Public Diplomacy and Governance: Challenges for Scholars and Practitioners

Abstract

Public diplomacy, a term once known only to a handful of practitioners and scholars, is now part of a global conversation. Foreign ministries from London to New Delhi to Beijing use public diplomacy as an instrument of statecraft. Rare is the government today that does not require its diplomats and other professionals to understand, engage and influence global publics. Significantly, public diplomacy is no longer confined to the realm of statecraft. International and regional organisations employ public diplomacy to advance multilateral objectives. Non-state and sub-state actors engage in public diplomacy while pursuing governance activities that were once the domain of states. Concerns about what publics think and do are central to the way political actors compete, collaborate, communicate and govern.