Public Diplomacy

Description and Objectives

Public diplomacy is a “hot button” topic today - a decade back, even the term was known only to some specialists. Globalization, the resurgence in the methods of diplomacy, bilateral, regional and multilateral, and the telescoping of external and internal issues, and more than anything else the “democratization” of diplomacy has opened up the way in which governments and countries deal with one another in the international system. Ordinary people are more interested in foreign affairs than ever before, and want “open” diplomacy. Governments feel obliged to communicate with their publics, on objectives and the results achieved with the funds they receive. The foreign has come home in many concrete ways, ranging from WTO issues, or terrorism, or climate security - all these impact on the lives of ordinary people everywhere. This is the backdrop to public diplomacy as an emerging theme in diplomatic studies.

 

Course Outline

  1. Public Diplomacy: Concepts and Methods: The role of PD, the different definitions of PD, and why we study this subject. What are the methods of PD, and what structures are best suited for its practice? 
  2. Public Diplomacy in Building Bilateral Relations: We examine the role of PD in bilateral relationship building, and its potential in relation to the other aspects of diplomacy. What are the best practices in this area? What kind of a PD strategy is needed?
  3. Building the National Brand with Public Diplomacy: Image-building is a core issue in PD; the country has become a brand. What are the issues in this area, and the possibilities in using brand building as a means of improving the overall impact of states in their international dealings? What examples are available to us from the world around us? 
  4. The Limitations of Public Diplomacy: PD cannot be seen as a panacea for all ills. Throwing money at propaganda, however sophisticated it may be, does not guarantee results, as the US has seen after 9/11. PD also involves listening to the publics, whether abroad or at home. What other realistic limits does PD impose? How should PD be optimised? 
  5. The Problem of Definition Revisited: The relationship between PD and related terms such as PR, spin and propaganda is analysed in light of the following questions: does the definition of PD depend on the vested interests of the practitioners, target audiences and observers? Is one man’s PD another man’s propaganda and how might such conflicts impact on the practice and evolution of PD?
  6. Brand Promise: Image Dissonance: Countries must live up to the images they project, or they will lose soft power. No consumer will be deceived by false advertising for long, and few would forgive such a deception. This lecture addresses the potential conflict between selling versus living one’s brand; between a one-way sales-pitch and a mutually beneficial dialogue.
  7. Diktat versus Dialogue: There appears to be a paradox between diktat and dialogue at the heart of PD. On the one hand, effective PD depends on message discipline, and on the other hand, convincing PD depends on a diversity of players, especially more trusted non-state actors. Is there a conflict? How can this conflict between diktat and dialogue be resolved? Which wins out, under what conditions and at what price? 
  8. Soft Power; Hard Sell: This lecture addresses the relationship between public diplomacy, soft power and other forms of power, such as hard, sticky and smart power. It considers various interactions between these types of power, as well as some of the more problematic attributes of each type of power, such as the categorisation of ‘smart’ and the connotations of ‘soft’. The expressed aims and possible ‘ulterior motives’ of soft power are also considered.

 

Who Should Apply

  • Practicing diplomats, civil servants, and others who work in international relations who want to refresh or expand their knowledge under the guidance of experienced practitioners and academics;
  • Post-graduate students of diplomacy or international relations wishing to study topics not offered through their university programmes or diplomatic academies and to gain deeper insight through interaction with practicing diplomats;
  • Post-graduate students or practitioners in other fields seeking an entry point into the world of diplomacy;
  • Journalists, staff of international and non-governmental organisations, translators, business people and others who interact with diplomats and wish to improve their understanding of diplomacy-related topics.

 

Structure and Methodology

This course is conducted entirely online over a period of 10 weeks. Reading materials and tools for online interaction are provided through an online classroom. Each week, participants read the provided lecture text, adding questions, comments and references in the form of hypertext entries. Lecturers and other participants read and respond to these entries, creating interaction based on the lecture text. During the week, participants complete additional online activities (for example, further discussion via blogs or forums, quizzes, group tasks, simulations or short assignments). At the end of the week, participants and lecturers meet online in a chat room to discuss the week’s topic. To complete the course successfully, participants must also write one or two essay assignments and a final examination. Courses are based on a collaborative approach to learning, involving a high level of interaction.

 

Lecturer(s)

Dr Biljana Scott
Language and Diplomacy, Public Diplomacy

Dr Biljana Scott lectures at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford University. She studied Chinese and Linguistics and divides her time between teaching and photography. Her research interests all revolve around the nature of categorisation and extend from complex predicates and syntactic recategorisation on the one hand to visual tropes in photography on the other. Her current focus is on political spin, as realised both verbally and visually.

 

 

Ambassador Kishan S Rana, Diplo Senior Fellow
Bilateral Diplomacy, 21st Century Diplomacy, Public Diplomacy

Ambassador Kishan S Rana holds a BA (Hons.) and an MA in economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University. He served in the Indian Foreign Service (1960-95); Ambassador/High Commissioner to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius and Germany; in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Office, 1981-82. He is now a Professor Emeritus of the Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi; Senior Fellow at DiploFoundation. He was a Commonwealth Adviser to the Namibia Foreign Ministry, 2000-01, Archives By-Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge University, 2004, and Public Policy Scholar at Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC, 2005. He Chairs the India Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). Authored: Inside Diplomacy (2000); Managing Corporate Culture (co-author, 2000); Bilateral Diplomacy (2002); The 21st Century Ambassador (2004); Asian Diplomacy (2007).

 

Words from Former Participants

This course, which is a well balanced combination of real life experience and academic approach, gives insights into fundamental techniques for planning and conducting public diplomacy strategies. Thus, you won’t believe that you are not in a real classroom.

Bora ER - Information Department, Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information, Republic of Turkey

As a graduate student who is doing research on this topic, I greatly benefitted from all formats of the course. Not only did I obtain new conceptual knowledge about current public diplomacy but I also clarified and legitimized what I have known before. I am impressed by the instructors’ both theoretical and empirical knowledge as well as their e-teaching methodologies, all of which made the virtual course run effectively and in a smooth manner. Most importantly, the course content was rich and covered existing competing theories as well as controversial practical issues that are being discussed and debated in and around this extremely important topic of our time.

Battsetseg Serj, Doctoral Student,
The University of Kansas, USA

The course gave me in-depth understanding about Public Diplomacy. It was all because of such a wonderful blend of online reading, adding and reading hypertext annotations, followed by assignments and especially discussions during online sessions with classmates from across the world and excellent tutors - Ambassador Rana and Dr. Scott - without whom I do not think I could have made it through various concepts of such a complex topic. Now I feel that my comprehension about the international diplomatic arena is far better than ever before.

Adnan Hakeem, Social Mobilization Specialist,
Dhirkot, UN-Habitat-Pakistan

 

Prerequisites

Applicants must have:

  • an undergraduate university degree; OR three years work experience and appropriate professional qualifications in diplomacy or international relations;
  • sufficient ability in English language to undertake postgraduate level studies (including reading academic texts, discussing complex concepts with other course participants, and submitting written essay assignments of up to 2500 words in length);
  • unrestricted access to the Internet using Firefox or Internet Explorer web browsers (please contact us for more details if you are in doubt about your level of access).

 

Fees

Course fees depend on whether you wish to obtain university credit for the course:

  • 755 euros (University of Malta Credit Course)
  • 575 euros (Diplo Certificate Course)

Applicants must pay full fees upon official acceptance into the course. The fee includes:

  • University of Malta application fee (where applicable)
  • Tuition fee
  • Course orientation pack (where applicable - may include text and/or references and Textus Learning User Guide)
  • Access to all required course materials online, via Diplo’s online classroom
  • Personal interaction via the online classroom with course lecturers, staff and other participants
  • Online technical support: requests will be answered within 24 hours
  • Certificate of completion issued by DiploFoundation (upon meeting all course requirements for participation, assignments and examination)

 

Financial Assistance

Discounts are available for more than one participant from the same institution. A limited number of partial scholarships are available for diplomats from developing countries. To apply for a scholarship please include your CV or resume, and a letter outlining your interest in the course and financial need, with your application package.

 

How to Apply

A number of routes for application are available, depending on the needs of the applicant: