The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the use of online tools in the conduct of multilateral environmental negotiations. Although scholars have recognized that information and communication technologies have gradually been reshaping traditional diplomatic practice, such technologies are not considered to be transformative of diplomatic practice itself. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic states have had to rush into unprecedented and unpredictable forms of digital cooperation that are poorly understood. To illuminate this uncharted area, our research applies combined digital and critical policy ethnography to two online dialogues within the framework of ongoing negotiations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea toward a new treaty for the protection and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Digital critical policy ethnography conducted at two online sites enables us to study the political effects of emerging international practices. We re-interpret digital diplomacy in terms of “communities of practice” developing across, and connecting physical and digital sites. Virtual communications amongst state and non-state actors mirror traditional forms of diplomacy whilst introducing new practices that may change conventional forms of international treaty-making. We propose the term digital multilateralism to capture these new forms and conclude that it can have two effects: deepen the background knowledge of actors that form a community of practice and create new inequalities.

中文翻译：

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实践中的数字多边主义：将关键政策民族志扩展到数字谈判场所

COVID-19 大流行显着增加了在线工具在多边环境谈判中的使用。尽管学者们已经认识到信息和通信技术正在逐渐重塑传统的外交实践，但这些技术并不被认为是对外交实践本身的变革。然而，由于 COVID-19 大流行，各州不得不急于开展前所未有的、不可预测的数字合作形式，但人们对此知之甚少。为了照亮这个未知的领域，我们的研究将数字化和批判性政策民族志相结合，应用于联合国海洋法公约下正在进行的谈判框架内的两个在线对话，以制定一项保护和可持续利用国家管辖范围以外海洋生物多样性的新条约。在两个在线网站上进行的数字批判政策民族志使我们能够研究新兴国际实践的政治影响。我们从跨越物理和数字站点发展并连接物理站点和数字站点的“实践社区”的角度重新解释数字外交。国家和非国家行为者之间的虚拟交流反映了传统的外交形式，同时引入了可能改变传统国际条约制定形式的新做法。