The New Era of Public Diplomacy: Egypt's Public Diplomacy Effort - Challenges and Opportunities

This research paper proposes an analysis of the most important and most current forms of the new diplomacy namely public diplomacy. Mainly, based on qualitative research methods, the authors turn their attention towards the "first digital revolution" in the Arab world through social networks - Facebook and Twitter, now recognized as important tools for social media, which managed to expose freedom of expression as a fundamental democratic principle of the revolution in Egypt. The final study of this paper emphasizes the role of public diplomacy in Egypt in the context of technology, especially the impact of the internet in the mobilisations which were aimed at changing the political and social life, relying on the challenges and opportunities of both social networks considered engines of information and communication mechanisms. This paper has attempted to highlight the roles played by the main actors on the stage of the revolution, research reaching the final point in the critical moment after the presidential election. The main limitation of this research is the lack of native Arabic, and a study of public diplomacy practiced in Egypt can be improved by interpreting Arabic script on social media platforms. The relationship between faith and diplomacy is becoming more visible and its role is growing in political and diplomatic contexts.