The New Public Diplomacy

Abstract

The idea to create this book was triggered by the feeling that the debate about public diplomacy after September 2001 had mainly taken place in the press and that the time was ripe for students of diplomacy to look at this phenomenon. In the early stages of the book it became clear how much confusion still surrounded public diplomacy (that is, the relationship between diplomats and the foreign publics with whom they work) with public debate on the concept being particularly intense in the United States. Between ‘9/11’ and the outbreak of war in Iraq, public diplomacy was beyond any doubt the hottest item in the US foreign policy establish- ment. Most American think tanks produced advisory reports on public diplomacy, some of them more helpful than others, but so far there has been remarkably little academic literature on post-Cold War public diplomacy. Those interested in it are confronted with an overload of press coverage, comment and analysis as well as instant advice for policy-makers. What is missing, however, is a lack of analysis of deeper trends, and a perspective on how official communication with foreign publics should be seen in the context of wider diplomatic practice. There