Diplomats in embassies and permanent representations are increasingly using the messaging application WhatsApp to communicate with their peers. They use WhatsApp groups to coordinate initiatives at multilateral forums, communicate more rapidly with headquarters and stay in touch with organizational developments at home, as well as form more personal working relations among their peers. To make sense of this phenomenon, our analysis looks at adaptation in practice. Instead of separating digital practices from offline/traditional ways of doing things, we build on the practice turn in International Relations and develop a nuanced framework in which improvising agents in a transformed context adapt to new realities while continuously being influenced by past ways of doing things—a phenomenon called “hysteresis” by practice turners. We analyze how traditional practices are supplemented by new technologies (complementarities) as well as how offline and online relationships are shaped by similar practical logics (similarities). We apply these micro-lenses to understand multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Building on twenty-three interviews with practitioners, we find that WhatsApp redefines the meaning of face-to-face interactions among ambassadors and permanent representatives and makes physical meetings between diplomats more—rather than less—important.

中文翻译：

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WhatsApp 在日内瓦的外交实践？外交官、数字技术和实践适应

大使馆和常驻代表处的外交官越来越多地使用消息应用程序 WhatsApp 与他们的同行交流。他们使用 WhatsApp 群组在多边论坛上协调倡议，与总部更快速地沟通，与国内的组织发展保持联系，并在同行之间建立更多的个人工作关系。为了理解这种现象，我们的分析着眼于实践中的适应。我们没有将数字实践与线下/传统的做事方式分开，而是建立在国际关系实践转向的基础上，并开发一个微妙的框架，在这个框架中，即兴代理人在转型的环境中适应新的现实，同时不断受到过去做事方式的影响——一种被练习者称为“滞后”的现象。我们分析了新技术如何补充传统实践（互补性），以及线下和线上关系如何由相似的实践逻辑（相似性）塑造。在日内瓦联合国人权理事会，我们运用这些微观视角来理解多边外交。基于对从业者的 23 次采访，我们发现 WhatsApp 重新定义了大使和常驻代表之间面对面互动的意义，并使外交官之间的实际会面更加重要——而不是不那么重要。在日内瓦联合国人权理事会，我们运用这些微观视角来理解多边外交。基于对从业者的 23 次采访，我们发现 WhatsApp 重新定义了大使和常驻代表之间面对面互动的意义，并使外交官之间的实际会面更加重要——而不是不那么重要。在日内瓦联合国人权理事会，我们运用这些微观视角来理解多边外交。基于对从业者的 23 次采访，我们发现 WhatsApp 重新定义了大使和常驻代表之间面对面互动的意义，并使外交官之间的实际会面更加重要——而不是不那么重要。