Public Diplomacy Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Public diplomacy (PD) is a communication process employed by states and nonstate actors to influence a foreign government by influencing its citizens. It is a relatively new field of practice and scholarship. It attracted attention in the previous century with the opening of diplomacy to the media and public opinion, and became a more substantial area during the cold war, which was dominated by the delicate balance of nuclear weapons and the ideological battle for the hearts and minds of peoples around the world. PD became a critical element of national security and foreign policy following the emergence of the information age, the end of the cold war, and the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

Public Diplomacy During The Cold War

Originally, states used PD in antagonistic relationships in order to achieve long-term results in foreign societies. The assumption was that if public opinion in the target society is persuaded to accept a favorable image of the other side, this will exert pressure on the government to alter existing hostile attitudes and policy. Thus, during the cold war, both the United States and the Soviet Union extensively utilized PD to shape favorable public attitudes around the world toward their respective rival ideologies. They primarily used international broadcasting, international exchanges, and cultural diplomacy.

The United States established radio stations such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, and Britain used the BBC World Service to provide citizens in communist countries with accurate information about events occurring in their own countries and in the West. The Soviet Union and China used broadcasts in numerous languages to spread their messages around the world.

Cultural diplomacy includes participation in festivals and exhibitions, building and maintaining cultural centers, and teaching a language and organizing musical tours. The purpose is to cultivate admiration, reputation, and good will. Many countries maintain permanent cultural centers in major cities around the world so that citizens can be directly exposed to the cultural world of the state employing cultural diplomacy. Examples include the cultural centers of the British Council, the German Goethe-Institute, and the Chinese Confucius Institutes.

International exchanges refer to programs designed to bring overseas students, faculty, intellectuals, and artists to study or to work in universities and scientific centers. The assumption is that spending time, studying or teaching, will make foreign students and scholars ambassadors of good will for the host state. Examples include the U.S. Fulbright program and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

The New Public Diplomacy

At the beginning of this century, scholars and practitioners adopted the term new public diplomacy (NPD). First, they wanted to distinguish between the PD of the cold war and the PD of the postwar era. Second, they wished to adjust the classic PD to the opportunities and challenges of the information age. NPD includes the following components: (1) it is pursued by states and nonstate actors; (2) it is based on soft power, two-way communication, strategic PD, information management, nation branding, and e-image; (3) it involves domestication of foreign policy; and (4) it deals with both short and long-term issues. Contrary to popular misunderstanding, the NPD is not propaganda and is not just public relations. It is a communication system designed to create a dialogue with both foes and allies. It requires a capability to effectively use credible information to persuade actors to understand, accept, or support policies and actions.

Contemporary public diplomacy is related to soft power. Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to yield the outcomes one wants. To achieve these outcomes, an actor may employ hard power—that is, military and economic means— or soft power, which entails attraction, seduction and persuasion. Soft power arises from the attractiveness of a nation’s values, culture, and policies. It causes people to act through cooperation rather than coercion. The Vatican, many international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) possess only soft power. Critics suggest that only smart power—a balanced combination of hard and soft power can yield the best results. PD could be viewed as the wielding of soft power.

While only nations pursued classic public diplomacy, both states and non-state actors conduct the NPD; this includes international organizations, NGOs, multinational corporations, global media networks, terrorist organizations, military alliances, and prominent individuals. Also, classic public diplomacy was one-sided. Messages and information were delivered to the masses, but there was no effort to create a dialogue and listen to the interests and wishes of the messages’ recipients. The NPD utilizes two-way communication, a central element in several models of international public relations and public diplomacy, which requires serious listening and suitable responses to messages from other nations.

Strategic Public Diplomacy

The NPD is based on strategic communication, which includes scientific measurement of public opinion and persuasion techniques. It also involves the creation and persistent dissemination of clear and consistent themes. Information management refers to the means officials use to influence media coverage and framing of major events, leaders, and processes.

A brand is best described as a consumer’s idea about a product, and public relations and marketing experts believe nations can be branded like products. Branding thus entails giving products and services an emotional dimension with which people can identify. The brand state refers to what people around the world think and feel about a nation. This formulation also applies to nonstate actors.

With the Internet now a major arena for information dissemination, almost all states and nonstate actors maintain Web sites to present their history, policies, values, culture, science, and other achievements. The Internet provides actors with ample opportunities to present themselves in a way that can cultivate positive support or attack opponents. By using the Internet for self-promotion, actors pursue cyber public diplomacy, and the cumulative effect creates competing e-images. National e-images appear primarily on the official Web sites of presidents; prime ministers; foreign affairs and defense ministries; domestic security agencies; and trade, tourism, and science organizations. NGOs and terrorist organizations have been particularly effective in using the Internet to promote their causes and actions.

In 2001, following the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush employed force but also extensive PD to combat global terrorism. He established new PD agencies, pursued new programs, and allocated substantial budgets. His successor, President Barack Obama, has increased the emphasis on PD and his Cairo speech of June 2009 is an example. In this century, PD is likely to become the major instrument of foreign policy due to the continuing decline of military force as a legitimate instrument to settle international disputes and the continuing increase in the importance of world public opinion.

Bibliography:

Arndt, Richard. The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. Herndon,Va.: Potomac Books, 2005.
Cull, Nicholas. The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Fisher, Ali, and Aurélie Bröckerhoff. Options for Influence: Global Campaigns of Persuasion in the New Worlds of Public Diplomacy. London: British Council, Counterpoint, 2008.
Gilboa, Eytan. “Searching for a Theory of Public Diplomacy.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 616, no. 1 (2008): 55–77.
Ham, Peter van. “The Rise of the Brand State.” Foreign Affairs 80, no. 5 (2001): 2–6.
Hughes, Karen. “Waging Peace: A New Paradigm for Public Diplomacy.” Mediterranean Quarterly 18, no. 2 (2007): 18–36.
Leonard, Mark. Public Diplomacy. London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2002.
Lord, Carnes. Losing Hearts and Minds? Public Diplomacy and Strategic Influence in the Age of Terror. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006.
Melissen, Jan, ed. The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations. New York: Palgrave, 2006.

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