• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.53-68
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• 2023

Some observers call current conflicts in international relations as a new Cold War. But the characteristics of the new Cold War are more complicated than that of the Cold War. Under this condition, Korean government established the 2^nd Basic Plan for Public Diplomacy in 2022. Compared with the 1^st Basic Plan, the 2^nd plan shows several progress such as expansion of items for knowledge (public) diplomacy and inclusion of global value as a part of public diplomacy for policy. The 2^nd plan also emphasizes digital public diplomacy as a tool for enhancing the Korean government's public diplomacy. Despite substantial progress, the plan does not suggest definite and reliable global values as a part of Korean public diplomacy for policy. This study provides several important points to develop Korea's public diplomacy in a new Cold War.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.49-74
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• 2021

In this paper, I applied grounded theory in exploring how Twitter became the battlefield for China's public diplomacy campaign. China's new move to global social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, has been a controversial strategy in public diplomacy. This study analyzes Chinese Foreign Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Twitter posts and comments. It models China's recent diplomatic move to Twitter as a "war of words" model, with features including "leadership," "polarization," and "aggression," while exerting possible effects as "resistance," "hatred," and "sarcasm" to the global community. Our findings show that by failing to gage public opinion and promote the country's positive image, China's current digital diplomacy strategy reflected by Zhao Lijian's tweets has instead constructed a polarized political public sphere, contradictory to the country's promoted "shared human destiny." The "war of words" model extends our understanding of China's new digital diplomacy move as a hybrid of state propaganda and self-performance. Such a strategy could spread hate speech and accelerate political polarization in cyberspace, despite improvements to China's homogenous network building on Twitter.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.27-48
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• 2021

Remarkably, despite the growing frequency and severity of global problems such as climate change, earthquakes and health pandemics, public diplomacy has remained largely focused on the goals of state actors and threats from other actors. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the consequences of focusing on individual actors of public diplomacy, including their competitive quest for soft power, over the more pressing needs of humanity and public diplomacy's global mandate. The aim of this piece is to expand the vision of soft power from a competitive state-centric perspective to a broader and more collaborative, humanity-centered perspective. Although public diplomacy's link to power may appear recent and linked to Nye's (2004) concept of soft power, research suggests that it may stem from the traditional diplomacy's "diplomacy of imperialism" (Langer, 1935) that immediately preceded public diplomacy's rise. While this diplomatic heritage may currently dominate public diplomacy perspectives, humankind's global heritages and evolutionary capacity for cooperation suggest another vision is possible. The paper draws upon Alexander Vuving's (2009) explanation of how soft power works in a comparative analysis with Nye's original works to sketch out a new humanity-centered perspective of soft power. The paper concludes with implications of a humanity-centered perspective of soft power for public diplomacy's global mandate.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2021

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.116-135
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• 2022

Public diplomacy activities can benefit from social capital theory, when its social dynamics is elucidated in the investment of complex social networks and in the establishment and management of relationships with foreign publics. Social capital theory explains that actors can produce purposive actions to mobilize resources in social structures, which thus explains the dynamics of social interactions. In response to the lack of conceptual frameworks for understanding public diplomacy activities within social capital theory, we conducted a narrative literature review that intends to identify the means through which international actors, such as governments, engage with foreign publics through the dynamics of social networks and the resources embedded in them. In addition, we explored the multidimensional characteristics of social capital to enhance the comprehension of the manner in which actors access, share, and maintain resources in target communities, institutions, or organizations through public diplomacy activities. In summary, we highlight the importance of new theoretical explorations on the application of social capital theory to public diplomacy and the need for a research agenda in the field.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.28-42
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• 2022

The aim of this article is to rethink the role of international trade as a public diplomacy tool by considering the uncertainties that stem from political tensions. The main contribution made in this article is theoretical rather than statistical. However, we analyze trade and public opinion data to study the relationship between both factors. Using Latinobarometer, a cross-sectional survey that collects public opinion data from Latin America, this article analyses public opinion toward the United States and China. One of the main takeaways from this study is that, despite its potential to showcase political stability, public diplomacy undervalues 'unintended consequences' of international trade relations. This article takes up international trade as an unintended, but arguably effective, resource to be developed for the practice of public diplomacy. Findings presented in this article do not claim causation between trade and opinion, something that can be explored by further research, but rather introduce new questions for further research on the public diplomacy of trade relations.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.43-68
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• 2022

Multiple modes of communication on social media can contribute to public diplomacy in informing, conversing, and networking with members of foreign publics. However, manipulative behaviours on social media, prevalent especially in high tension contexts, create disruptions to authentic communication in what could be grey/black propaganda or information warfare. This study reviews existing literature about models of public diplomacy to guide an empirical study of China's communication in the #SouthChinaSea conversation on Twitter. It uses computational methods to identify, record, and analyze one-way, two-way, and network communication of China's actors. It employs manual qualitative research to determine the nature of China's actors. On that basis, it assesses China's Twitter communication in the issue against various models of public diplomacy.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.139-144
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• 2020

While networks of many countries around the world are actively connected with the establishment of ICT-based infrastructure, diplomatic activities are also evolving into various diplomatic forms that are different from traditional diplomacy before. In particular, in the process, public diplomacy activities that focus on subjects other than the government and new diplomatic areas are accelerating. This study identifies the current state of public diplomacy that has emerged as a representative type of new diplomatic style and derives policy implications for the revitalization of global governance. The analysis was attempted based on data generated mainly on the main contents of various diplomatic activities by each entity, and the future direction of public diplomacy was sought. In particular, the subject of diplomacy is becoming more diverse, and most of all, various activities are being carried out based on the world stage due to changes in diplomatic means. Most of all, they understood that all the people are playing the role of private diplomacy, and that the roles and capabilities of local governments are becoming stronger. Global governance needs to be built to revitalize public diplomacy, and support policies need to be continued by expanding the role of public diplomacy and various topics.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.6-27
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• 2022

With globalization and new communication technologies, governments aim to cultivate relationships with their foreign publics. This goal represents the convergence of the public relations and public diplomacy domains. In this regard, this study aims to explore how foreign-born faculty members' attitudes and behaviors toward the U.S. are shaped by their relationships with their universities. Findings confirm a significant link between foreign-born faculty members' perceived relationships with their universities and their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the U.S. The authors conclude that a positive relationship between universities and foreign faculty members can serve as a soft power resource in U.S. public diplomacy. This study contributes to governments' public diplomacy efforts by analyzing the roles of the foreign-born faculty members as strategic communication channels in cultivating relationships between a host country and their homelands.

• Journal of Public Diplomacy
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.43-63
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• 2023

Objectives: Nuclear security and atomic energy industry have always been the domain of political and economical diplomatic affairs. The issue of nuclear proliferation must be resolved politically or militarily given the importance of the problem, the impact it has on global security, the influence of major powers, and non-proliferation regimes. Considering scope of the budget, manpower, and scale of the project, the atomic energy issue was also viewed from an economic perspective. Therefore, the goal of this study is to depart from the conventional viewpoint and investigate if public diplomacy may be extended to a new issue domain of nuclear security and atomic energy. Methods: In order to determine whether there are any areas that overlap, the uniqueness of Korea's position in the nuclear security and atomic power domains is evaluated and compared with the traits of public diplomacy. Results: It seems plausible to broaden the scope and function of public diplomacy in that field given Korea's uniqueness in nuclear security and atomic energy issue and overlap with public diplomacy. This is especially true given that the state must take the leading role and that ongoing policy demands are made in light of Korea's security and economic structure. In reality, it is assessed that the Summer Fellows Program, run by the KAIST Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (KAIST NEREC), has had a considerable impact on public diplomacy in the area of nuclear security and atomic energy. Conclusions: Nuclear security and atomic energy issues have traditionally been handled from the perspectives of political diplomacy, summit diplomacy, and economic diplomacy. However, this paper evaluate that the possibility of enhancing the role of public diplomacy in this issue area is high and underscore that the budget support, programs, and manpower for similar public diplomacy activities are needed. Through this, South Korea's nuclear security policy and atomic energy industry could be supported from international community and it will advance national interest.