Evaluation of the public diplomacy tools: history, significance and specifics

Modern international relations require additional sources of influence, as well as different ways of their development and application. One of the sources is public diplomacy, which has many formats and is used by various actors in world politics. The evaluation and management of its tools is aimed at implementing a comprehensive diplomatic strategy of the state in order to influence the population of a foreign state, its political opinions and decisions. The issues of public diplomacy are receiving more and more attention in the expert discourse. Analysis and identification of the most effective methods and technologies of public diplomacy in terms of achieving the set goals should also serve to clarify the features of its influence on political processes. The purpose of the study in the article is to substantiate the fact that public diplomacy is a state foreign policy tool in the format of communication channels for the interaction of the state with foreign societies for political purposes. The research methodology lies in the fact that in order to achieve the set goal and solve problems, dialectical and systemic approaches, general scientific methods of retrospective, situational, comparative, factor analysis, content analysis of scientific literature, economic-statistical, comparative, analytical research methods were used. The research approach is based on a comparison of the emergence stage of public diplomacy and the mechanisms of a new stage in public diplomacy – analyzing the influence of public opinion on the formation and implementation of foreign policy. In addition, an assessment is made of the effectiveness of public diplomacy tools, what, thus, contributes to the understanding that at present public diplomacy serves as a means not only to establish relations between foreign societies, but also to promote the foreign policy interests of the state. As a result of the study, it is shown that higher education is one of the most successful tools in the practice of public diplomacy.

1. Anholt, S. (2007), “Creating a brand of the country”, Brand management, no. 1. pp. 50–52.

2. Byrne, C. and Hall, R. (2013), “Realizing Australia’s international education as public diplomacy”, Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol. 67, pp. 419–438, available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10357718.2013.806019 (Accessed 29 October 2020).

3. Eide, I. (1970), “Students as culture carriers”, Students as Links Between Cultures. Universitetsforlaget, pp. 166–195.

4. Fisher, G.H. (1972), Public Diplomacy and the Behavioural Sciences, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

5. Gilboa, E. (2001), “Diplomacy in the media age: Three models of uses and effects”, Diplomacy and Statecraft, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 1–28, available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592290108406201 (Accessed 11 July 2022).

6. Gribanich, V.M. (2022), “Science diplomacy. Science and Education as Critical Values of Social Development”, Science and Art of Management / Bulletin of the Institute of Economics, Management and Law of the Russian State University for the Humanities, no. 3, pp. 26–37.

7. Iyamu, V.O. (2004), “Diplomacia pública en la bibliografia actual”, Ámbitos, 1 er y 2 do Semestres, no. 11, pp. 215–236, available at: https://revistascientificas.us.es/index.php/Ambitos/a (Accessed 21 August 2022).

8. Leonard, M., Smewing, C. and Stead, C. (2002), Public Diplomacy, Foreign Policy Centre, London: available at: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/20958/Public_Diplomacy.pdf (Accessed 12 October 2020).

9. Li, J. (2018), “Conceptualizing Soft Power Conversion Model of Higher Education”, Conceptualizing Soft Power of Higher Education, Springer Singapore, pp. 19–65.

10. Melissen, J. (2005), The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, USA.

11. Nye, J.S. (2007), Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power, Basic Books, New York, USA.

12. Nye, S.J. (2005), Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, Public Affairs, New York, USA.

13. Ozcan, A. (2015), “Strategic practices of public diplomacy policies in educational field and Turkey’s potential for cultural diplomacy”, Erciyes İletişim Dergisi “akademia”, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 2–12, available at: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/articlefile/799240 (Accessed 29 January 2020).

14. Peterson, P.M. (2014), “Diplomacy and education: A changing global landscape”, International Higher Education, vol. 75, pp. 2–3, available at: https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ihe/article/view/5410 (Accessed 5 January 2022).

15. Potter, E.H. (2002), “Canada and the new public diplomacy”, Discussion Papers in Diplomacy, iss. 81, available at: http://www.clingendael.nl/publications/2002/20020700_cli_paper_dip_issue81.pdf (Accessed 10 September 2022).

16. Schneider, C.P. (2004), “Culture communicates: US diplomacy that works”, Discussion Papers in Diplomacy, Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’, iss. 94, available at: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/pmt/exhibits/2060/schneider94.pdf (Accessed 12 August 2022).

17. Simonin, B. (2008), “Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy: Challenges and Opportunities”, Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, no. 32 (3). pp. 19–34.

18. Smirnov, N.A. (2015), “ Public diplomacy. The evolution of the concept in political science”, Moscow University Bulletin. Series 12. Political Science, no. 1, pp. 78–89.

19. Stone, P.H. (2004), “The softer war”, National Journal, vol. 35, no. 22, pp. 1686, available at: http://culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/pdf/research/books/soft_power (Accessed 12 August 2022).

20. Vaxevanidou, M. (2018), “Education as public diplomacy: How to build on international image in education”, Journal of Media Critique, vol. 4, no. 14, pp. 55–70.

21. Waithaka, J.W. and Maluki, P. (2016), “International education exchanges as a public diplomacy instrument”, International Journal of Science Arts and Commerce, vol. 1, pp. 1–8.