Sweden’s Public Diplomacy in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Day-to-Day Communication

Abstract

In turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many challenges to a country’s international reputation. During the pandemic, Sweden, especially in its first stage, was frequently presented by international media outlets, sometimes negatively. Such adverse reporting may have imposed some reputational threats on Sweden. This research aims to investigate Swedish communication through a short-term perspective of public diplomacy (its day-to-day dimension) with the foreign public during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was based on qualitative content analysis of official statements made by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, the Swedish Institute’s Instagram account, and interviews with the Swedish Institute employees. The main argument of this research is that in Sweden, day-to-day communication within PD served as a tool supporting the crisis management process. The research question refers to whether Sweden, through the activity of the Swedish Institute, used some elements of its public diplomacy conduct to react to the coronavirus pandemic. The hypothesis states that the day-to-day dimension of public diplomacy can be associated with the crisis management process.