Diplomatic sector and information management in Arab countries: Iraqi Foreign Affair Ministry: case study

Abstract

This study aims to identify the reality of information management in the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in terms of procedures for organizing, storing, retrieving it, and transmitting it to the ministry’s departments and divisions, its researchers, decision-makers, and relevant agencies and departments. The case study approach was added to study the current information reality of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to come up with an integrated scientific vision of the obstacles and positives, and to propose solutions to those problems in order to develop and raise the level of performance. Research data was collected through

documents
Interviews with employees in the ministry from administrative levels.
Actual observation of the reality of work.
The study produced results, the most important of which were:

- Weak information awareness in the ministry, with the absence of any information courses from the curricula of the Foreign Service Institute, which produces groups of diplomats to work in the ministry and its institutions.

- The information technology infrastructure available in the Ministry of devices and equipment is fairly adequate, as well as the human resources (with the exception of the information specialist) to establish a special information center for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will play a pivotal role in information management if other matters such as training and adding other devices and equipment are completed.