International relations and foreign policy in digital presidential leadership

Abstract

This article addresses digital communication, issued by 10 South American presidents, in the context of the exit of the Covid-19 pandemic (second half 2021). This study examines the presidential communication leadership in the field of international relations and, in particular, regarding the attention that they give to international issues in their communications, as well as the direction that such attention takes.
The methodological strategy implemented adapts mechanisms used in similar studies, combining elements of big data with those of content analysis. A total of 11,616 data/messages were analyzed.
The findings obtained explain that presidential digital communication in South America pays little attention to the international sphere and, in the few spaces reserved for this topic, said communication is directed by virtue of global issues, rather than bilateral or multilateral ones. This, in partial contrast to our hypothesis, which postulates that presidential digital communication in South America pays little attention to the international sphere, but that in the few spaces reserved for this topic, said communication is directed by virtue of bilateral rivalries.