Appraisal of Public Diplomacy Strategies of Major States: Lessons for Pakistan

Abstract

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.