Re-Tweeting Trump: (How) Does the U.S. Presidents Twitter Communication Shapes 21st Century's Diplomacy?

Recent debates in political science discuss how and to which extent the digital age shapes the diplomatic world. In this context, political communications via social media and insights in the complexity of communication path and patterns in the cross-sectional field between online and offline are of extraordinary interest. In the last year, especially the Twitter communication of the 45th US president Donald J. Trump has amazed and surprised scholars as well as political experts and career diplomats. In our presentation, we aim to analyze the Twitter communication of the 45th US president concerning its effects on the US security strategy as well as the international interaction sphere, by taking the perspectives and reactions of different national actors and observers into account. Therefore, we selected three relevant cases from the already huge amount of empirical data, contributed by Trump himself, in form of his Twitter communication. The case selection is based on the relevance of the covered subjects for international relations, especially in terms of a sustainable impact and echo within diplomatic world. Our three cases include “the wall”, the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom in a post-Brexit context and the relationship with North Korea, especially in terms of the question of nuclear war. By analyzing tweets and reactions and comparing those with the NSS, we are aiming to reveal an empirically underlaid impression of the impact of social media communications and technology on foreign relations.