Alternative Agency Through the Lens of Online Diplomacy: A Grounded Case Study of the Taiwanese NGO Scene
Abstract
This study explores how Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) perform functions traditionally associated with diplomacy and how digital communication has transformed their international agency. Based on nine semi-structured expert interviews, online content analysis, and secondary sources, it identifies advocacy, international representation, network-building, expertise-sharing, coalition-building, and public engagement as recurring elements of Taiwanese NGOs’ diplomatic activities. Diplomatic agency does not necessarily require diplomatic status or even diplomatic intent: thematic NGOs may acquire representational functions simply through international activity. More importantly, the Taiwanese case suggests that the diplomatic impact of digitalization may depend on actors’ pre-existing access to international channels. Where such access is structurally constrained, digital tools may become constitutive rather than simply supplementary to international agency. Finally, the findings identify an attribution problem of blurred boundaries between independent NGO communication and state-connected international messaging.
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