American Public Diplomacy: Enduring Characteristics, Elusive Transformation
TL;DR: The authors examines the American public diplomacy modus operandi with enduring characteristics that are rooted in the nation's history and political culture and concludes that the characteristics shaping the US public diplomacy continue to place significant constraints on its capacity for transformational change.
Abstract: Understanding, planning, engagement and advocacy are core concepts of public diplomacy. They are not unique to the American experience. There is, however, an American public diplomacy modus operandi with enduring characteristics that are rooted in the nation’s history and political culture. These include episodic resolve correlated with war and surges of zeal, systemic trade-offs in American politics, competitive practitioner communities and powerful civil society actors, and late adoption of communication technologies. This article examines these concepts and characteristics in the context of US President Barack Obama’s strategy of global public engagement. It argues that as US public diplomacy becomes a multi-stakeholder instrument and central to diplomatic practice, its institutions, methods and priorities require transformation rather than adaptation. The article explores three illustrative issues: a culture of understanding; social media; and multiple diplomatic actors. It concludes that the characteristics shaping the US public diplomacy continue to place significant constraints on its capacity for transformational change.
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20 Jan 2020
121 citations
Book•
07 Apr 2016TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the digital diplomacy model employed by four foreign ministries through interviews and questionnaires with practitioners and found that foreign ministries seem to utilize social media to influence elite audiences rather than to foster dialogue with foreign populations.
Abstract: Despite growing interest in digital diplomacy, few studies to date have evaluated the extent to which foreign ministries have been able to realize its potential. Studies have also neglected to understand the manner in which diplomats define digital diplomacy and envision its practice. This article explores the digital diplomacy model employed by four foreign ministries through interviews and questionnaires with practitioners. Results from a cross national comparison suggest that foreign ministries have been able to institutionalize the use of social media through the development of best practices and training for diplomats. However, foreign ministries seem to utilize social media to influence elite audiences rather than to foster dialogue with foreign populations. Results also suggest that both ministries and social media audiences are negotiating their respective roles in the online communication process. Although social media is used to overcome the limitations of traditional diplomacy, and manage the national image, foreign ministries fail to collaborate with non-state actors or use social media as a source of information for policy makers. Thus, while diplomacy is networked, it is still state-centric. Finally, at the embassy level, ambassadors now serve as digital gatekeepers.
46 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the role of international corporations as non-state actors in the process of public diplomacy as the global environment for diplomacy becomes increasingly multi-directional and networked, and provided an operational definition of the concept of corporate diplomacy.
Abstract: This conceptual article explores the role of international corporations as non-state actors in the process of public diplomacy as the global environment for diplomacy becomes increasingly multi-directional and networked. It provides an operational definition of the concept of corporate diplomacy and depicts potential contributions of the private sector, particularly the role of corporate social responsibility, in public diplomacy outcomes. The private sector has vast resources to contribute to public diplomacy, but corporations may be more willing to support, rather than to directly engage in public diplomacy in order to protect their economic self-interest. Key issues for research about the role of the private sector in public diplomacy are motives and intentionality of corporate efforts and strategic coordination between business and governments.
41 citations
Cites background from "American Public Diplomacy: Enduring..."
...Gregory (2011) notes, however, the need for some sort of analytical line between public diplomacy and corporate efforts that carry the effect of public diplomacy....
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...Gregory (2011) agrees that public diplomacy is ripe for a transformational change as global trends and changes in the role of the state give new actors increasing power in shaping diplomatic practices....
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...Additionally, there is interaction between governance organizations and the private sector that includes public–private contracts as well as corporate actors in advisory roles and partnerships (Gregory, 2011)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed that social media use in public diplomacy should first be a strategic issue management (SIM) process, and they identified four phases of the SIM process, namely the issue fermenting and going viral phase, the proactive phase, reactive phase, and the issue receding and new issue fermentation phase.
Abstract: This research proposed that social media use in public diplomacy should first be a strategic issue management (SIM) process. Using two case studies, the research identified four phases of the SIM process, namely the issue fermenting and going viral phase, the proactive phase, the reactive phase, and the issue receding and new issue fermenting phase. Social media are largely tactical tools in the first and the last phases. But they may become strategic tools in the proactive and reactive phases, in which diplomats may use them to reinforce a favorable viral trend, to build an agenda, and to respond to a conflict. In addition, the SIM approach argues that engagement, the Obama administration’s diplomatic doctrine, should be reassessed in a mixed-motive framework instead of being narrowly equated to dialogue.
41 citations
Cites background from "American Public Diplomacy: Enduring..."
...It involves understanding, planning, engagement, and advocacy (Bruce, 2011)....
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...Bruce (2011) agreed that social media would have an impact on diplomatic actors, but U.S. diplomatic organizations’ culture may limit genuine noncentralized communication on social media....
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...For public diplomacy, however, scholars and practitioners are still struggling with what they mean conceptually and operationally (Bruce, 2011)....
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...Bruce (2011) suggested that as the Obama administration’s foreign policy leitmotif, engagement “conveys an emphasis on dialogue and activities aimed at building relations with nations, institutions and people” (p. 352)....
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40 citations
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Book•
28 Feb 2008
TL;DR: Shirky as mentioned in this paper discusses how social tools support group organization and communication in an entirely new way, one that was previously impossible, by including anecdotes from users of social media sites like WordPress and Blogspot, and how they used these social media tools to achieve a purpose.
Abstract: Shirky’s book discusses how social tools support group organization and communication in an entirely new way, one that was previously impossible. He does so by including anecdotes from users of social media sites like WordPress and Blogspot, and how they used these social media tools to achieve a purposebasically, his book looks to exemplify the tool part of social media tools, even though we as a society seem to take this for granted, now.
2,386 citations