Lessons from the Past - USC Center on Public Diplomacy

14 Public Diplomacy
1. Fig. 1. The Old Public Diplomacy and <strong>the</strong> New
Dominant Characteristics Old PD New PD
1) Identity of international actor State State and non-state
2) Tech. environment Short wave radio
Print newspapers
Land-line telephones
3) Media environment Clear line between
domestic and international
news sphere
4) Source of approach Outgrowth of
political advocacy &
propaganda <strong>the</strong>ory
5) Terminology “International image”
“Prestige”
6) Structure of role Top down, actor to
foreign peoples
Satellite, Internet,
real-time news
Mobile telephones
Blurring of domestic
and international news
sphere.
Outgrowth of
corporate branding &
network <strong>the</strong>ory
“Soft power”
“Nation Brand”
Horizontal, facilitated
by actor
7) Nature of role Targeted messaging Relationship-building
8) Overall aim The management
of <strong>the</strong> international
environment
The management
of <strong>the</strong> international
environment
One unresolved issue of <strong>the</strong> New Public Diplomacy is <strong>the</strong>
relationship between <strong>the</strong> output of <strong>the</strong> new players and <strong>the</strong> interest
of <strong>the</strong> state. Some national governments have tended to look on
NGOs, IOs and corporations with active voices overseas as unpaid
auxiliaries of <strong>the</strong>ir state PD effort. This misses <strong>the</strong> extent to which
<strong>the</strong>se newcomers are international actors in <strong>the</strong>ir own right, and <strong>the</strong>ir
PD represents <strong>the</strong>ir attempt to manage <strong>the</strong> international environment
through public outreach in <strong>the</strong>ir own interests ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> interests
of <strong>the</strong> state to which <strong>the</strong>y have been historically connected. States
may find that <strong>the</strong>ir relations with <strong>the</strong>se new players will be less like
relations with <strong>the</strong>ir own internal PD organs and more like dealings
with allied states with overlapping ideological interests, who can be
expected to part company when a conflict of interest arrives.