Arrangement

For this, I present ethnographic material from five years of research (2018-2023) in and with the diplomatic scene in Brussels. I approach this material through the work of Sherry Turkle and apply her ideas about ‘evocative objects’ to theorise the presence of screens in diplomacy. In contrast to most existing scholarship that focuses on technological promise or peril, I capture how digitalisation is experienced by diplomatic practitioners themselves by asking about what kind of associations screens (e.g., smartphones) evoke for them. Based on this, I draw out how screens confirm or confront established professional procedures and theorise the screen as both an effective and affective object that catches, and shapes, the rules and frictions of diplomatic practice today. Overall, the article contributes detailed empirical insights into an otherwise largely closed-off world and nurtures a new theoretical language about one of the key objects that drives the digitalisation of international politics.