DIGITAL DIPLOMACY AS AN INSTITUTION OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY: THE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF OSINT UNDER HYBRID THREATS

Abstract

The accelerating digital transformation of international relations has fundamentally reshaped the institutional architecture of diplomacy, expanding its functions far beyond political communication. Contemporary digital diplomacy is increasingly operating as a multidimensional governance mechanism, integrating data infrastructures, artificial intelligence, open-source intelligence (OSINT), digital platforms, and strategic analytics into foreign policy decision-making. Simultaneously, the emergence of hybrid threats has transformed the economic basis of international security, combining military coercion with cyber operations, disinformation, sanctions evasion, technological competition and the manipulation of global supply chains. These developments necessitate a rethink of digital diplomacy, viewing it not merely as a communication tool, but as an institutional component of the international political economy responsible for producing and managing strategic information resources. This article presents a political economy framework that explains how OSINT operates as an economic mechanism within digital diplomacy. Unlike existing studies, which primarily examine OSINT from the perspectives of intelligence, security or investigative journalism, this research conceptualises OSINT as an institutional process that transforms open data into strategic economic information. This information can reduce uncertainty, decrease transaction costs, strengthen sanctions enforcement, improve investment risk assessment and support evidence-based diplomatic decision-making. In terms of methodology, the study draws on political economy, international political economy, institutional economics, digital diplomacy studies, information economics, data economy theory and hybrid threat research. The analytical framework draws on institutional analysis, comparative analysis, document analysis, content analysis, qualitative case studies and OSINT methodology. The article presents an innovative conceptual model that illustrates how hybrid threats drive the institutional development of digital diplomacy by integrating OSINT, data analytics, and strategic decision-making processes. It posits that digital diplomacy has evolved into an institution that generates strategic information capital, thereby bolstering economic security and national competitiveness. The findings contribute to contemporary debates on digital diplomacy by broadening its theoretical interpretation to encompass the political economy of strategic information governance, not just communication and public diplomacy.