Narratives of Public Diplomacy in the post-Truth Era: The decline of Soft Power
Article Sidebar
561)
Main Article Content
Authors
Abstract
709
This article aims to build a better understanding of today’s communicative changes of public diplomacy in the post-truth era. Today, our communication environment has changed compared to decades ago: about 5 billion people communicate online and compete among themselves through their social media narratives, which are the main platform for the distribution of fake news in the post-truth era. The question posed here is: what are the winning narratives in the complex global environment of public diplomacy? Through problematizing review, this article analyses the sources of soft power which were described at the end of the Cold War, and which remain effective even in today’s communication environment. Also, the purpose and influence of public diplomacy has been problematized, analysing how to influence foreign government by influencing its citizens. The paper concludes that the values of soft power described three decades ago only have limited and specific effects on non-European publics, but not on European ones. Additionally, it is impossible to influence European governments by influencing their publics through public diplomacy because the context has changed and the values of soft power in these countries no longer have the former distinctive gap between them.
Keywords
References
Alvesson, M. & Sandberg, J. (2020). The problematizing review: A counterpoint to Elsbach and Van Knippenberg’s argument for integrative reviews. Journal of Management Studies, 57(6), 1290-1304. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/joms.12582
Barthwal-Datta, M., Krystalli, R. & Shepherd, L. (2023). Narrative in Politics and the Politics of Narrative. In P. Dawson & M. Mäkelä (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Narrative Theory (pp. 465-478). New York: Routledge.
Birchfield, V. (2013). A Normative Power Europe Framework of Transnational Policy Formation. Journal of European Public Policy, 20(6), 907-922. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2013.781829
Bjola, C., Cassidy, J. & Manor, I. (2019). Public diplomacy in the digital age. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 14(1-2), 83-101. https://www.doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-14011032
Boyd, d. & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 13(1), 210-230. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x
Buhmann, A. & Ingenhoff, D. (2015). The 4D model of the country image: An integrative approach from the perspective of communication management. International Communication Gazette, 77(1) 102-124. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1748048514556986
Crilley, R., Manor, I. & Bjola, C. (2020). Visual narratives of global politics in the digital age: An introduction. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(5), 628-637. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2020.1813465
Cross, M. K. D. (2014). Transatlantic Cultural Diplomacy. In R. Henze & G. Wolfram (Eds.), Exporting Culture. Which role for Europe in a Global World? (pp. 13-24). Germany: Springer VS.
Cull, N. J. (2006). Public Diplomacy Before Gullion: The Evolution of a Phrase. USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Retrieved from http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/060418_public_diplomacy_before_gullion_the_evolution_of_a_phrase
Cull, N. J. (2009). Public diplomacy: Lessons from the past. Los Angeles, CA: Figueroa Press.
Cull, N. J. (2010). Public diplomacy: Seven lessons for its future from its past. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 6(1), 11-17. https://www.doi.org/10.1057/pb.2010.4
Cull, N. J. (2019). Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Cunliffe, A. (2002). Reflexive dialogical practice in management learning. Management Learning, 33(1), 35-61. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1350507602331002
D’Ancona, M. (2017). Post-truth: The new war on truth and how to fight back. London: Ebury Press.
Dawson, P. (2023). What is ‘the Narrative’? Conspiracy Theories and Journalistic Employment in the Age of Social Media. In P. Dawson & M. Mäkelä (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Narrative Theory (pp. 71-85). New York: Routledge.
Delaney, R. F. (1968). Introduction. In A. S. Hoffman (Ed.), International Communication and the New Diplomacy (pp. 3-12). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Di Martino, L. (2019). Conceptualising public diplomacy listening on social media. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 16, 131-142. https://www.doi.org/10.1057/s41254-019-00135-5
Dimitriu, G. & de Graaf, B. (2016). ‘Fighting the war at home: strategic narratives, elite responsiveness, and the Dutch mission in Afghanistan, 2006-2010’. Foreign Policy Analysis, 12(1), 2-23. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/fpa.12070
Dolea, A. (2015). The need for critical thinking in country promotion: public diplomacy, nation branding, and public relation. In J. L’Etang, D. McKie, N. Snow & J. Xifra. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Critical Public Relations (pp. 274-288). London: Routledge.
Doncel-Martín, I., Catalán-Matamoros, D. & Elías, C. (2023). Corporate social responsibility and public diplomacy as formulas to reduce hate speech on social media in the fake news era. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 28(2), 340-352. https://www.doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2022-0040
Elliott, J. (2009). Using narrative in social research: qualitative and quantitative approaches. London: Sage.
Entman, R. (2008). Theorizing mediated public diplomacy: The U.S. case. International Journal of Press/Politics, 13, 87-102. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1940161208314657
Escalas, J. E. (2007). Self-referencing and persuasion: narrative transportation versus analytical elaboration. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(4), 421-429. https://www.doi.org/10.1086/510216
Fanoulis, E. & Revelas, K. (2022). The conceptual dimensions of EU public diplomacy. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 1-13. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2022.2043836
Fisher, W. (1984). Narration as a Human Communication Paradigm: The Case of Public Moral Argument. Communication Monographs, 51(1), 1-22. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/03637758409390180
Fischer, F. (2021). Truth and Post-Truth in Public Policy: Interpreting the Arguments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fitzpatrick, K. (2009). The future of U.S. public diplomacy: An uncertain fate. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill.
Fjällhed, A. (2021). Managing Disinformation through Public Diplomacy. In P. Surowiec & I. Manor (Eds.), Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty (pp. 227-254). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Floridi, L. (2014). The 4th Revolution. How the Infosphere Is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frederick, H. H. (1993). Global Communication and International Relations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Garlock, M. (2012). The Performance and Expansion of Global Storytelling in “It is In You”. Storytelling, Self, Society, 8(3), 138-166. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/15505340.2012.704816
Gilboa, E. (2008). Searching for a Theory of Public Diplomacy. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616, 55-77. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0002716207312142.
Gilboa, E. (2016). Public diplomacy. In G. Mazzoleni (Ed.), The international Encyclopaedia of political communication (pp. 1-9). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/9781118541555.wbiepc232
Golan, G. J. (2015). An Integrated Approach to Public Diplomacy. In G. J. Golan, S. U. Yang, D. & F. Kinsey (Eds.), International Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: Communication and Engagement (pp. 37-50). New York: Peter Lang.
Golan, G. J., Manor, I. & Arceneaux, Ph. (2019). Mediated Public Diplomacy Redefined: Foreign Stakeholder Engagement via Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned Media. American Behavioral Scientist, 63(2), 1665-1683. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0002764219835279
Gossel, B. (2022). Analogies in Entrepreneurial Communication and Strategic Communication: Definition, Delimitation of Research Programs and Future Research. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 16(2), 134-156. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2015689
Goyanes, M. (2020). Against dullness: On what it means to be interesting in communication research. Information, Communication & Society, 23(2), 198-215. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1495248
Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A. & Sparks, G. (2019). A First Look at Communication Theory (10th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Hagström, L. & Gustafsson, K. (2019). Narrative power: How storytelling shapes East Asian international politics. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 32(4), 387-406. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2019.1623498
Hagström, L. & Gustafsson, K. (2021). The limitations of strategic narratives: The Sino-American struggle over the meaning of COVID-19. Contemporary Security Policy, 42(4), 415-449. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2021.1984725
Hansel, M. (2023). Great power narratives on the challenges of cyber norm building. Policy Design and Practice. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2023.2175995
Hatavara, M., Hyvärinen, M., Mäkelä, M. & Mäyrä, F. (2016). Minds in Action, Interpretive Traditions in Interaction. In M. Hatavara, M. Hyvärinen, M. Mäkelä, M. & F. Mäyrä (Eds.), Narrative Theory, Literature, and New Media: Narrative Minds and Virtual Worlds (pp. 1-8). New York: Routledge.
Hayden, C. (2017). Scope, mechanism, and outcome: Arguing soft power in the context of public diplomacy. Journal of International Relations and Development, 20(2), 331-357. https://www.doi.org/10.1057/jird.2015.8
Hayden, C. (2012). The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Jiang, Y. (2022). Unpacking the Belt and Road Initiative: Does Its Public Diplomacy Narratives Match its Implementation? East Asia, 39, 315-331. https://www.doi.org/10.1007/s12140-022-09386-1
Jönsson, C. & Hall, M. (2005). Essence of Diplomacy. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jönsson, C. (2016). Diplomacy, Communication and Signalling. In C. M. Constantinou, P. Kerr & P. Sharp. (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Diplomacy (pp. 79-91). London: SAGE.
Kalpokas, I. (2018). A political theory of post-truth. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kent, M. & Taylor, M. (2021). Fostering Dialogic Engagement: Toward an Architecture of Social Media for Social Change. Social Media + Society, 7(1), 1-10. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2056305120984462
Ki, E. J., Pasadeos, Y. & Ertem-Eray, T. (2021). The structure and evolution of global public relations: A citation and Co-citation analysis 1983-2019. Public Relations Review, 47(1), 102012, 1-15. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2021.102012
Kleinman, D. L. (2021). Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game. Contemporary Sociology, 50(5), 410-412. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/00943061211036051j
Krebs, R. (2015). Narrative and the making of US national security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kunczick, M. (1997). Images of Nations and International Public Relations. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lee, S., Toth E. & Shin, H. (2008). Cognitive categorisation and routes of national reputation formation: US opinion leaders’ views on South Korea. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 4, 272-286. https://www.doi.org/10.1057/pb.2008.17
Leonard, M. (2002). Public Diplomacy. London: Foreign Policy Centre.
Malone, G. (1985). Managing Public Diplomacy. Washington Quarterly, 8(3), 199-213. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/01636608509450301
Manfredi-Sánchez, J. L. (2011). Hacia una teoría comunicativa de la diplomacia pública [Towards a Communicative Theory on Public Diplomacy]. Comunicación y Sociedad, XXIV(2), 199-225. https://www.doi.org/10.15581/003.24.36219
Manfredi-Sánchez, J. L. & Smith, N. R. (2022). Public diplomacy in an age of perpetual crisis: assessing the EU’s strategic narratives through six crises. Journal of Communication Management, ahead-of-print. https://www.doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-04-2022-0037
Manor, I. & Huang, Z. A. (2022). Digitalization of public diplomacy: Concepts, trends, and challenges. Communication and the Public, 0(0). https://www.doi.org/10.1177/20570473221138401
Markova, V. & Sukhoviy, O. (2020). Storytelling as a Communication Tool in Journalism: Main Stages of Development. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 9(2), 355-366. https://www.doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v9i2.2516
Melissen, J. (2005). New public diplomacy: soft power in international relations. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Meretoja, H. (2018). The Ethics of Storytelling: Narrative Hermeneutics, History, and the Possible. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Miskimmon, A., O’Loughlin, B. & Roselle, L. (2013). Strategic narratives: Communication power and the new world order. New York / London: Routledge.
Mor, B. D. (2007). The rhetoric of public diplomacy and propaganda wars: A view from self-presentation theory. European Journal of Political Research, 46(5), 661-683. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2007.00707.x
Mundy, D. (2021). From Relationship Management to Change Empowerment: Shifting Public Relations Theory to Prioritize Publics. Journal of Public Relations Research, 33(6), 504-525. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1062726X.2022.2053856
Nye, J. Jr. (1990). Bound to lead: The changing nature of American power. New York: Basic Books.
Nye, J. Jr. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. New York: Public Affairs.
Nye, J. Jr. (2008). Public Diplomacy and Soft Power. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616(1), 94-109. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0002716207311699
Nye, J. Jr. (2019). Soft Power and Public Diplomacy Revisited. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 14, 7-20. https://www.doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-14101013
Nye, J. Jr. (2021). Soft power: The evolution of a concept. Journal of Political Power, 14(1), 196-208. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2021.1879572
Palmieri, R. & Mazzali-Lurati. S. (2021). Strategic Communication with Multiple Audiences: Polyphony, Text Stakeholders, and Argumentation. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 15(3), 159-176. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1887873
Potter, J. (2016). Media Literacy (8th Ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
Roberts, G. (2006). History, theory, and the narrative Turn in IR. Review of International Studies, 32(4), 703-714. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40072179
Roe, E. M. (1992). Applied narrative analysis: The tangency of literary criticism, social science, and policy analysis. New Literary History, 23(3), 555-581. https://www.doi.org/10.2307/469220
Roselle, L. (2017). Strategic Narratives and Alliances: The Cases of Intervention in Libya (2011) and Economic Sanctions against Russia (2014). Politics and Governance, 5(3), 99-110. https://www.doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i3.1023
Roselle, L., Miskimmon, A. & O’Loughlin, B. (2014). Strategic narrative: A new means to understand soft power. Media, War & Conflict, 7(1), 70-84. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1750635213516696
Saliu, H. (2020a). The Evolution of the Concept of Public Diplomacy from the Perspective of Communication Stakeholders. Medijska istraživanja, 26(1), 69-86. https://www.doi.org/10.22572/mi.26.1.4
Saliu, H. (2020b). Public Diplomacy and Related Concepts from the Perspective of Lasswell’s Communication Formula. Jahr – European Journal of Bioethics, 11(2), 357-376. https://www.doi.org/10.21860/j.11.2.2
Saliu, H. (2021). The specifics and complexity of EU public diplomacy. Druzboslovne Razprave, XXXVII(96-97), 189-207. Retrieved from https://www.sociolosko-drustvo.si/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DR96-97-Saliu-WEB.pdf
Saliu, H. (2022a). Public Diplomacy or Public Glocalization? Rethinking Public Diplomacy in the post-Truth Era. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika, 1, 157-175. https://www.doi.org/10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2022.157175
Saliu, H. (2022b). Rethinking Media Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy Towards a New Concept: Digital Media Diplomacy. Online Journal Modelling the New Europe, 39, 1-24. https://www.doi.org/10.24193/ojmne.2022.39.01
Scolari, C. A. (2009). Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production. International Journal of Communication, 3, 586-606. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/477/336
Sevin, E. (2015). Pathways of connection: An analytical approach to the impacts of public diplomacy. Public Relations Review, 41(4), 562-568. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.003
Sevin, E. & Manor, I. (2019). From embassy ties to Twitter links: Comparing offline and online diplomatic networks. Policy & Internet, 11(3), 324-343. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/poi3.199
Signitzer, B. & Coombs, T. (1992). Public relations and public diplomacy: Conceptual divergence. Public Relations Review, 18(2), 137-147. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/0363-8111(92)90005-J
Snow, N. (2020). Exchanges as Good Propaganda. In N. Snow & N. J. Cull (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy (pp. 422-429). New York: Routledge.
Spencer, A. (2016). Romantic narratives in international politics: pirates, rebels and mercenaries. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Tandoc, E. C. & Maitra, J. (2017). News organizations’ use of Native Videos on Facebook: Tweaking the journalistic field one algorithm change at a time. New Media & Society, 20(5), 1679-1696. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1461444817702398
Tandoc, E., Lim, ZW. & Ling, R. (2017). Defining ‘fake news’: A typology of scholarly definitions. Digital Journalism, 6(2), 137-153. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Tandoc, E., Jenkins, J. & Craft, S. (2019). Fake News as a Critical Incident in Journalism. Journalism Practice, 13(6), 673-689. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1562958
Tuch, H. (1990). Communicating with the World: U. S. Public Diplomacy Overseas. Washington, DC: Georgetown University.
Vaccari, C. & Valeriani, A. (2021). Outside the Bubble ⎼ Social Media and Political Participation in Western Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Van Noort, C. (2020). Strategic narratives, visuality and infrastructure in the digital age: The case of China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 33(5), 734-751. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2020.1741513
Waisbord, S. (2018). The elective affinity between post-truth communication and populist politics, Communication Research and Practice, 4(1), 17-34. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2018.1428928
White, H. (1973). Metahistory: The historical imagination in nineteenth-century Europe. Baltimore, MD.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Whitman, R. G. (Ed.) (2011). Normative Power Europe. Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Willis, P. (2019). From knowing to doing: Reflexivity, leadership, and public relations. Public Relations Review, 45(3), 101780, 1-8. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.05.001
Winkler, S. Ch. (2019). ‘Soft power is such a benign animal’: narrative power and the reification of concepts in Japan. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 32(4), 483-501. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2019.1623171
Wu, D. & Sevin, E. (2022). Neither External nor Multilateral: States’ Digital Diplomacy During Covid-19. Journal of Public Diplomacy, 2(1), 69-96. https://www.doi.org/10.23045/jpd.2022.2.1.1
Yuan, Z. & Fu, Q. (2020). Narrative framing and the United States’ threat construction of rivals. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, 13(3), 419-453. https://www.doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poaa008
Details
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
RIGHTS TRANSFER
By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communication & Society, the AUTHOR exclusively assigns the rights of public communication, reproduction, distribution and sale for commercial exploitation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal term in force -the entire life of the author and seventy years after his death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future edition modalities, both in print and electronic versions.
In the event that the article is not accepted for publication , this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.
The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.
