TY  - UNPB
N2  - Scientific and technological knowledge has become a core element of modern diplomacy. 
Consequently, diplomats are having to navigate massive volumes of this type of knowledge on 
top of their traditional tasks. As the primary institution for multilateral diplomacy, one might 
expect the United Nations (UN) to exemplify best practice in managing this increased demand 
on diplomats. Harnessing the concept of Knowledge Management (KM) from the business 
literature, and adopting and adapting Liu?s 2020 KM model, this thesis has developed a unique 
interdisciplinary methodology to systematically study this area.  Focusing on the UN 
negotiations on ICTs in international security in the period 1998-2021, and based on data 
gathered through desk work, interviews, and unstructured non-participant observation, this 
thesis examines to what extent, and in what form, KM practices have been put in place to 
handle scientific and technological knowledge in this particular multilateral setting. In doing 
so, several significant findings are established. Initially, it is revealed that scientific and 
technological knowledge has played a minimal role within these negotiations. Considering 
knowledge more broadly, multiple activities can be conceptualized as KM practices. These 
practices, it is argued, do not, however, amount to an intentional, formal, and systematic KM 
approach. Rather they have largely been decentralized, individualized, ad hoc and informal in 
nature, which has contributed to their politicization. Instead of supporting all diplomats, these 
practices have only been available to select participants, reinforcing an already uneven playing 
field. Reacting to this, the thesis offers several practical recommendations to support diplomats 
in these negotiations. Furthermore, through observations made in the ICT case study, the thesis 
offers a concrete conceptualization of the term specialized diplomacy, highlighting its 
significance to wider considerations of KM. Moreover, through the consideration of a ?mini 
case study,? it was found that the ICT negotiations are not the only decades long multilateral 
diplomatic negotiation process having a scientific and technological dimension, in which a 
consistent and systematic approach to the management of this type of knowledge has not been 
implemented. These findings are significant, as they highlight that the UN, in practice, has not 
intentionally and explicitly accounted for the rapid growth in scientific and technological 
knowledge relevant to the studied multilateral processes.
ID  - discovery10186457
UR  - https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186457/
PB  - UCL (University College London)
M1  - Doctoral
A1  - Andersen, Lise H
TI  - Multilateral Diplomacy and the Endless Frontier:
A Study of the Management of Knowledge in the UN Negotiations
on ICTs in the Context of International Security
AV  - restricted
Y1  - 2024/01/28/
EP  - 290
N1  - Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).  Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms.  Access may initially be restricted at the author?s request.
ER  -