9. Public diplomacy

Author(s):  
Caitlin Byrne

This chapter examines public diplomacy as a foreign policy instrument for the contemporary world. Public diplomacy has enjoyed a revival over the past decade, beginning with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Within a few years public diplomacy had become the hottest topic on the diplomacy studies agenda, giving rise to robust new debate about the role and relevance of publics and public opinion in the conduct of foreign policy. The chapter first traces the origins and modern evolution of public diplomacy before discussing its theoretical foundations, with particular emphasis on its soft power underpinnings and constructivist tendencies. It also explores key approaches and instruments to illustrate the broad diversity of a project of public diplomacy. Finally, it assesses the role of new media technologies in extending the reach of public diplomacy and drawing foreign policy more than ever into the public domain.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-104
Author(s):  
Derek Moscato

Summary This study examines the confluence of sport and soft power within public diplomacy. It analyses professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki’s role in the United States as a sporting ambassador from Japan — potentially catalysing goodwill, cultural interest, perceptions of national personality traits and even views of policy issues such as international trade and country relations. In doing so, this research draws from non-state public diplomacy, which considers the transnational impacts of non-traditional communication vehicles such as cultural and sporting exchanges. It measures US public sentiment towards Japan through quantitative analysis of survey responses collected by Pew Research Center in conjunction with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The success of Japan’s cultural and sporting exports highlights their potential and realised role in binding national ties. Furthermore, Tokyo’s hosting of the Summer Olympiad emphasises the role of sport not only as a vehicle for competition and entertainment but also its utility in global engagement.


Author(s):  
Joseph S. Nye

This chapter examines US foreign policy as ‘smart power’, a combnation of hard and soft power, in the twenty-first century. The beginning of the twenty-first century saw George W. Bush place a strong emphasis on hard power, as exemplifed by the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This was evident after 9/11. While the war in Iraq showcased America’s hard military power that removed a tyrant, it failed to resolve US vulnerability to terrorism; on the contrary, it may have increased it. The chapter first considers the Obama administration’s reference to its foreign policy as ‘smart power’ before discussing Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, the role of power in a global information age, soft power in US foreign policy, and how public diplomacy has been incorporated into US foreign policy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Nur Fareha

This paper investigates the role of Islam in Malaysia’s as a reform on soft power tools under the leaderships of Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Badawi. The study emphasis the reform in policy making, philosophies and approaches of the premiers in developing an understanding of the importance of Islam’s role in Malaysia’s public diplomacy. The research also determines the influence of international events in the public diplomacy policies. The study takes a constructivist approach and includes faith diplomacy into the realm of public diplomacy. This study has achieved its objective of understanding Islamic public diplomacy in Malaysia’s administration and should be useful for developing future policies of public diplomacy for domestic and international consumption. It is an interesting reflection of this study that the common perception that Abdullah’s public diplomacy was not successful is incorrect; this perception is founded on the labelling that Abdullah’s version carried, which is because Abdullah, true to his character and personality, embraced and enriched previous premiership Islamization principles, without wanting to change them. Though there are arguments as discussed that Islam Hadhari declined, it only declined in the domestic context. In the international arena it appealed to a much wider audience.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-238
Author(s):  
S. M. Mirmohammad Sadeghi ◽  
R. Hajimineh

«Soft power» is a set of activities designed by a government or regional and international actors aimed to influence external public opinion, promote external image or attract support for a particular policy, which is implemented through all the available tools and new technologies. The non-governmental actors also play an effective and important role in this diplomacy. Considering the public diplomacy and soft power of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a deliberate and conscious approach can be of great importance in the country's grand strategies that will strengthen national interests in the domestic sphere and influence them at regional and global levels. The article analyzes the role of Iran’s soft power in confronting Iranophobia. The study is aimed at presenting a theoretical definition of public diplomacy and soft power in foreign policy and international system, and then examines its role in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran with an emphasis on confronting Iranophobia.The authors answer the research question: “What is the role of soft power in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in confronting Iranophobia?” The research method is descriptive-analytical based on historical evidence, documents, and analytical issues of theorists, authors, and media being expressed in the theoretical framework of soft power. The paper is based on a synthesis of Stephen Walt’s “balance of threat” theory with Alexander Wendt’s social constructivism to explain the Iranian “threat” in American foreign policy.The findings of this research show that without the use of force and disturbing the balance in the international relations, using a variety of tools and instruments the Iranian public diplomacy and soft power might be effective to reduce the global and regional atmosphere of Iranophobia and undermine anti-Iranian solidarity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Puspita Plehanku

Abstract Public Diplomacy as a part of soft power has been the main principle of Indonesia’s diplomacy under President Yudhoyono. Due to the ineffectiveness of Track 1 Diplomacy, Government-to-Government (G2G) relations, in promoting the positive image of Indonesia, the role of public diplomacy becomes important. Thus, public diplomacy practice which involves all aspects of society; Government to Government (G2G), Government to People Contact (G2P), and People to People Contact (P2P), is relevant in order to promote Indonesia to American society and strengthening its bilateral relations as well. This research, therefore, is trying to discuss the role of public diplomacy in strengthening the RI-US bilateral relations and its benefits to Indonesia’s foreign policy. The findings show that public diplomacy contributes in strengthening RI-US bilateral relations by the use of public diplomacy instruments such as cultural and educational exchanges, official visits and social media. Keywords: Soft Power, Public Diplomacy, RI-US Bilateral Relations.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (III) ◽  
pp. 307-316
Author(s):  
Azka Gull ◽  
Shabnam Gul ◽  
Shujat Ali

The objective of diplomacy is to advance a country's national interests; Public Diplomacy(PD) achieves this aim by communicating directly with the foreign publics and ultimately influencing their governments. Major global actors including the US, UK, China, South Korea, and India, utilize public diplomacy as a foreign policy instrument. All these countries have developed cohesive policies and strategies to conduct public diplomacy. Pakistan can also utilize public diplomacy to fulfil its foreign policy objectives. This research article analyzes the public diplomacy strategy of Pakistan along with the UK, US, China, South Korea and India in order to identify the various strategies and tools adopted by these states. This research only investigates public diplomacy policy and strategy; the outcome of these efforts are not discussed. Distinctive aspects and instruments of PD strategies of all six countries are recognized, along with drawing lessons for an effective PD strategy in Pakistan. This research concludes that Pakistan can adopt certain effective elements from public diplomacy practices of other states and develop a cohesive and sound PD strategy of its own.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Putu Ratih Kumala Dewi

K-Pop has become a global phenomenon embarked by the Korean government as part of its cultural diplomacy, with the help of other elements such as K-Pop Fans. The existence of K-Pop is inseparable from its loyal fan community called fandom. This research thus aims to explore the phenomenon of K-pop fandom around the world and the role it plays in the globalization of K-Pop. The objective of this research is to examine the role of K-Pop fandom as a non-state actor in South Korea’s public diplomacy and in supporting the dissemination of K-Pop as a global culture. This research applies qualitative descriptive method where primary data are obtained through interviews with members of K-Pop fandom in Bali. In addition, secondary data will also be obtained through studying past literatures. Furthermore, this research utilizes the concept of public diplomacy and soft power. In the end, this research found that, K-Pop fandom, plays its role as a referee while the public is the receivers. As a ‘referee’, not only they act as a consumer of K-Pop, but K-Pop fandom also serve as a distributor and producer. The finding of this study is beneficial to understand the significance of non-state actors in the dissemination of ‘pop’ culture as part of public diplomacy as seen in South Korea. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-131
Author(s):  
Nabin Kumar Khara

The article aims to analyse the increasing importance of soft power in the context of globalization and the growing conflicts over the use of military power for achieving foreign policy objectives. This article specifically focuses on the role of soft power in the foreign policy of India and sources of India’s soft power. It also examines the factors that affect India’s soft power adversely and how to increase its soft power. In international relations, the role of public diplomacy, among other aspects, is to brand the country and the nation through its culture and art. This article also argues that the increasing acceptability of its culture and values opens up possibilities for India to realize its foreign policy goals. In recent years, India’s leaders have increasingly focused on its diaspora, multicultural ethos and its ancient practices like yoga, through official campaigns and foreign visits. The article traces the evolution of India as a soft power since its emergence as an independent country. It explores how this soft power has shaped India’s foreign policy and behavior. India’s soft power assets are not of recent origin, but there is an increasing activism to use those assets effectively.


Author(s):  
Joshua D. Kertzer

How does the public think about foreign affairs, and how do these public preferences shape foreign policymaking? Over the past several decades, scholarship on public opinion and foreign policy has proliferated, partially due to a growing interest in the “first image” and the ways in which individuals matter in international relations, partially due to an experimental revolution that gave political scientists new methods they could use to study public opinion, and partially due to a range of searing debates—on topics ranging from the Iraq War to globalization—whose fault lines political scientists attempted to map. Scholarship in this area is thus so vast that it is impossible to comprehensively capture in an annotated bibliography of this length. Instead, the discussion that follows focuses on a curated sampling of the field, focusing, in particular, on six sets of substantive questions, drawing on a mix of classic and contemporary scholarship. It begins by reviewing what we know about how foreign policy attitudes are structured, before focusing on public opinion about two different areas of foreign policy: the use of force, and foreign economic issues like trade and investment. It then turns to the effects of sex and gender, along with the role of cue givers in shaping foreign policy preferences—whether partisan elites, international organizations, or social peers. It concludes by reviewing the relationship between public opinion and foreign policy, whether in democracies (as in theories of democratic constraint and accountability), transnational public opinion (as in theories of soft power and anti-Americanism), or in nondemocratic regimes, a relatively new area of research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Eugen-Adrian Cojocariu

"The paper analyzes how international broadcasters cross all types of borders, physical or conceptual, in order to reach the public and fulfill their role of public diplomacy tool for their countries in a difficult context for international stations and for media in general. We focused on Radio Romania International, which produces and broadcasts programs in 13 languages, aiming at promoting Romania, its domestic and foreign policy. Keywords: international radio, borders, information, promotion, credibility "


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