Public Diplomats Research Articles

Diplomatic identity and communication: using Q methodology to assess subjective perceptions of diplomatic practitioners

This paper initiates exploration of how self-perceptions of role and identity held by public diplomats may impact the practice of public diplomacy. It validates Q Methodology, a scientific method for the study of subjective perception, as a means of identifying, categorizing, and analyzing self-perceptions. Researchers surveyed American public diplomats regarding attributes that they ascribe to the role of diplomatic communicator, successfully identified and categorized such attributes, identified clusters of difference within the subject group, and correlated those differences to demographic factors. This paper focused on the results of one survey group. Future cross-sectional and longitudinal research will compare these perceptions to those of other groups, including across cultural and national boundaries.

Ichiro the Public Diplomat: Professional Sport as Cultural Intermediary in Configuring US-Japan Relations

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.

Anglo-American relations and the past present: insights into an (ongoing) mythologisation of a special relationship

Affiliative bonding between British and American publics has long been a source of both stability within Anglo-American relations and of legitimacy for British and American government cooperation. Yet hitherto relatively little attention has been paid to how public diplomats encourage these sentiments through influencing processes of remembering and forgetting the Anglo-American past. This is particularly important as their licence to do so is evidently increasing as generational change progressively confines to history experiential memory of the zenith of Anglo-American cooperation during World War Two. To explore how public diplomats draw particular memories into the present to support current objectives/narratives, this article combines memory and diplomacy studies in an analysis of bilateral summit meetings between US Presidents and British Prime Ministers. These meetings are chosen because they provide excellent opportunities for officials to refresh continually the popular myth of special Anglo-American relations by manipulating ‘figures of memory’ in their invocation of the ‘past present’.

From Cultural Resources to Public Diplomats

From Cultural Resources to Public Diplomats

Fedir Matushevsky (1869–1919) in public and cultural life of the Dnipro Ukraine

The main stages of life and activity of F. P. Matushevsky is Ukrainian public figure, publicist, journalist, writer and diplomat at the end of 19th and the beginning 20th century are analyzed. His role and place in public, cultural life and national movement of Ukraine are determined.

La Suède mondiale : francophonie, Palme et le dialogue Nord-Sud pendant la guerre froide

Decolonization and the rise of the “Third World” opened up a new front in the global Cold War. In response, neutral and non-aligned states faced the complex choice of either adapting to or challenging the bipolar order. In this context, Sweden gradually embraced a highly profiled “active foreign policy” in the interest of East-West détente, North-South dialogue and so-called Third World solidarity. In particular, Swedish Social Democratic Prime Minister Olof Palme played a crucial role in establishing “small state interests” as a discursive alternative to the antithetical bipolarism of the Cold War during his first terms in power (1969-1976). As such, Palme’s activities as a public diplomat in the emerging progressive universe of networks, debating fora and expert bodies were widely noted in the emerging global public opinion of the Cold War era. In this paper, we explore two related dimensions in Palme’s Cold War public diplomacy: 1) Sweden as both a global neutral and a possible social model, both of which must be interpreted from the perspective of the ideological contest of the Cold War; and 2) Palme as a public intellectual in probing alternatives to pervasive Cold War bipolarism, focusing upon the early 1970s as a key moment in Cold War North-South conflict.

Branding Korea as My Friend s Country : The Case of VANK s Cyber Public Diplomats

The role of non-state actors in public diplomacy remains an unsettled question in the literature. However, various transnational activities of non-state actors are often called public diplomacy, without discrimination. The lack of empirical studies on non-state public diplomacy is to blame for this conceptual confusion. Analytical and empirical studies of non-state public diplomacy are needed to consolidate this phenomenon, which is relatively new, while maintaining the conceptual clarity of public diplomacy. This study explores how Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), a Korean NGO, conducts public diplomacy and nation branding of Korea based on its members'' relationships with foreigners. To gain an in-depth understanding of VANK''s activities from the perspectives of public diplomacy and nation branding, this study follows an exploratory single case study method. The findings of this article suggest how VANK and similar non-state actors offer potential for public diplomacy and nation branding that can be utilized also by state agencies.

Soft Power, Tough Sell

When American public diplomats of the Cold War era set out to win hearts and minds, they heard voices. As they exhorted the people of Latin America, Asia, and Africa to beware the evils of communism, they learned that their audiences worried more about racism, poverty, and colonialism. The people they strove to influence were not impressed by the history of racial segregation in the United States, the impact of American multinational corporations on the economies of the Global South, or the collaboration between the United States and European imperial powers. Instead the people of the Global South spoke out about what they did and did not want. They wanted equality and development; they did not want to be drawn into the global confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Latin Americans, Asians, and Africans rejected the East-West worldview of the superpowers, Jason C. Parker argues, they constructed out of their shared perspective a distinct identity as the Third World.

Eleanor Roosevelt, the United Nations and the Role of Radio Communications

Eleanor Roosevelt communicated with the through a variety of media, both before, during and following her time in the White House. In 1946 she became part of the US delegation to the newly formed United Nations and she used newspaper columns, speeches and radio broadcasts to converse with citizens about the importance of the UN. This paper focuses on some of her radio performances of the early 1950s, both in the USA and in Europe. Despite increasing competition from television in the 1950s, radio still played a vital role in reaching mass audiences. Through rhetorical analysis, this paper seeks to establish how Mrs. Roosevelt addressed her audiences and how she educated them about the United Nations. Furthermore, it will examine the reactions to her broadcasts. The aim is to study the way radio was used to encourage listeners to become active citizens and how Eleanor Roosevelt, as a public diplomat, was uniquely placed to use the power of the media. Keywords: Eleanor Roosevelt, radio history, United Nations

John Lackey Brown, public diplomat par excellence

American public diplomacy is a hard-to-define but often-used phrase which refers to the ways in which Washington seeks to influence domestic and foreign audiences through semi or unofficial channels. Throughout the 20th century, it has taken on various forms. Some argue public diplomacy is a euphemism for white propaganda. Others claim it is an alternative form of diplomacy. This study tackles the issue by delving into the life of a much-hailed but wildly understudied public diplomat: Dr. John Lackey Brown.During the later years of the First World War, the Creel Committee generated propaganda which, given today’s standards, appears too simplistic to be efficient. During the Cold War, however, the United States Information Agency devised more subtle ways to "tell America’s story to the world." The use of culture as a weapon to win over hearts and minds is well-documented. Less documented, however, is the study of public diplomats who did not see themselves as propagandists. This article is therefore an inquiry of what made John Lackey Brown a public diplomat. I argue that it was not the tasks that he performed on the job per se that generated good public diplomacy.

The disjunction of image and word in US and Chinese soft power projection

This article compares US and Chinese national soft power strategies, using the cases of the US Shared Values Initiative for the Middle East in the aftermath of 9–11 and the present operation of Chinese Confucius Institutes in the US. Comparing these two national programs, I describe a consistent disjunction between visual image and spoken word for each. Regardless of variations in national approaches to soft power, this disconnect between seeing and talking is a limitation of soft power as a cultural tool of diplomatic communication. First, public diplomats’ unexamined folk theories about culture’s instrumental role in messaging emphasize spectacle in ways inimical to reciprocal engagement. Second, as a cultural policy of display, soft power image projection discourages opportunities for inter-cultural dialogue. Third, government-sponsored national image management and branding are often controversial elsewhere, in the process touching off boundary-patrolling public debates instead of helping to build international relationships.

Information networks and social media use in public diplomacy: a comparative analysis of South Korea and Japan

This article examines how South Korean and Japanese public diplomacy organizations employ digital media to embrace the principle of ‘networked public diplomacy’ through analyses of the web and social media practices. A network analysis was used to map interorganizational information networks among core public diplomacy organizations in each country. To reveal the key organizations' communication strategies on Facebook, a content analysis was also conducted. The findings indicate that Japan had a strong internal network infrastructure achieved through dispersed connections and partnerships; however, Korea had a centralized network, including a limited number of dominant actors. The results of content analysis suggest that both South Korea and Japanese public diplomats focused on promoting their cultural products and national values through their use of texts and visual images. In addition, user profile analysis gaged the degree of users' engagement in the organizations' profiles and identified the demographic features of users. Comparative data suggest the Korean public diplomacy organization was more successful at attracting and engaging with foreign public than the Japanese public diplomacy organization. These results imply that although these two countries had similar sociopolitical backgrounds and perspectives of public diplomacy, they had distinct forms of internal information networks, communication strategies, and social networking performances with public.

Strategic Stakeholder Engagement in Public Diplomacy

“Strategic stakeholder engagement,” as a term, concept, or practice has yet to gain wide currency within public diplomacy. That gap, however, may soon close as the international arena transitions from the information age, dominated by the mass media and message-driven strategies, to the global communication era dominated by the social media and relational and network strategies. Earlier models of public diplomacy were based on a one-way flow of information that was detached and impersonal, which are now becoming obsolete. For public diplomats, strategic stakeholder engagement represents a two-fold challenge of identifying the “who” (stakeholders) and the “what” (engagement). This seeks to address those challenges, drawing upon multiple perspective, including business, public relations, development communication, and traditional diplomacy. The paper includes illustrative examples of information, relational and networking public diplomacy initiatives from around the globe.

“The High Commissioner Who Wouldn't Take Go for an Answer”: Paul Martin Sr., Public Diplomacy, and the Battle for Heathrow, 1974–1979

This article examines the public diplomacy of one of Canada's first real public diplomats, Paul Martin Sr., who Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Canada's high commissioner to Britain in 1974, a bittersweet reward for almost 40 years' work in Canada's Parliament. It traces Martin's efforts to stop British authorities from moving Air Canada's landing rights from London's Heathrow Airport to remote, suburban Gatwick. It opens with a discussion of Martin's views on public opinion, focussing on his firm belief in the value of an informed public in shaping the policy-making process. These ideas inspired his diplomacy in Britain, where he set about re-building Canada's public profile, which had sagged during the 1960s and early 1970s. When his initial private efforts to resolve the looming Anglo–Canadian dispute over landing rights at Heathrow Airport failed, he moved the fight into the public realm. Explored here are his tactics and the messages he used to win over the British public to the Canadian cause, forcing the British government to retreat and preserving Air Canada's landing rights at Heathrow.

Factors Contributing to Anti-Americanism Among People Abroad: A Retrospective View from the Frontlines of U.S. Public Diplomacy

This research examined the retrospective views of U.S. public diplomats on the bases of anti-American attitudes among people abroad. The study sought a better understanding of the most important causes of anti-Americanism through the first hand experiences of the men and women who have served on the frontlines of U.S. public diplomacy as strategic communications experts charged with enhancing U.S. relations with foreign publics. A factor analysis revealed four underlying dimensions of anti-Americanism, which were labeled Information, Culture, Policy, and Values. The public diplomats rated the Policy factor as the most important, followed by the Information factor, the Culture factor, and the Values factor. This empirical assessment of U.S. public diplomats' collective view helps to explain the dimensions of anti-Americanism from the perspective of an elite group and suggests future directions for U.S. public diplomacy and strategic communication.

Statecraft at the Crossroads: A New Diplomacy

The severe global economic contraction that began in 2008 accelerates the transition to a new age of international politics, one characterized by weak but reassertive states, rising powers, waning American primacy, shifting media ecology, and aroused and empowered societies. This new age of political ferment requires a dramatic reassessment of the way the United States formulates and conducts its national security strategy. This article explores the nexus between our foreign policy and politics across domestic and foreign boundaries on several key national security challenges. It recommends a new diplomacy employing public diplomats deeply attuned to the cultural and political particularities of human plurality in the global public square.

Public Diplomacy: Taxonomies and Histories

Public diplomacy is a term much used but seldom subjected to rigorous analysis. This article—which draws heavily on a report commissioned by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the spring of 2007—sets out a simple taxonomy of public diplomacy's components and their interrelationships. These components are (1) listening, (2) advocacy, (3) cultural diplomacy, (4) exchange, and (5) international broadcasting. It examines five successful and five unsuccessful uses of each individual component drawing from the history of U.S., Franco-German, Swiss, and British diplomatic practice. The failures arise chiefly from a discrepancy between rhetoric and reality. The final section applies the author's taxonomy to the challenges of contemporary public diplomacy and places special emphasis on the need to conceptualize the task of the public diplomat as that of the creator and disseminator of “memes” (ideas capable of being spread from one person to another across a social network) and as a creator and facilitator of networks and relationships.

Geo-Social Mapping of the International Communications Environment or Why Abdul Isn't Listening

AbstractThe paper suggests a radical redefinition of public diplomacy, asserting its primary role should be to stimulate the imagination of those who make a difference within their own cultures — to give them the means and motivation to address the global requirements of the 21st century, therein enhancing security for the sponsoring nations. Public diplomats also have an ancillary role in supporting other elements of international engagement, including promoting foreign investment, new energy resources, developmental assistance, education, medicine, and law.A three-point agenda for reforming the conduct of public diplomacy is proposed: reach beyond short-term parochial interests by providing knowledge to the curious, the innovative, and the restless. Hold public diplomats responsible for enabling connectivity and serving as cultural interpreters. Recruit and train artists, scholars, and scientists as public diplomats to engage actively in indigenous social networks.The article concludes by citing famed American journalist and former distinguished director of USIA, Edward R. Murrow: "There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference." To join this battle, public diplomacy can best honor its past by rethinking its future.

US Public Diplomacy: A Cold War Success Story?

AbstractThe post-'9/11' revival of interest in US public diplomacy encompasses a wide variety of opinions, all overwhelmingly critical. In view of falling global favourability towards and the foreign policy challenges of the United States during this period, the purveyors of these opinions ultimately agree that US public diplomacy efforts are flawed and ineffective. Of these critical observations, it is interesting to track a thread of logic that yearns for the restoration of public diplomacy's Cold War-era standing, which holds that the spread of liberal democracy behind the Berlin Wall owes a debt to the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, that cultural exchanges with influential members of Soviet society helped to create the groundswell that undermined the communist regime, and that public diplomats made these outcomes possible by being equipped with the necessary tools of statecraft, as well as by wielding an important measure of influence over policy-makers. The fall of the Soviet Union merely underscores their notion that public diplomacy during the Cold War was a success. It would thus seem that the problems of today could be remedied by adopting lessons from the past. This article explores the viability of this claim by reviewing the ongoing debate on how the historical memory and lessons of Cold War-era public diplomacy may be applied to the challenges of the post-'9/11' era. Of particular importance is ascertaining the degree to which the Cold War's campaigns of information, influence and engagement could be viewed as a success. By subdividing public diplomacy's activities in these ways, greater potential exists to attribute these activities to more compelling determinations of success or failure.

On Pierre BourdieuReproduction in Education, Society and Culture.Pierre Bourdieu , Jean-Claude Passeron , Richard NiceOutline of a Theory of Practice.Pierre Bourdieu , Richard Nice

On Pierre Bourdieu<i>Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture.</i>Pierre Bourdieu , Jean-Claude Passeron , Richard Nice<i>Outline of a Theory of Practice.</i>Pierre Bourdieu , Richard Nice