Simonsays

David Miliband, British foreign policy and the internet

I posted about this over at my other blog, eDemocracy Update, the other week but have only just got around to linking it here.

I've published the first in a series of essays about British foreign policy under David Milband, his progressive interventionist ideology and the internet over at e-International Relations.

The essay, The Civilian Surge: Liberal Foreign Policy, Intervention and the Internet, attempts to put Miliband's idea of what he calls the 'civilian surge' being created by the internet's empowering effects on global society into a theoretical framework. It then assess its impact on global democracy.

Technorati tags: politics, theory, David Miliband, british foreign policy

Miliband's blog is back... this time with some friends

Work is manic as per and as a resutl I haven't logged into my personal bloglines account in days.

However, I have just come across the news that Foreign Secretary, David Miliband is back blogging - which is great news.

Even better news is the fact that the site is caleld 'FCO Bloggers' which to me indicates that there is more than one FCO blog. So I has me a little look around.... and lo and behold there's a link to 'All FCO blogs'.

Nice one, Dave! The page declares:

"This blog space provides a place for Ministers and officials to engage in a dialogue with you about international affairs and the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We want these personal blogs to be a genuine sharing of ideas, so we will try to read the comments you post here and respond to the debate."

So it's all starting to look like a really good effort to help open up the FCO to a wider world.

In case you can't read the profiles, the FCO bloggers are:

• David Miliband, Foreign Secretary
• Lindsay Appleby, First Secretary, Brussels
• Sarah Russell, new entrant
• Jim Murphy, Minister for Europe
• Maria Pia Gazzella, Trade Officer, Santiago
• Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Ambassador to Afghanistan

Hopefully we'll get some really good material from across the FCO's global remit. There's also an FCO YouTube channel and Flickr stream

Technorati tags: FCO, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, David Miliband, blogging, government