunidades mexicanas en el exterior. Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior, No. 107, May-August, 185-202. (IN SPANISH) 
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (1999). Fostering Identities: México´s Relations with Its Diaspora. The Journal of American History, 86(2), 545-567. https://doi.org/10.2307/2567045
 
Græger, N. & Lindgren, W. Y. (2018). The Duty of Care for Citizens Abroad: Security and Responsibility in the In Amenas and Fukushima Crises. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13(2), 188-210. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-11302009
 
Hernández Joseph, D. (2012). Mexico’s Concentration Consular Services. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy,7(2), 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1163/187119112X625556.
 
Haugevic, K. (2018). Parental Child Abduction and the State: Identity, Diplomacy and the Duty of Care. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13(2), 167-187. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-11302010
 
Leira, H. (2018). Caring and Carers: Diplomatic Personnel and the Duty of Care. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13(2), 147-166. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-11302007
 
Leira, H. and de Carvalho, B. (2021). The Intercity Origins of Diplomacy: Consuls, Empires, and the Sea. Diplomatica 3 (1), 147-156. https://doi.org/10.1163/25891774-03010008
 
Lottaz, P. (2020). Going East: Switzerland´s east consular diplomacy toward East and Southeast Asia. Traverse: Zeitschrift für Geschichte = Revue d´historie 27(1), 23-34.
 
Marina Valle, V., Gandoy Vázquez, W. L., and Valenzuela Moreno, K. A. (2020). Ventanillas de Salud: Defeating challenges in healthcare access for Mexican immigrants in the United States. Estudios Fronterizos, 21 (e043). https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2020.1714462
 
Márquez Lartigue, R. (2023). Beyond Traditional Boundaries: The Origins and Features of the Public-Consular Diplomacy of Mexico. Journal of Public Diplomacy 2(2), 48-68.
 
Martínez-Schuldt, R. D. (2020). Mexican Consular Protection Services across the United States: How Local Social, Economic, and Political Conditions Structure the Sociolegal Support of Emigrants. International Migration Review, 54(4), 1016-1044.
 
Melissen, J. (2020). Consular diplomacy's first challenge: Communicating assistance to nationals abroad. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 7(2), 217-228. https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.298

Melissen, J. & Okano-Heijmans, M. (2018). Introduction. Diplomacy and the Duty of Care. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 13(2), 137-145. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-23032072
 
Navarro Bernachi, A. (2014). La perspectiva transversal y multilateral de la protección consular. Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior (101), May-August, 81-97. (IN SPANISH)
 
Necochea López, R. (2018). Mexico´s health diplomacy and the Ventanilla de Salud program. Latino Studies(16), 482-502. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-018-0145-8
 
Okano-Heijmans, M. & Price, C. (2019). Providing consular services to low-skilled migrant workers: partnerships that care. Global Affairs, 5(4-5) 427-443. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2020.1714462
 
Rangel Gomez, M. G., Tonda, J., Zapata, G. R., Flynn, M., Gany, F., Lara, J., Shapiro, I, & Ballesteros Rosales, C. (2017). Ventanillas de Salud: A Collaborative and Binational Health Access and Preventive Care Program. Frontiers in Public Health 5. 30 June. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00151.
 
Schiavon, J. A. & Cárdenas Alaminos, N. (2014). La proteccón consular de la diáspora mexicana. Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior (101), May-August, 43-67. (IN SPANISH)
 
Torres Mendivil, R. (2014). Morfología, tradición y futuro de la práctica consular mexicana. Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior 101, May-August, 69-79. (IN SPANISH)
 
Tsinovoi, A. and Adler-Nissen, R. (2018) Inversion of the “Duty of Care”: Diplomacy and the protection of Citizens Abroad, from Pastoral Care to neoliberal Governmentality. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy (13) 2, 211-232. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-11302017
 
Xia, L. (2021). Consular Protection with Chinese Characteristics: Challenges and Solutions. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 16 (2-3), 253-274. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-BJA10068.
 
Valenzuela-Moreno, K. (2019). Los consulados mexicanos en Estados Unidos: Una aproximación desde la protección social. INTERdisciplina, 7(18), 59-79. https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/inter/article/view/68460/61387.
 
OTHER WORKS
 
Batalova, J. (2008). Mexican Immigrants in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. 23 April. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states-2006.
 
Bruno, A. y Storrs, K. L. (2005). Consular Identification Cards: Domestic and Foreign Policy Implications, the Mexican Case, and Related Legislation. Congressional Research Services. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL32094.pdf.
 
Global Consular Forum. (2016). Seoul Consensus Statement on Consular Cooperation, 27 October.

González, C., Martínez, A. & Purcell, J. (2015). Report: Global Consular Forum 2015, Wilton Park, July. Global Consular Forum.
 
Haynal, G., et al. (2013). The Consular Function in the 21st Century: A report for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. 

Israel, E. & Batalova, J. (2020). Mexican Immigrants in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. 5 November. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states-2019.
 
Kunz, R. (2008). Mobilising diasporas: A governmentality analysis of the case of Mexico. Working Paper Series, “Glocal Governance and Democracy” 3. Institute of Political Science, University of Lucerne. https://zenodo.org/record/48764?ln=en#.YyZZyC2xBaR. 
 
Laglagaron, L. (2010). Protection through Integration: The Mexican Government’s Efforts to Aid Migrants in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/IME_FINAL.pdf
 
Márquez Lartigue, R. (2021). El surgimiento de la Diplomacia Consular: su interpretación desde México. Unpublished essay. (IN SPANISH)
 
Murray, L. (2013). Conference report: Contemporary consular practice trends and challenges, Wilton Park, October. Global Consular Forum. 
 
Noe-Bustamante, L., Flores, A. & Shah, S. (2019). Facts on Hispanics of Mexican origin in the United States, 2017. Pew Hispanic Center. 16 September. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/fact-sheet/u-s-hispanics-facts-on-mexican-origin-latinos/. 
 
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
 
Global Affairs Canada. (2017). Evaluation of the Consular Affairs Program. Diplomacy, Trade and Corporate Evaluation Division, Global Affairs Canada. https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/assets/pdfs/publications/evaluation/2018/cap-pac-eng.pdf
 
Gradilone, E. (2012). Diplomacia Consular 2007 a 2012. Ministério das Relações Exteriores (Brazil) and Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão. https://funag.gov.br/biblioteca-nova/produto/1-182-diplomacia_consular_2007_a_2012

Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior. (2018). Población Mexicana en el Mundo: Estadística de la población mexicana en el mundo 2017. 23 July.http://www.ime.gob.mx/estadisticas/mundo/estadistica_poblacion_pruebas.html.
 
Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior. (2021). ‘Revista “Casa de México”’. 22 January. 
https://www.gob.mx/ime/articulos/revista-casa-de-mexico.
 
Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. (2019). Fortalecimiento de la Atención a Mexicanos en el Exterior, Libro Blanco 2012-2018. (IN SPANISH)
 
OTHER BLOG POSTS (BESIDES THIS BLOG)
 
Márquez Lartigue, R. (2021). Public-Consular Diplomacy at its Best: The case of the Mexican Consular ID card program. CPD Blog. 4 February. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/public-consular-diplomacy-its-best-case-mexican-consular-id-card-program.
 
Márquez Lartigue, R. (2021). Public-Consular Diplomacy That Works: Mexico’s Labor Rights Week in the U.S. CPD Blog. 6 October. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/public-consular-diplomacy-works-mexicos-labor-rights-week-us.
 
Márquez Lartigue, R. (2022). Public-Consular Diplomacy That Heals: Binational Health Week Program. CPD Blog. 8 June. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/public-consular-diplomacy-heals-binational-health-week-program. 
 
​Manor, I. (2022, January 25). Are Consular Tweets a New Form of Crisis Signaling? 
Exploring Digital Diplomacy blog. https://digdipblog.com/2022/01/25/are-consular-tweets-a-new-form-of-crisis-signaling/

DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer, or company.

Note: This post was written in June 2022. 
 
A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to attend the 2022 International Studies Association (ISA) Convention that took place in Nashville, Tennessee. This time, the convention was hybrid as there was a two-day online section followed by a four-day in-person gathering.
 
Participating in a convention allows you to join the global conversation about International Affairs. On this occasion, I was able to submit two papers that were accepted, one online about Mexico´s gastrodiplomacy and one in-person on Mexico´s consular diplomacy. In addition, I was the chair of a panel on diaspora diplomacy and the discussant of a poster presentation. 
 
It is a very different experience presenting a paper at a convention rather than just attending. In the former, you must prepare, polish, and finish your essay on time. Besides, you must be able to summarize your finding in no more than ten minutes. Showcasing your research is a more engaging and rewarding experience because of several reasons, including:

• Contacting fellow presenters, chairs, and discussants is crucial as you must coordinate the session. It is a great way to meet scholars working on similar, if not the same, issues as you are. 
• The discussions during the panels are critical because they provide different perspectives about your research, and most of the feedback you get will improve it. Listening to other presentations and reading their essays can also bring new ideas and perspectives that you can apply to your work. 
• The connections you make with panelists, the audience, and others can produce immediate results. For example, the chair and discussant of one of my panels put me in contact with a researcher from Europe interested in the same topic, and we had a fruitful conversation. I have read some of his work, and it was great speaking to him. 

 
Attending the convention also gives you a chance to meet great scholars. I had the opportunity to speak to Prof. Paul Sharp from the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Besides receiving two book recommendations for my class, I also got a couple of the much-sought-after “drink tickets,” which I did not know anything about because the previous convention was online due to the pandemic. You can read my experience in the this blogpost. 
 
In the Twitter feed of ISA, there were comments about having a reduced number of participants. I don´t think it was bad because it allowed attendants to interact more deeply. Of course, it was awkward to see panels with no audience or less than half of the scholars that were supposed to participate. You just have to make the most out of the situation. 
 
Being a practitioner among scholars sometimes felt a bit strange; however, having a frank discussion between the two groups could add value to the work we all do. Having a set of practitioner panels and a combination of academic and practitioner roundtables would be interesting.
 
An added value of conventions is that you go to places you would most likely never visit on your own. This was the case of Nashville, also knowns as Music City and currently a hot spot for tech companies. Everywhere, there were construction sites. And don´t get me started about the resort Gaylord Opryland Resort.
 
One thing I missed from the online convention format was that I did not have to wait 15 minutes to get an expensive cup of coffee. 
 
Attending ISA Convention in Nashville allowed me to join the global conversation on subjects that will determine the faith of many countries and maybe even the planet. 
 
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer, or company.

 
November 2022 could be a historical moment for humanity. OpenAI launched its ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence (AI) program, which is already changing our world. A leading expert, Andrew Ng, equates AI advances that will radically transform society to the arrival of electricity at the end of the 19th century (Jewell, 2019). Besides, just a couple of weeks ago, the stock of Nvidia, a semiconductor manufacturing company that produces chips for AI computing, skyrocketed 25 percent in one day (Aratani, 2023), becoming more valuable than Intel. 
 
AI has been used for some time without much hoopla. We have been using AI in the voice command assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and HomePod, and Google’s Home. Also, AI makes music recommendations on Spotify or for products on Amazon’s webpage. However, in November 2022, ChatGPT propelled artificial intelligence into the limelight of the tech revolution. Why? It was the first question I had after participating in the Summit on Digital Diplomacy and Governance, organized by DiploFoundation, but I did not know the answer. Fortunately, now I think I can answer the question: Because ChatGPT is a Generative AI that can produce new content, it is very easy to use and is widely accessible (it is the fastest platform to reach 100 million users). 
 
Since then, I have been trying to understand the basics of AI, but I am still struggling. Right now, there is so much information about it that it is mind-blowing to find reliable resources. Many are riding the AI wave taking advantage of its novelty and the ignorance of regular people. In this blog post, I share my understanding of AI’s basics, while another post will focus on the impact on diplomacy and other fields.
 
Warning: I have also been playing around with Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing.chat on an Edge browser; therefore, you will find some of their outputs in the blog post. 
 
So, what is Artificial Intelligence?
 
According to Bing.chat: 

 My grandma Susana, or as we call her, abuelita Susana, passed away at the end of 2022 at the age of 102. This week is her birthday, and I want to honor her because she significantly influenced me.
 
Note: Some actions referred to here might be true or just family myths. Regardless they are very treasured!
 
Abuelita Susana was an extraordinary woman of the 20th century. She had a challenging but rewarding life. Susana was born in 1920, at the start of the roaring twenties and after the 1918 pandemic. 
 
One of her many attributes was that she was a fantastic storyteller, so we were always looking forward to hearing about her amazing adventures. She was a treasure  of stories.
 
One of her earliest stories was about how she spent her weekly allowance buying the “Cuentos de Calleja”. In 2021, I was lucky enough to find two compilations of his work and gave them to her. Mr. Saturnino Calleja was a best seller and icon back in the day. 
 
Abuelita Susana was a woman entrepreneur in a mid-size town in the State of Veracruz. She started selling Tupperware and later moved up the ladder and was able to pay for some amazing trips. 
 
One of her most cherished voyages was her around-the-world tour in the late 1960s. She traveled to some places that are hard to visit, even today. She went with her sister, and they started in Hawaii. Later they went to see Angkor Wat before the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and committed genocide. 
 
The next stop was India, where they were received with great surprise as it was uncommon to see two middle-aged women traveling without a man. Afterward, they visited Iran before the Islamic Revolution and Iraq before Saddam Hussein. They took fantastic pictures of their stop in Lebanon, the then “Paris of the East”, before the civil war tear apart the country for many decades. Their last stop was Rome, which seemed dull after the extraordinary places they had visited beforehand. 
 
The trip was extraordinary, but even more so was her ability to do it without knowing much English. She visited Paris several times, and she remembered how to get to the hotel from the famous shopping stores by memorizing the shop displays on the way because she still had to learn French.
 
Every time she returned from her travels; she gave me coins from all the countries she visited. That is how I started my coin collection and my interest in traveling. After listening to her adventures overseas, I picked up the Encyclopedia (there were no personal computers or the internet back then) and searched entries about the countries I had coins. It was then that I knew I wanted to travel like abuelita Susana, and I enjoy learning about different nations and their history. It was when I developed the love for maps that I still have today. 
 
All my grandparents had the travel bug, especially abuelita Susana, so I didn´t even question why I wanted to travel the world. Furthermore, I was so interested in different countries that I studied International Relations and later became a diplomat.
 
Another facet of her life was art. She was an inherent painter. Every summer, when all her granddaughters and grandsons spent time in her house, she had several activities, including painting classes. Below is one of her paintings.

 






As part of the "Digital Diplomacy 4.0" project, today I will write about tech diplomacy, also known as TechPlomacy.
 
In the last few months, the disruptive arrival of the now-famous ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence (AI) software has attracted much attention and discussion about the role of technology in society. Part of the debate has also focused on the impact of technology on diplomacy, including a new approach referred to as TechPlomacy or tech diplomacy. You can read more in my blog post Why Denmark sent a Tech Ambassador to Silicon Valley?
 
In April 2023, the DiploFoundation published the updated version of the study Tech diplomacy practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. The original version is from 2018, a year after Denmark announced the designation of the first tech ambassador, who was responsible for engaging diplomatically with tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Meta (Facebook), and Alphabet (Google) and Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial ecosystem, which includes venture capitalists, think tanks, universities, entrepreneurs, research labs, and other actors.
 
The subject seems very interesting because of several reasons: 

1. The influence of technology on world politics is immense, from cyberattacks that can change the outcome of an election to ransomware that can shut down the electric power of a country. Therefore, ministries of foreign affairs and diplomats new to adapt to these changes, as it is vital. But first, there must be some level of understanding about how technology works. Adopting tech diplomacy policies is a way to showcase their adaptability and to seek advantages before somebody else takes them away.
2. In the course I teach, I use the tech ambassador as a case study about the influence of technology on diplomacy so students understand today's diplomacy, which is increasingly done digitally. 
3. I found it intriguing why a country would designate an ambassador as its representative for a specific industry when many businesses throughout history have amazed immense power. I wanted to know why there were no Oil, Arms, or Banks Ambassadors before, but now we have envoys to Silicon Valley (Blumenthal, 2018).

 
The first question that comes to mind is why tech giants are different from other corporations. Blumenthal (2018) explains why tech giants are so powerful nowadays that countries send ambassadors to Silicon Valley. He indicates that "digital platforms govern the spaces they control. And by developing new technologies deployed as platforms, they can govern entirely new spaces before national governments are even aware." So, it is not just their vast amounts of cash or the unreal market capitalization, it is primarily their ability to control the digital space, as no other corporation did before, what separates them from the rest of the businesses.
 
The second issue would be, what is a tech diplomat? It seems an easy question, but the reality is much more complicated. Diplo's study identifies eight different tech diplomats' titles (Ittelson & Rauchbauer, 2023, p. 17). See Table 1 for a detailed view of titles. 
 
Table 1: Tech diplomatic representations in Silicon Valley.

Note: *The office has a global mandate. Source: Ittelson & Rauchbauer, 2023.

Ilan Manor, a respected digital diplomacy expert and blogger, explains that a tech diplomat should be "a diplomat who has been trained in using advanced technologies, [who is] able to leverage existing technologies to obtain foreign policy goals [and] is trained in dealing with technology-related policies, such as regulating social media and combating disinformation" (Manor, 2023).
 
Denmark's experience is telling, as the first tech ambassador struggled with some tech giants. For example, the tech ambassador recalled taking off the tie to be less formal, while the tech company representative wore shorts and flip-flops (Johnson, 2019). He also referred to scheduling a meeting with a senior executive to discuss specific technology topics. To his dismay, when he arrived, he was offered a tour of the building and some company souvenirs (Satariano, 2019).
 
Later, Denmark issued the Strategy for Denmark's Tech Diplomacy 2021-2023, which expanded the responsibilities of its tech diplomacy, including issues related to democracy and security. It also made some changes, including involving more embassies and consulates, establishing an advisory board, and adding a citizens' engagement component (Government of Denmark, 2021, p. 10). It was a different perspective than when the MFA named the first tech ambassador. Listen to the podcast A Conversation with Denmark's Tech Ambassador to learn more about the current priorities (April 2023).
 
In September 2022, the European Union designated its first Senior E.U. Envoy for Digital to the U.S., posted in San Francisco's Bay area. More recently, in April 2023, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy announced posting cyber and digital officers in every embassy and special training for diplomats. Meanwhile, "China created a network of around 140 specialised diplomats to identify and support the acquisition of emerging tech companies and technologies across the globe" (Erzse & Garson, 2022, p. 13).
 
Diplo's 2023 report on Tech diplomacy in Silicon Valley is a must-read for anybody interested in the current state of affairs. The study analyzes the practices, challenges, and opportunities. It also includes different ways countries instrument this idea. It is a bit concerning that most of them are from the Global North (Ittelson & Rauchbauer 2023 p. 17); therefore, Global South nations might be falling behind, particularly with recent extraordinary advances in artificial intelligence. But there is hope. Now, Diplo and the recently established Tech Diplomacy Network offer a course on the subject to help bridge the gap. I am excited to participate in the course as a student starting this week.
 
Through practices that have lasted centuries, diplomacy and diplomats have established a common culture and even a "language" that is now codified in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Tech diplomacy has yet to find a standard definition; therefore, there is still a lack of understanding and awareness on both sides, diplomats and corporate executives. However, the first step, dialogue, is being developed through these initiatives. 
 
For example, representation, one of the three functions of diplomacy, can be confusing from a corporate perspective. It is hard to know who the company represents. The logical response is that it represents the shareholders, but there are not that visible, with a few exceptions. Nowadays, many use the term stakeholders, but it needs to be clearly defined. Usually, the Chief Executive Officer and the executive board are the ones who make decisions and can be seen as representatives of the business. However, sometimes, they have a narrow vision, which significantly impacts their operations. Look at what they did to Twitter a few months ago.
 
Technology is evolving extremely fast, and governments, societies, and diplomats are lagging. There is a greater push for regulation and ethical usage to avoid the continuation and expansion of disparities, discriminatory practices, and even human rights violations and the deterioration of democracy. It is comforting that, through different schemes and venues, there is a greater dialogue between the tech giants and governments. This conversation should also include civil society, particularly from diverse backgrounds, to find real solutions to today's challenges. 
 
Diplomats and MFAs need to shake up and embrace technology, not only in the West but across the globe. Manor proposes the creation of a Digital Desk that "would run an MFA's digital activity [including] oversee consultations in UNESCO dealing with ethical A.I. development…and formulate digital policies" (2023). This could be the starting point for a new, inclusive Tech diplomacy. 
 
In the next delivery of the "Digital Diplomacy 4.0" project, I will write about the basics of AI and, later on, about the link between diplomacy and A.I.diplomacy-40-how-artificial-intelligence-is-changing-diplomacy.html.
 
You can read more about the power of tech giants in my blog post about AI and geopolitics here: diplomacy-40-navigating-the-ai-era-geopolitics-diplomacy-and-the-power-of-artificial-intelligence.html

Do not forget to read some other posts about the subject: 
 

• Diplomacy and Technology: The future is happening now (January 18, 2023) 
• Digital Diplomacy 4.0: The Future is Now (May 2, 2023) 
• Digital Diplomacy 4.0: The Basics of Artificial Intelligence (June 7, 2023)
• Digital Diplomacy 4.0: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Diplomacy? (August 20, 2023)
• Diplomacy 4.0: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence as a Subject of Diplomatic Negotiations (November 20, 2023)

Below is a list of some resources on Tech diplomacy that can be useful for anybody interested in the topic. Let me know if I missed one, or send your suggestion via comments or email. 
 
RESOURCES ON TECH DIPLOMACY:
 
Online course: 
Tech Diplomacy. The DiploFoundation. 
 
Research Center
Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University, U.S.
 
Network
Tech Diplomacy Network. A joint effort by the Berggruen Institute, the World Economic Forum (C4IR), the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, and the DiploFoundation. 
 
Interview with Denmark's Tech Ambassador (Podcast):
Radsch, C. (Host) (2023, April 23). A Conversation with Denmark's Tech Ambassador -Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen-. Audio Podcast Episode, Tech Policy Press. 
 
Studies and articles: 
 
Bremmer, I. & Kupchan, C. (2022, January 3). Risk 2: Technopolar World. Top Risks 2022. p. 5-6. Euroasian Group.

Erzse, A. & Garson, M. (2022). A leader's guide to building a tech-forward foreign policy. Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. 
 
Farrow, R. (2023, August 21). Elon Musk´s Shadow Rule. How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in. The New Yorker.

Garcia, E. V. (2022, June 14). What is tech diplomacy? A very short definition. Beyond the Horizon Blog.
 
Giles, K. (2023, September 12). Tech giants hold huge sway in matters of war, life and death. That should concern us all. The Guardian. 

Gruver, P. (2022). Korea-U.S. international exchange and cooperation in tech diplomacy; Tech diplomacy: Tech companies as power brokers in the digital age. Pacific Council on International Policy. 
 
Höne, K. (2023, March 6). What is Tech Diplomacy? Israel Public Policy Institute. 
 
Ittelson, P. & Rauchbauer, M. (2023). Tech diplomacy practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. The DiploFoundation.
 
Klynge, C., Ekman, M. & Juncher Waedegaard, N. (2022). Diplomacy in the Digital Age: Lesson from Denmark's TechPlomacy Initiative. In Christian Lequesne, Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the World: Actors of State Diplomacy, (pp. 263-272). Brill.
 
Manor, I. (2023, April 25). What is a Tech Diplomat? Exploring Digital Diplomacy Blog (Digdipblog).
 
Marcus, G. (2023, November 23). Critical national security questions should not be decided unilaterally by unelected tech leaders. Marcus at AI.

Matania, E. & Sommer, U. (2023, November 20). Tech titans, cyber commons and the war in Ukraine: An incipient shift in international relations. International Relations, 0 (0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178231211500

Mind the Bridge. (2022). Government innovation outposts in Silicon Valley: 2022 report update. 
 
REFERENCES
 
Blumenthal, P. (2018, June 23). Big tech companies are so powerful that a Nation sent an Ambassador to them. Huffington Post.
Government of Denmark. (2021). Strategy for Denmark's Tech Diplomacy 2021-2023.
Ittelson, P. & Rauchbauer, M. (2023). Tech diplomacy practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. The DiploFoundation.
Johnson, K. (2019, October 8). Tech giants, small countries, and the future of techplomacy. Venture Beat.
Satariano, A. (2019, September 3). The world's first Ambassador to the tech industry. The New York Times.
 
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer or company.
​

 
After participating in the Summit on Digital Diplomacy and Governance organized by DiploFoundation (see my blog post here), I realized that today’s diplomats need to not only know about the current trends in technology and their impacts on diplomacy but also need to be able to actively participate in the discussions, such as the UN’s Global Digital Compact. Therefore, in the coming months, I will work on a special project titled "Digital Diplomacy 4.0." 
 
The well-known digital diplomacy scholar Corneliu Bjola explains that we are now in the fourth iteration of digital diplomacy. The first occurred with the Arab Spring, showcasing social media’s impact on the real world. The second wave happened in 2015 and 2016, with the appearance of the “dark side” of technology and its effects on the U.S. presidential election and the Brexit vote (Bjola, 2022).
 
The COVID-19 pandemic launched digital diplomacy 3.0, with the ubiquitous use of Zoom and other platforms that allowed continuous interactions among diplomats and other international actors when the world shut down (Bjola, 2022). 
 
Prof. Bjola indicates that today digital diplomacy has moved forward to a new phase, what I call 4.0, due to the arrival of disruptive innovations such as Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse (Bjola, 2022). As their predecessors, these new technologies will considerably impact the digital and real worlds. The idea is consistent with the Highlights from the Summit on Digital Diplomacy and Governance that took place in November 2022. 
 
Since then, the arrival of ChatGPT has turned the world upside down. It is amazing the speed that things are happening. In the last months, there has been a tremendous number of events to discuss the impact of AI on everything. Here are some of them:

• Technologies of Tomorrow: A Conversation with Eric Schmidt. (January 11, 2023). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 
• Will AI take over diplomatic reporting? (WebDebate #56). Here are the Video, the Human-made summary, and the AI-generated report. (February 7, 2023). The DiploFoundation. 
• What role can AI play in diplomatic negotiation? (WebDebate #57). (March 7, 2023). The DiploFoundation. 
• How to Train Diplomats to Deal with AI and Data? (WebDebate #58). (April 4, 2023). The DiploFoundation.

 
Diplomats worldwide cannot wait until these new technologies mature to embrace them, and they need to take the bull by the horns and start learning these disruptive inventions. The DiploFoundation is an excellent resource, and it is ahead of most capacity-building institutions that perfectly combine courses on technology and internet governance, and diplomacy. 
 
Besides, governments need to work on their digital strategies, and the ministries of foreign affairs need to incorporate them into their foreign policy and diplomatic efforts. Some countries, like Switzerland, have already are working on them and in late 2020 presented its digital foreign policy strategy.
 
Here are some resources that I found extremely useful to start diving into the realm of digital diplomacy 4.0:

• DiploFoundation’s webpages dedicated to digital diplomacy, Artificial Intelligence and diplomacy, internet governance and digital policy, and digital foreign policy.
• Geneva Digital Atlas 2.0
• The technologies section of the Digwatch website.
• Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group.
• The Cyber diplomacy issue of the Public Diplomacy Magazine.
• Exploring Digital Diplomacy blog by Ilan Manor.

 
In the coming days, I will discuss Technology Diplomacy or TechPlomacy. Here is my previous blog post about the subject. 
 
Reference:
 
Bjola, C. (2022). Stratcom-Talks, Episode 29 (podcast interview).
 
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer or company.

 
This post is dedicated to all individuals and institutions participating in the IME's activities and programs through its 20-year history. 
 
On Sunday, April 16, the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior) celebrated its 20th anniversary. On that day in 2003, the government of Mexico published the Decreet that established this new diaspora engagement institution in the Federal Registry.
 
The Institute, also known as the IME (for its acronym in Spanish), revolutionized the relationships between the government of Mexico (especially the executive branch of the federal government) and the Mexican community in the United States and Canada. For the first time in history, Mexican migrants and second-generation and National Hispanic organizations sat at the table by participating in the IME's Advisory Council (known as the Consejo Consultivo del IME or CCIME). 
 
The IME also profoundly transmuted the role of the consulates and hometown associations in their host municipalities and states, engaging with a wide variety of actors from businesses and local authorities to civil society organizations and institutions. They developed effective and long-lasting partnerships to cater to the needs of the Mexican community in North America. Their activities can be classified as a successful public diplomacy effort (Márquez Lartigue, 2023).
 
Background
 
Even though migration to the United States has been a constant in some states in Mexico for over a century, significant changes dramatically transformed the situation in the late 1980s and through the 1990s.
 
The combination of several factors metamorphosed Mexican migrants from temporary workers into a permanent diaspora: 

1. The regularization of more than 2.3 million Mexicans was a result of the enactment of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which generated a boom in family reunification, including the arrival of a significant number of women and children. It also allowed them to travel freely to Mexico and get permanent jobs in urban areas.
2. The migration circularity ended due to greater immigration enforcement operations through the 1990s that resulted from the criminalization of migration violations and growing anti-immigrant sentiments.
3. The expansion of Mexican migrants from all regions of Mexico and their dispersion in every corner of the U.S. turned migration from a regional to a national phenomenon on both sides of the border.
4. Mexico's economic downfall and one of the longest economic booms in the U.S.

 
Besides, the government of Mexico reformed its consular system, including the establishment of the Program of Mexican Communities Abroad in 1990, expanded its consular network, and granted greater autonomy to consular officers to actively engage with Mexican community leaders, local and state authorities, and civil society organizations (González Gutiérrez, 1997). Government officials encouraged the establishment of Hometown Associations and confederations among migrants and Migrants Care Offices (Oficinas de Atención a Migrantes) by Mexican provincial and even municipal authorities. 
 
After the failure to negotiate a migration accord with the U.S. in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the government of Mexico created the National Council for Mexican Communities Abroad in the summer of 2002. One of the council's tasks was to receive recommendations from consultative mechanisms (Diario Oficial de la Federación, 2002).
 
The establishment of the IME
 
In the autumn of 2002, Mexican consulates across the United States and Canada invited migrant community leaders to participate in the selection process of an advisory board that was going to be established as part of the IME.
 
Ayón (2006) explains that the IME was added to traditional consular programs such as documentary services (passports, notary public, and visas) and assistance to distressed citizens because the Institute could "plan, handle, propose, and pursue national and binational strategic goals and respond to the challenges that transcend the consular district" (p. 132).
 
IME's first Executive Director indicated that the institute had three primary functions: information dissemination, empowerment of the communities, and provision of innovative new services that go beyond regular consular programs (González Gutiérrez, 2009).
 
Regarding information distribution, the IME had three major programs: 

1. "Lazos," an electronic information bulletin distributed to more than 12,000 people with news of interest to the migrant community in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.  (González Gutiérrez, 2009, p. 96). Nowadays, the monthly digital bulletin is called Casa de México. 
2. The Jornadas Informativas, or as Laglagaron (2010) translated the termed Migrant-Focused Conferences (p. 19), conveyed leaders across North America on specific topics from gastronomy to financial education to share experiences and information. This program was also part of the empowerment activities.
3. The network of HTAs and community leaders connected with the consulates and the federal government through the activities of the CCIME.

 
The consular network began offering social services through partnerships with non-governmental organizations, authorities, and even businesses. These services centered on non-traditional areas such as education (Plazas Comunitarias -Basic Adult Education- program, scholarships -IME Becas-, and exchange of teachers, among others), health (centered around the Ventanillas de Salud or Health Desks and the Binational Health Week); financial education and investment of remittances (Financial Advisory Desk -Ventanilla de Asesoría Financiera-, the Three-for-one program, and Directo a Mexico. 
 
The most important task was the empowerment of the Mexican community through the CCIME and participation in the information and services agendas (Ayón 2006, p. 132). 
 
In many ways, the government of Mexico, through its consular network, was already working on most of these programs before the creation of the IME. Notwithstanding, the key innovative aspect of the institute was its advisory council. For the first time, its approximately 120 members from across the U.S. and Canada gathered at least twice a year to prepare recommendations about policies directed at Mexican migrants in North America. The first director of the Institute, Don Cándido Morales, was also a migrant from Oaxaca living In California. 
 
Even though the CCIME had limited responsibilities centered on presenting non-binding recommendations, it provided a national platform for migrant leaders. On the one hand, they meet and engage each other, strengthening their advocacy and organization skills. It was an executive leadership training academy (Ayón, 2006, p. 135). On the other hand, it opened the doors to authorities on both sides of the border at all levels. It facilitated their engagement with civil society and, for some, in political activities. 
 
Giving Mexican migrants a voice and visibility through the CCIME was helpful as it helped expand many of the IME programs, such as the Health Desks and the creation of IME Becas. Also, many board members advocated enacting the overseas absentee vote implementing law in 2005 and the migrant demonstrations of the Spring of 2006.
 
The IME has evolved thought its 20 years of existence, but most of its core functions continue to this day. In 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched the 2022-2024 Action Plan for Mexicans living overseas, which contains nearly 40 activities. 
 
IME's successful public diplomacy
 
Without using the term public diplomacy, the IME's activities can be defined as such. Its programs encompass Professor Nicholas Cull's (2019) five elements of public diplomacy listening, advocacy, cultural activities, and educational exchanges. Even there was some international broadcasting in the form of electronic information bulletins.
 
Interestingly, the target audiences were migrants themselves. However, it did not stop there; through its many undertakings, consular offices engaged with all sorts of people and organizations and slowly built long-lasting partnerships. Thus, nowadays, the IME "has about 2,000 partners in Mexico and the USA" (Mendoza Sánchez & Cespedes Cantú, 2021).
 
Another contribution of the IME was that many countries, from Uruguay to Morocco and Türkiye to Colombia, requested meetings and attended some of its activities to learn more about the country's diaspora engagement programs. (Laglagaron, 2010, p. 39; Délano, 2014). The IME generated soft power for Mexico's diplomacy soft power, as it attracted attention around the globe.
 
It has also generated consular partnerships with other Latin American consulates in programs like Binational Health Week and Labor Rights Week that are celebrated across the U.S. every year. With the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, several consulates established consular coordination schemes known as Tricamex. 
 
One of the most outstanding achievements of the IME was reducing the barriers between the government and the migrants. After years of hard work, little by little, it has gained the community's trust, which was very little. Significant investments in the modernization of documentary services have also resulted in better quality services. 
 
The Institute also gave way to the rise of Mexico's public-consular diplomacy. To learn more about its origins and features, read my practitioner's essay in the Journal of Public Diplomacy titled Beyond Traditional Boundaries: The Origins and Features of the Public-Consular Diplomacy of Mexico. 
 
References
 
Ayón, D.R. (2006). La política mexicana y la movilización de los migrantes en Estdos Unidos.  In Carlos Gónzalez Gutiérrez (coor.), Relaciones Estado-diáspora: La perspectiva de América Latina y el Caribe. Tomo II, (pp. 113-144). Ciudad de México. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores.
 
Cull, N. J. (2019). Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age. (Kindle Edition).
 
Délano, A. (2014). The diffusion of diaspora engagement policies: A Latin American agenda. Political Geography, 41, 90-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2013.11.007.
 
Diario Oficial de la Federación. (2002, August 8). Acuerdo por el que se crea el Consejo Nacional para las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Exterior. https://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=721574&fecha=08/08/2002#gsc.tab=0
 
Diario Oficial de la Federación. (2003, April 16). Decreto por el que se crea el Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior, con el carácter de órgano administrativo desconcentrado de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores. https://www.gob.mx/ime/documentos/decreto-por-el-que-se-crea-el-ime
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (1997). Decentralized Diplomacy: The Role of Consular Offices in Mexico´s Relations with its Diaspora. In Rodolfo O de la Garza and Jesús Velasco (eds.), Bridging the Border: Transforming Mexico-U.S. Relations, (pp. 49-67). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (2006). Introduccion: El papel de los gobiernos. In Carlos Gónzalez Gutiérrez (coor.), Relaciones Estado-diáspora: La perspectiva de América Latina y el Caribe. Tomo II, (pp. 13-42). Ciudad de México. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores.
 
González Gutiérrez, C. (2009). The Institute of Mexicans Abroad: An Effort to Empower the Diaspora. In Dovelyn Rannverg Agunias (ed.), Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen ties with their Diasporas, (pp. 87-98). Washington, DC. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/closing-distance-how-governments-strengthen-ties-their-diasporas
 
Laglagaron, L. (2010). Protection through Integration: The Mexican Government's Efforts to Aid Migrants in the United States. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/IME_FINAL.pdf
 
Márquez Lartigue, R. (2023). Engaging migrants in the Mexico-US diplomatic relationship: The Institute of Mexicans Abroad. Working paper presented in the ISA 2023 convention. Unpublished. 
 
Mendoza Sánchez, J. C., & Cespedes Cantú, A. (2021). Innovating through Engagement: Mexico’s Model to Support Its Diaspora. In L. Kennedy (ed), Routledge International Handbook of Diaspora Diplomacy (Kindle Edition). Routledge.
 
Terrazas, A. and Papademetriou, D. G. (2010). Reflexiones sobre el compromiso de México con Estados Unidos en materia de migración con énfasis en los programas para la comunidad de mexicanos en el exterior. In Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Mexicanos en el Exterior: Trayectorias y Perspectivas (1990-2010), (pp. 107-139). Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Instituto Matías Romero.
 
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer or company.
 

Yes, I had writer's block, and it was horrible. 
 
For the last six months, I have been working on a paper about the influence of society on diplomacy, focusing on diasporas, to present at an international convention. However, I was not able to write coherently and thoughtfully. I had writer's block. Now I realize how fortunate I have been, as this was the first time ever that I could not put my ideas into paper or, nowadays, the screen. 
 
Since my university years, I have always been able to compose some decent prose, from my three theses all the way to my recently published practitioners' essay about public-consular diplomacy in the Journal of Public Diplomacy. I always have so many ideas, which is one of the reasons that I decided to start this blog. Time has been my only limitation in writing before I hit the wall.
 
My previous understanding of writer's block was that the person did not have ideas to write. Now, it is the opposite. When you have too many ideas and options to frame your thoughts, you cannot write, period. 
 
Having writer's block is an unpleasant experience, and now I understand all my Ph.D. friends and scholars that struggle to finish their dissertations and essays. Framing a gazillion thoughts in a certain way is the most challenging task of the writing process, so your argument and evidence can stand the multiple tests they need to pass before you can present them publicly.
 
For me, the issue at heart is how to demonstrate that diasporas influence a country's diplomacy from a societal perspective. Luckily, I found an article that helped me overcome writer's block, so I was able to move forward with the working paper. I had to hurry to finish the first draft of the essay so I could present it at the convention!
 
After all the hoopla about ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence programs that (supposedly) will help humans better communicate ideas, process complex thoughts, and even do the work for us, it is time to reflect on what makes us human. For me, the ability to process information and put it in black and white (or orally presented) is one characteristic of humanity besides feeling emotions and, for some, having faith. 
 
The disruption of social media was supposed to improve our livelihoods, but looking at the current state of the world, it is clear that I did not fulfill its promise. Technology in itself is not bad or good; people make it beneficial or detrimental. Let's hope we are more careful about its implementation this time so we don't lose part of what makes us human. 
 
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on this blog are that of the author and do not represent the opinions of any other authority, agency, organization, employer or company.