Self-Presentation and Impression Management: NATO’s New Public Diplomacy

Abstract

International organizations (IOs) established after the Second World War are all equipped with departments for communication which present and underline goals, engagements, and achievements in their fields of competence: democratization, human rights, development, collective security, peacekeeping, or peace building. Communications policies and strategies are an integral part of their public diplomacy and are therefore key instruments of their soft power (Melissen 2005) — the ability to shape what others want. Against this background, NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division (PDD), which was created in 2003, has the function to inform the wider public about the Alliance’s activities and policies through contacts with the media, NATO’s website, publications, seminars and conferences, as well as NATO’s Science Programme.