Diplomatic Tool Research Articles

Regional approaches to conflict prevention: The effectiveness of rhetorical and diplomatic tools

Research has shown that international actors can contribute to resolving violent conflicts. In this article, we focus on conflict prevention, and argue that tools that are relatively non-invasive and rapid to deploy are effective at preventing conflict from escalating. We identify two tools that meet these criteria—rhetorical and diplomatic action, and argue that regional organizations are particularly poised to deploy these tools successfully. Drawing upon new data, we find that rhetorical and diplomatic actions deployed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are generally associated with reductions in violent events as well as fatalities in the following month.

Bir Dış Politika Aracı Olarak Gastronomi: Türk Mutfağı ve Türkiye’nin Gastrodiplomasi Girişimleri

Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, the actors of global politics have multiplied, and their relationships have diversified. This has also led to a redefinition of foreign policy strategies. States tend to increase their public diplomacy activities. Cuisine, the most tangible form of cultural resource, has become one of the powerful tools of public diplomacy. Food, dishes, and cuisine have played an essential role throughout history and have begun to be defined as a diplomacy tool. We define gastrodiplomacy as a public diplomacy activity that aims to attract people through food. Turkey has a unique culinary culture due to its location and multicultural character. A Turkish cuisine is a tool that deserves to be promoted in Turkish foreign policy and an opportunity for nation branding. This article examines the concept of gastrodiplomacy, identifies the components of Turkish cuisine, shows Turkey's gastrodiplomacy activities, and offers suggestions for Turkey's gastrodiplomacy initiatives.

Book Review: Trihartono, A., Patriadi, H. B., & Hara, A. E. (2023). Gastrodiplomasi Indonesia. Pandiva. 300 pp.

In the study of international relations, Gastrodiplomacy emerges as a new and refreshing sub-study of diplomacy. Gastrodiplomacy explores the power and influence potencies of using food as a tool of culinary diplomacy (Chapple-Sokol, 2013). The term gastrodiplomacy was first mentioned by The Economist, a British weekly newspaper, on February 21, 2002. Gastrodiplomacy was first used to describe the efforts of the Thai government and diaspora to popularize its cuisine around the world (The Economist, 2002). Rockower (2014) suggests that gastrodiplomacy calls for the integration of diplomatic relationships and culture. Integration aims to shape the national image or perception of a country on the global stage. Suntikul (2019) explains that gastrodiplomacy shows the collective efforts of the government and non-state actors to enhance the country’s reputation overseas by exposing foreign tourists and visitors to their traditional cuisine. In substance, gastrodiplomacy tries to promote a country’s cuisines and culinary traditions to enhance trans-cultural understanding, boost their global image, and develop the country’s tourism and trade.Keywords: gastrodiplomacy; public diplomacy; Indonesia

The perception of the Tiktok platform as China’s sharp power instrument in US politics

Public diplomacy can be defined as managing a country’s foreign policy objectives and protecting its national interests by establishing direct social relations and communication with the citizen or government of another country. Public diplomacy, which we know that each country has its own strategy, is handled from a different perspective in China as well. China, which has been identified with the concept of sharp power is confronted with the claims of the new rival of the USA. Recently, claims from the United States that China-based social media platform TikTok has been carrying out sharp power activities have come to the fore. TikTok is considered to be a major force for China as it has over one billion active users. However, there are debates as to whether China manipulates the peoples of other countries through this practice. Censorship and manipulation, the two main concepts of sharp power, are used in TikTok or does TikTok exist independently? The purpose of this article is to explore whether the TikTok platform, one of China's important public diplomacy tools, is perceived as a threat by American politicians. For this purpose, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s US Congress testimony were analyzed by content analysis method. As a result, it has been confirmed that American politicians perceive TikTok as a sharp power instrument of the Chinese Communist Party. It has been observed that concerns have been expressed about the concepts of censorship, manipulation, propaganda, control, and influence, which are the five elements of sharp power. It has been found that the TikTok platform is perceived as a propaganda device, a psychological warfare weapon, and not a public diplomacy tool or soft power element.

Spices and Diplomacy of the Banten Sultanate with Foreign Kingdoms in the 16th- 19th Century

The Banten Sultanate was a pre-Indonesian Islamic kingdom from the 16th to early 19th centuries. Banten developed as a kingdom based on trade, its main commodity being pepper. In the 17th century, pepper became a spice with high value, so Banten used it as a diplomatic tool apart from being a trade commodity. As the destination of many foreign traders, it encouraged Banten to communicate with several kingdoms. Through historical research methods and a literature review, this article attempts to see diplomacy as one of the political activities of pre-Indonesian kingdoms. As a result, it can be seen that the Banten Sultanate carried out its diplomatic activities with several kingdoms, for example, Mecca (Ottoman), the Netherlands, England, Denmark, and France. This activity can be known from Banten's correspondence with the foreign kingdom and is supported by the chronicle narrative as colonial historiography. In this activity, the sultan of Banten often included several gifts, one of which was a large amount of pepper. Therefore, letters and other manuscripts can show Banten's position in diplomacy with other kingdoms, and pepper has an important role.

Formation of soviet sports diplomacy: structures and practices

The article is devoted to the formation of a new foreign policy practice - sports diplomacy - in the USSR in the 1920s. The key documents that established the order of interaction of sections within the Red Sports International, as well as Soviet athletes with the external environment, are analyzed. These resolutions clearly reflected the contradictions in the accents of the activities of the RSI and the SCPC: the aspiration for mainly propaganda work and the consolidation of the labor movement collided with the desire to raise the competitive level of Soviet sports. Despite these contradictions, in the 1920s it was possible to unify the practice of international work-sports interaction, to make it systematic. The evolution of working methods has been studied: both competitive forms of interaction and non-competitive practices - patronage and socialist competition. It is shown that the tools of sports diplomacy of the USSR in the first decade of its existence were not static, it changed in accordance with new tasks and challenges - from overcoming foreign policy isolation to strengthening the internal structure of the movement and the formation of self-defense squads by foreign sports clubs. The circle of interaction of the RSI and the SCPC with supranational organizations and Soviet institutions of power is defined. Intensive ties with the CEC, the PCFA and the Soviet embassies, which provided financial support, accelerated visa issuance, as well as advisory assistance, indicate a great attention to foreign policy sports contacts of the highest state bodies of the USSR. The conclusion is made about the formation of a systematic and regular practice of sports diplomacy of the Soviet state since the early 1920s.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AS A TECHNOLOGY OF THE FOREIGN POLICY OF UKRAINE

The article is devoted to consideration of the specifics of public diplomacy in Ukraine, including during the war. This made it possible to single out approaches and main principles that will increase the country’s security and attractiveness on the international stage. By applying a technological approach, the types of development and different approaches to the study of public diplomacy in Ukraine and the world were analyzed, the specifics of public diplomacy in modern Ukraine were characterized, and effective technologies of public diplomacy were determined in the conditions of the transition from two-vector to European integration. The scientific novelty consists in the review of public diplomacy technologies in the context of solving key challenges in international relations, in particular in the context of geopolitical changes and the full-scale invasion of the occupiers in Ukraine. The effectiveness of public diplomacy and its role in maintaining and improving attitudes towards the country, attracting international support and developing partnership relations have been studied. Thus, the study expands the understanding of public diplomacy as a tool that can be used to positively influence international politics. The main attention is paid to the study of the tools of public diplomacy, as effective mechanisms for the development of Ukraine’s foreign policy. The conducted research proves the need to strengthen the efforts of all actors of international relations, citizens, opinion leaders and representatives of organizations to improve the image of Ukraine, as well as its economic, social, political and cultural enrichment. It is proposed to create a public institution for cyber security, which will assist law enforcement officers from the Cyber Police and representatives of the Ministry of Digital Policy. Strategic areas of activity and effective use of public diplomacy in Ukraine during the great war and changes in the vector of development in international relations were formed. The fakes can be used by the authorities to improve the image of the state and its recognition in the international arena.

‘Tired of Waking Up on the Floor’ the Temptations and Horror of Cold War Multilateral Diplomacy

ABSTRACT 1 This article discusses non-conventional diplomatic tools. It does so by focussing on the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) and the Multilateral Balanced Force Reduction (MBFR) talks and suggests that individuals and individual creativity to make use of non-conventional tools, in combination with attention to working conditions, impact the outcome. CSCE ventured in entirely new territory and promoted such novel concepts as the indivisibility of security, and the free flow of individuals, information, and ideas. As such it appealed to negotiatiors’ creativity; by contrast, MBFR was about reducing conventional forces in the given constellation of a divided Europe – it treated this division as a fact of life; as such it may have offered far less opportunities for individual diplomats’ creativity to fully blossom. Taken together a discussion of these tools also contribute to the structure – agency debate: they provide additional evidence that individual diplomats – though often simply seen as tools of their respective governments and merely acting within a certain constellation – and close attention to the conditions they have to work in, do matter, even when, of course, it is governments, not diplomats, that will have to sanction the results they achieve.

Assessing the weaponability of enriched uranium trade in the geopolitics of nuclear energy: The EU-Russia interrelations

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 revived the debates over Moscow's grip on the nuclear fuel market. European and American governments had since planned for policies to diminish their reliance on Russian supplies, motivated by fear of the Kremlin using it as a coercive diplomatic tool, drawing parallels with experiences of fossil fuels exportation disruptions. While global interest for atomic energy is on the rise again, this article aims at assessing the weaponability of nuclear fuel trades, i.e., the conditions in which they can be used by suppliers to politically constrain importing nations. Geopolitics scholarship had until recently paid little attention to nuclear power and the few existing works overlooked the supply issue. In this paper, we bridge existing literature on the “energy weapon” to build a renewed analytical framework to identify the conditions in which fuel trade interdependencies can be coercively used. We then applied it to the case of enriched uranium trade between Russia and European Union's member states. Data were gathered through analysis of a textual corpus consisting of articles from three main magazines focused on nuclear power—Nuclear Engineering International, World Nuclear News and NucNet — (n = 439), 14 semi-structured interviews and three international conferences observations. Results show that Russia's weaponization capacity of enriched uranium trades against Europe in low, but not inexistent, thanks to supply diversification strategies, existing inventories, ongoing production overcapacity, transport fluidity and partial dependence of Rosatom on exports. However, countries' vulnerability isn't homogenous through Europe, and the low weapon ability of nuclear fuel is largely dependent on the fragile equilibrium in the supply and demand balance. Finally, this paper identifies the limits of applying weaponization theories developed in the context of fossil fuel trades to the case of nuclear power.

Blogs as a Tool of Cultural Diplomacy

The purpose of the study is to identify the role of blogs in the representation of Ukrainian culture abroad, which is a means of cultural diplomacy. The research methodology was based on the use of the following methods: analysis and synthesis – in order to study the source base of the article; comparative, which helped to establish the approaches of different countries, including Ukraine, to the representation of their culture to the world; as well as a synergistic approach based on the idea of self-organisation of culture, which we observe in the current social conditions. The scientific novelty of the article is that it presents for the first time blogs as an important tool of Ukraine’s cultural diplomacy. They have to broadcast Ukraine’s culture to the world – original, authentic, rooted, and at the same time modern and constantly evolving. Conclusions. Art is a powerful tool of Ukraine’s cultural diplomacy. Understanding by the foreign community of the specifics of the cultural characteristics of Ukrainians as a nation will contribute to the establishment of Ukraine as a cultural entity at the international level, and through the prism of culture will form an objective understanding of the nature of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Cultural diplomacy is an important resource of influence in the world; and the Internet environment, in particular the blogosphere, has information tools that are not limited by time and place, which enhances its role and, consequently, responsibility for the results of this activity.
 Key words: blogs, blogosphere, Ukrainian culture, cultural subject, cultural diplomacy.

Soft power prophet(s): the unexplored dimension of Nigeria’s religious soft power potential

ABSTRACT Despite Nigeria’s reservoir of soft power resources, adequate attention has not been given to the growing transnational influence of Nigeria’s Pentecostal pastors/prophets. Drawing on the recent emphasis on soft power capabilities of individuals which moves soft power discourse away from focusing strictly on state-centric analysis, this paper examines the soft power attraction of Nigeria’s Pentecostal pastors/prophets, especially, the late Prophet TB Joshua. The article argues that with the enormity of such influence, the Nigerian state can leverage it as a potent tool of diplomacy to further enhance its soft power, although it notes that the expected separation between the state and religion might pose some challenges.

Sino–Japanese third-party market cooperation: asymmetries of economic diplomacy and politico-economic gaps

Abstract In the wake of the intensifying Sino–Japanese rivalry in Asia, a new third-party market cooperation (TPMC) framework emerged in late 2018. The new mechanism was inaugurated around the time of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Beijing, displaying new attempts at Sino–Japanese economic diplomacy. Nonetheless, this article highlights the absence of major cooperative outcomes and suggests a pessimistic vision of TPMC's future, as three pairs of politico-economic gaps have led to asymmetries in the approaches adopted by China and Japan. First, a government-to-government policy asymmetry occurred between China's initiatives and Japan's responsiveness, as the latter merely utilized the TPMC as a temporary diplomatic tool to restore bilateral relations in late 2018 and appeared to have lost its policy momentum in the following years. Second, asymmetries in business modes and investment management between the two countries' enterprises have led to technical barriers in materializing the two governments' agreements into specific TPMC business collaboration. This study illustrated a project of Sino–Japanese collaboration in building a high-speed railway in Thailand, and saw this failed case as a warning for existing gaps of commercial modes. Third, both countries are now confronted with domestic underdeveloped public–private partnerships between state and private sectors. This article also aims to provide some policy-oriented implications for steadily implementing the Sino–Japanese TPMC in the future.

CHINA’S EDUCATION EXCHANGE DIPLOMACY IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC IN COMPARISON WITH THAT OF THE U.S. AND SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR CHINA

Education exchange has increasingly been identified as an integral overture in China and U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific. Legitimate but soft attributes rationalize its prominence though its effects are long-term and seemingly intangible. To win the “hearts and minds” of regional people, China and the U.S. have deployed this public diplomacy tool but differently. This article discusses the criticality of government-initiated education exchange within China and U.S. national strategies and their practice in the Asia-Pacific from a comparative perspective. It asserts that education exchange is well-situated within the two giant powers’ foreign affairs management toolkit to rejuvenate and reinforce their images in the region. Chinese initiatives prove adaptable to the region, whereas the U.S. disregards regional variations. However, it does not imply that China would utilise the education exchange tool more effectively than the U.S. Insights into their practice of education exchange diplomacy suggest some implications for China.

COVİD-19 PANDEMİSİ DÖNEMİNDE KARŞILIKLI ANLAYIŞ BAĞLAMINDA DEĞİŞİM DİPLOMASİSİ

Around the world, cultural and educational events are employed as a component of public diplomacy. Due to cultural and educational activities, there is a growth in mutual understanding between nations and a strengthening of long-term relations. Countries must listen to what others have to say in order to develop and effectively articulate their own interests. This is necessary for exchange programs to be effective public diplomacy tools. People get more connected to one another as they get to know and understand one another, miscommunications are cleared up, and lasting relationships are developed to open doors for various types of partnerships. By assessing virtual Erasmus+ mobility in the framework of exchange diplomacy during the Covid-19 Pandemic phase, this study seeks to ascertain the status of making a contribution to public diplomacy. Answers to the research questions posed in the purpose section of the study are sought through structured interviews with international students using descriptive analysis, one of the qualitative research methodologies. This study is the first to evaluate virtual mobility within the context of exchange diplomacy, and it shows that programs for virtual exchange will also support public diplomacy.

BEYOND THE HUB AND SPOKES: THE NETWORKING LOGIC AND THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF US INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY

This article examines continuity in the transformation of the United States’ security arrangements in Asia from a Cold War “hub and spokes system” focused on East Asia into a new arrangement of “networked minilateralism” across the wider “Indo-Pacific” region. It focuses mainly on the role of the United States and the policy tools it employs to coordinate the strengthening of linkages among its partners. By employing tools of defence diplomacy, standardisation in trade and infrastructure development, revamping the rhetoric of common values and inviting extra-regional actors to play a more active role in the Indo-Pacific, Washington is mobilising a “latticework” of partners that are assisting in the redesign of the regional security system and the balancing of China. At the same time, structural changes in the region’s power balance have induced local partners to become part of this networked architecture and to maintain a clearer sense of ownership in the regional security system.

How diplomacy evolves: the global spread of honorific state awards

Almost every polity uses state awards as diplomatic tools. Their global spread, however, cannot be explained by dominant theories of International Relations (which focus on military or economic rationales) or of diplomatic practices (which lack criteria for what constitutes a functionally suitable practice). The success of such seemingly non-instrumental tools may be better explained with a combination of Modern Systems Theory with the evolutionary scheme of variation/selection/re-stabilization: the diplomatic system generates a variation of practices, enacts selection through the structural medium of peace, and stabilises the selected variant through legal formalization and global diffusion. Using this framework, this paper finds that state awards found worldwide ubiquity for two reasons: First, they satisfy the diplomatic system’s societal function related to peace and power, that is, the foregrounding of peace-and-amity while invisibilizing power-and-enmity. Second, state awards exhibit a high degree of generalizability, meaning that they are so flexible that any state can use them towards any other states for any reasons at any time. This paper carries implications for understanding seemingly trivial, noninstrumental features of diplomacy, and, more generally, for the value of Modern Systems Theory and evolutionary perspectives in International Relations.

The Diplomacy of Small States: Exploring Opportunities and Limitations in the Case of Timor-Leste

This article examines the diplomacy of small states, focusing on the case of TimorLeste. It analyzes the foreign policy strategies of small states, which encompass bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, engagement in international organizations and global governance, and the utilization of public diplomacy. These diplomatic tools enable small states to pursue their foreign policy objectives despite their limited resources, while also fostering cooperative relationships with larger powers. Diplomacy is regarded as a universal mechanism through which small states like Timor-Leste can integrate into the global international relations system.Given the inherent limitations of small states in contesting with major and middle powers, they seek to enhance their international influence through collective actions, such as forming or joining coalitions in international organizations or intergovernmental forums. Additionally, small states employ public diplomacy to draw attention to their issues and needs, thereby reducing their reliance on greater powers and forging more advantageous collaborations with other states. Strategies such as imitation and balancing, participation in coalitions, promotion of international initiatives, provision of expertise, and adherence to the principles of international law are utilized to cultivate a positive image of small states as responsible actors in international relations and reliable partners.The article concludes that Timor-Leste has been successful in maintaining bilateral and multilateral relations and actively participating in international organizations. However, it faces systemic challenges in effectively employing public diplomacy mechanisms. These challenges can be attributed to underdeveloped national public institutions and the enduring influence of greater powers, which affect not only Timor-Leste but also the wider region.

Commentary: Nepal's Balancing Act in the Middle East

Nepal was the first South Asian country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1960, and other Middle Eastern countries followed suit in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although Nepal and Israel have excellent bilateral relations, Nepal has yet to support Israel in multilateral forums, owing to a dilemma in maintaining balanced relations with other Middle Eastern countries. Because Middle Eastern countries are commonly identified by their reliance on labor imports, they have also become a labor destination for Nepal. With a high concentration of Nepali workers (77%), countries such as the UAE, Qatar, Cyprus, Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have dominated Nepal's labor migration. Remittances from these countries are huge every year, and they have become the backbone of Nepal's economy. As a remittance-driven economy, labor export has always been a major tool of Nepal's economic diplomacy, which is frequently at the forefront of Nepal's foreign policy toward Middle Eastern nations. As a result, the paper argues for more determined action in the Middle East region, through which Nepal can develop its economic, investment, trade, and tourism interests by negotiating more advantageous relationships with Middle Eastern countries.

China’s use of formal science and technology agreements as a tool of diplomacy

Abstract China’s government uses a variety of diplomatic tools to pursue its foreign policy aims including negotiating and signing formal bilateral science and technology agreements (STAs). These agreements have been signed with at least fifty-two countries. We identified agreements with an additional sixty-four countries with science and technology (S&T), among other topics such as education, as subjects for cooperation. The Ministry of Science and Technology reports having signed 115 intergovernmental science and technology agreements (STAs) and established ties with 161 countries and regions, although we were not able to identify all these agreements. The earliest of China’s STAs were signed in the 1950s with communist countries, but, in the late 1970s, China began signing agreements with scientifically-advanced nations, which opened opportunities for S&T cooperation. More recently, China has negotiated and signed scientific and technological cooperation agreements with dozens of middle- and lower-income countries, possibly to establish political goodwill. While building political ties clearly remains an important Chinese objective, access to the latest know-how in S&T has become a critical part of China’s priorities in establishing formal relationships.

Evolution of US public diplomacy: Domestic political determinants, priorities and new challenges

Public diplomacy remains one of the most dynamic and important areas of the modern US foreign policy. As such, the US public diplomacy, — its institutional structure, principles of functioning, key priorities, etc. — attracts increasing attention within both Russian and foreign academic literature. However, for a more complete understanding of the contemporary US public diplomacy specifics and prospects, it seems appropriate to try to fit it into a broader context of the evolution of the US political system in general. The first section of the paper identifies the major domestic political factors that determined the development of the US foreign policy mechanism, as well as the key stages of its evolution. The author argues that one of the key trends in the almost 250-year history of the American political system development was its gradual democratization, aimed to promote inclusion of a larger section of population in political processes. The second section examines the role of public diplomacy within the framework of the contemporary US foreign policy. The author notes that the latest developments in information and communication technologies have turned publicity and PR-campaigns into the most important factors of domestic political competition in the United States in the 21st century. The Internet and social networks have opened up virtually unlimited opportunities for political campaigning both inside and outside the state, giving a new impetus to the development of the US public diplomacy. At the same time, digital technologies have also generated new challenges, raising the problem of ensuring information security in the face of expansion of social networks. In this regard, the third section touches upon the issues of evaluating the effectiveness of the US public diplomacy. The author concludes that in terms of possible directions for further research the interactions between the United States and the EU countries which share common values are of particular importance. This may allow for a better understanding of the possibilities and limits of the US public diplomacy tools based on the institutions of a developed civil society.