History of Diplomacy and Technology – From smoke signals to artificial intelligence

Ever wonder how ancient messengers shaped today’s AI-driven diplomacy? Or why a 15th-century printing press still echoes in modern disinformation wars? To understand the forces that define how technology drives power today, we first need to understand yesterday’s breakthroughs.

The book explores 5,000 years of interaction between diplomacy and technology. From the invention of writing to algorithms in contemporary foreign ministries, this research traces how technological advances have shaped diplomatic practice and influenced global affairs.

In this book, Jovan Kurbalija shows why today’s tech disruptions are less ‘unprecedented’ than we often think. On 400 pages, supported by extensive footnotes and detailed tables and illustrated with figures and maps, the book is perfect reading for:

• diplomats navigating digital fragmentation;
• tech pioneer building governance frameworks;
• historians rethinking societal evolution;
• anyone exhausted by shallow ‘tech will save/destroy us’ takes.