EU public diplomacy in the United States: socio-political challenges & EU delegation agency

Abstract

ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) relies substantially on public diplomacy (PD) activities to sustain its international reputation, with the EU delegation in Washington playing a central role in the United States (US) context. The EU’s PD in the US is of particular significance, and a quite complex undertaking given structural as well as agent-based challenges. How have socio-political structural changes and the EU delegation’s agency influenced EU PD in the US? Based on interviews with EU PD practitioners in the US as well as policy documents, this article evidences structural constraints such as changing institutional configurations in the US and EU, political polarization and misinformation. In terms of the delegation’s agency, the use of local intermediaries and digital PD is examined, highlighting the multiplicity of objectives, as well as the outreach strategies used to approach audiences. Finally, it critically discusses the EU’s PD impact in the face of increasingly complex objectives and challenges to measure its impact. Overall, it suggests that while the EU delegation has aimed to adapt to the political and communicative environment it operates in, its (over)reliance on digital PD in order to engage a diverse and increasingly polarized public may compromise the effectiveness of its activities