Contemporary Notions of Public Diplomacy

Based off the discussions that we have had both in seminar and lecture as well as the independent readings I have done myself, I am learning that Public Diplomacy cannot be carried out without some notion of Cultural Diplomacy involved. In today’s society it is every hard to get away from the fact that we are living in a multi-cultural world no matter where in the world you come from. With that being said, how can you conduct diplomacy without taking those cultural differences into account. The more that I study the topic of Public and Cultural Diplomacy the more that I am seeing the undeniable links that the two share with each other rather than perhaps being two separate entities.

Public Diplomacy is meant to have an impact on those peoples in other countries in order to influence their thoughts on the country which is approaching them. When looking at London for example, there are so many different cultures represented that a diplomatic campaign that was successful and well thought out could have wide-spread implications for Britain with many other countries. The problem is too often that the people in charge of such campaigns and those higher above them are thrown into a tight window of opportunity and are told to perform at the best with what they have. This makes you wonder, what if anything, what these people expect to get done.

Public Diplomacy, with Cultural Diplomacy enveloped in that term, is becoming an increasingly important field in which more money and attention should be paid because of the potential benefits that could result from a long-term, well financed plan of action. Perhaps with a long-term plan, more people would come to understand each other, their home countries and boundaries would be broken down between states. This in the even longer term could pose benefits for avoiding conflict and for better relationships overall.

In conclusion, I believe that Public and Cultural Diplomacy go hand in hand and each needs to account for the other when carrying out diplomatic plans. The study of these two topics can only further benefit the field of diplomacy simply because they are still very new and complex topics. 

-Meghan H.

Image is everything these days...

(re)Branding Africa is a challenge

What are a lot of people’s first thoughts when hearing the word ‘Africa’?

Instability caused by war? Widespread poverty? Starving children, and primitive people living in huts? An exaggeration perhaps, but as someone who grew up in Africa and has lived in London for years now, I know this to be a genuine perception/misconception. This could be blamed on both personal ignorance and Western media portrayal of Africa.

Mainly we see Africa in the news when there’s some sort of crisis. In the competitive climate of the global market place, African countries are lagging in terms of investment, tourism, exports and employment.

Nation branding can certainly help African countries develop a more positive image and give them a chance to increase foreign direct investment, and tourism. I read an article in the journal Place Branding and Public Diplomacy entitled ‘Branding African countries: A prospect for the future’ by Evalyne Wanjiru, that suggests the utilisation of customer relationship management (CRM) to ‘gain a competitive differentiation’. CRM is about managing customer relationships and understanding customers’ needs. Simon Anholt believed CRM can work when branding nations with a ‘viable target market’.

Interviews were carried out with experts in country branding, African development and CRM for the paper, and one interviewee interestingly stated that Africa suffers from ‘continent brand defect’, meaning the continent as a whole is seen as a single brand. Johnston of Brand South Africa believes that rebranding could end ‘Afro-pessimism’.

The paper goes into more detail regarding branding, CRM and the challenges of branding Africa however they can be overcome with the right policies in place and the right (re)branding campaign, especially through the use of CRM.

I personally think that branding Africa through CRM could work well.

As an Ethiopian, I know that my country could benefit from further tapping into the market available from their ideological link with the Caribbean and Rastafarianism. For example, an annual high profile music festival including prominent artists not only from Africa, but also around the world is a viable possibility that could boost tourism, and aid in the construction of a more positive image for both Ethiopia and Africa.

Public Diplomacy: Modern Approaches

The events of September 11^th changed the way that many countries carry out their public diplomacy campaigns. This is particularly true in the USA where it became clear that their image in the Arab World was extremely negative and had played a part in motivating those behind the attacks.

The post 9/11 era saw beginning of “the battle for hearts and minds” (Leonard, Stead and Smewing, 2002: 2) of those in the Middle East. The USA began new instruments of public diplomacy including the broadcasting of Radio Sawa (Radio Together), which plays Arab and Western pop music to a listener base across the Arab world. Additionally, the Government funds and supports Alhurra Television (The Free One) to the same target audience. This aims to spread the image that the USA is not the enemy of the East and to portray the positive aspects of American multicultural society.

However, despite the efforts of the American government to improve their image in the Middle East, they are perhaps undermining their work through their policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestine-Israel conflict. The propaganda in the Arab World finds the American invasion of Iraq and the civilian causalities in Afghanistan an easy target for the development of anti-American feeling. So while their diplomacy efforts have improved, their message appears to be inconsistent with some of their actions in the East.

Indeed, the majority of respondents to a survey in five Muslim countries in the Arab world stated that if the US hopes to improve its image in the Arab world then it must back up the public diplomacy efforts with changes in their policies on the ground, and adopt an even-handed policy on the Palestine-Israel conflict. (el-Nawawy, 2006)

The USA is not the only example of a country becoming more concerned with their image in the East post 9/11, and most countries in Europe have made attempts to ensure that they develop a more positive image in the region. A clear example of the impacts of a poor image, aside from 9/11, is the reaction to the Danish cartoons of prophet Muhammad in 2005 and 2008 (when they were reprinted). A series of protest started in the Middle East, Danish products were boycotted and embassies were attacked.

After the first incident the Danish Government failed to act in a way that dissipated the row: refusing to meet with 11 ambassadors that were representing over half a million Muslim people (Hervik, 2006). In the aftermath of the second printing the Danish government appears to have been more aware of the negative impacts of a poor image in the East and it reacted to the crisis with transparency, open dialogue and the involvement of locally based immigrants from the Arab world which proved effective at reducing the tension created (Andreasen, 2008)

In stark contrast to the modern public diplomacy policies that can be seen in the US and the rest of Europe, France is risking provoking negative reactions and criticism from the Muslim world through the banning of full-face veils in public. This law does not come into force until April 2011 but it will be interesting to see if this legislation has a negative impact on France and their relations with the Muslim world.

Bibliography

Andreasen, U. (2008), “Reflections Public Diplomacy after the Danish Cartoon Crises: From Crisis Management to Normal Public Diplomacy Work” in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Vol. 3, No 2, 201-207

BBC News Europe (2010)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11305033, 14^th September, accessed 12.3.2011

Collins, S. (2003) “ Mind Games”, NATO Review, http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2003/issue2/english/art4.html, accessed 12.3.2011

El-Nawawy, M. (2006), US Public Diplomacy in the Arab World: The News Credibility of Radio Sawa and Television Alhurra in Five Countries” in Global Media and Communication, Vol. 2, No 2, 183-203

Hervik, P. (2006), “The Predictable Response to the Danish Cartoons” in Global Media and Communication, Vol. 2, No 2, 225-230

Leonard, M. Stead, C. and Smewing C. (2002), Public Diplomacy, The Foreign Policy Centre: London

A Great Book

Dear all,

I'm not sure if all have but I know of a few that have told me they have read this. Public Diplomacy by Mark Leonard gives a good analysis of what Public Diplomacy is, using examples of real events and knowledge from practitioners, it was published by the Foreign policy centre. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a better understanding of what Public diplomacy is and how it is used.

News Management in Public Diplomacy

There has been and continues to be a lack of consensus on the meaning of public diplomacy, however it can be argued that, as suggested by its name Public diplomacy refers to a change in the target of diplomacy from the nation state to the people within it, as Sir Michael Butler , a former British representative to the EU stated "The purpose of public diplomacy is to influence opinion in target countries", this refers not to private exchanges with foreign governments and their opinions but instead the opinions of the people of that state, as Edward Murrow said "not only with governments but primarily with non-governmental individuals and organisations".

In light of this definition there are three areas which can be seen as tools in this form of diplomacy, News Management, Strategic communications and relationship building.

-News Management

This aspect has become very important since the rise of the television media as it is now possible to view news from around the world in real time such as the movements in Libya and Egypt. A good example could be Zimbabwe, as the news shows us that the situation in Zimbabwe is dangerous and unstable this forms the basis for a view of that state, but if in the example of the USA the media portrays the land of the free, we instantly could believe that the USA is a good state and we will favour it. In this way the news must now me managed in order to ensure that the image of any state is one that will inspire confidence in another and therefore cultivate a friendship or favour. This does not have to purely political, in fact an insight into the public life can be more useful in allowing people to see what a state is really like and form an opinion.

Thoughts on Nation Branding

I have spent the past few days reading about nation branding, place branding, state branding and geo-branding, about countries with good and bad nation brands and national brands, about labels and images, PR, management, about what all these things are and what they are not, how I should be thinking about them and how not, and that in the end “nation branding” was a bad idea to come up with anyway.

The result of my reading is confusion.

This might be, because many others use these terms interchangeably, while others emphasise the importance of distinctions. It might also be, because the ‘father ‘ of “nation branding”, Simon Anholt himself, whom governments line up to see in the hope of improving their national image, changes the content from time to time (Szondi, 2010, 334). Now he says that he regrets the whole thing because everybody misunderstands what it actually means (Bussey, 2010[1]). He also says that actually, you cannot change your image anyway unless you change yourself– and that goes for countries as well (BBC Thinking Allowed, 2011[2]). Fair enough, there is probably a lot of truth in this statement: If you want others to think better of you, improve your behaviour instead of glossing it over.

But then, why should we even care about nation branding?

It seems to me that however vague the concept may be (which is why no definition is given here), there is a reason for taking it seriously. We live in a world where image matters more than ever, where globalisation has changed the way we live, where technological advances have increased the amount of information to the unknowable, and where all countries have the need to compete with one-another for foreign investment, markets for products, tourists, and a voice in the global political arena (Change Agent, 2006[3]). At the same time, and because it would be impossible not to, we are all highly influenced by the stereotypes that we have of places. If we think a country is extremely violent and anybody who sets foot in it must fear for his/her life, we will not travel there. If we perceive a country to produce very high-quality products, we will prefer products from that country to others from countries that we see as making low-quality copies of the originals, for example “Swiss” products against the Chinese copies (Thomasson, 2009[4]).

Perceptions matter in today’s world and because there is an overload of information about virtually everything, it is very important for countries to make sure that the sources of information about the country say the same thing and demonstrate why this is the place to go to on holidays, invest in, and listen to. The alternative is being overlooked in the busy globalised world and left behind – and who would want that?

---

[1] http://nation-branding.info/2010/01/27/re-branding-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qcjwn

[3] http://www.synovate.com/changeagent/index.php/site/full_story/branding_a_country/

[4] http://nation-branding.info/2009/08/12/switzerland-swiss-made-label/

References

- BBC Thinking Allowed (2011) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qcjwn, 3^rd February, accessed: 6.3.2011, 22:30

- Bussey, Jane (2010) “Re-branding Latin America and the Caribbean”, Nation-Branding.Info, http://nation-branding.info/2010/01/27/re-branding-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/, accessed: 10.2.2010, 23:38

- Change Agent (2006) “Branding a Country”, Synovate.com, March, http://www.synovate.com/changeagent/index.php/site/full_story/branding_a_country/, accessed: 3.3.2011, 10:28

- Szondi, Gyorgy (2010) “From Image Management to Relationship Building: A Public Relations Approach to Nation Branding”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Vol.6, No.4, pp.333-343

- Thomasson, Emma (2009) “Switzerland defends “Swiss Made” Label”, Nation-Branding.Info, http://nation-branding.info/2009/08/12/switzerland-swiss-made-label/, accessed: 2.3.2011, 10:39

Is Nation Branding a Modern Phenomenon?

The term ‘Nation Branding’ was first coined by Simon Anholt in the 1990s and, although definitions vary, is generally accepted to mean the managing of the image and reputation of a country (Dinnie 2008) through the application of branding and marketing communication techniques (Fan 2006)

There are now many nations who use Nation Branding for the advancement of their country. A current example is Australia who has branded their country as an idealistic place to live because of the relaxed lifestyle, better climate and beautiful beaches. Living ‘The Australian way’ as the adverts targeted at Britons say. These adverts aim to develop the Australian brand and attract both tourists and the skilled labour that Australia is short of. In order to promote tourism and improve their flow of skilled immigrants Australia is actively marketing their country to the target market. This is the modern way of nation branding.

Since the 1990s Nation Branding has developed both in academic circles and in practise and there are now agencies and experts who can be assigned to help a nation improve or develop their brand in a similar way to the branding of commercial products. However, while the active development of a nation brand is being credited as a new phenomenon, there are a number of authors including Olins (2002) who point to examples of countries branding much earlier than the 1990s.

Olins says that every time a nation changes its political regime or goes through a form of revolution the country re-brands itself. After World War Two many countries began to achieve their independence, an example of this can be seen in Africa with the Gold Coast which achieved independence and changed its name to Ghana in 1957. This change of name can be interpreted as a form of branding as it is an attempt to break free from the image that this country was part of a colonial empire. (Olins 2002)

It seems fair to suggest that a form of nation branding has existed for longer than the term has been used in academic cycles however it is also true to say that nation branding is more important today than it was in the past. The era in which we live; one of global trade, freedom of travel and real time information, makes nation branding important for achieving foreign investment, tourism and global power. Without a positive image associated with a country it can be harder for them to compete in world where people have more choice about where to invest, where to visit and where to build a life.

Bibliography:

Dinnie, K. (2008), Nation Branding, Concepts, Issues, Practice, Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford

Fan, Y. (2006), “Branding the Nation: What is being branded?” in Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 12, Nº 1, 5-14

Moilanen, T. and Rainesto, S. (2009), How to Brand Nations, Cities and Destinations: A Planning Book for Place Branding and Destinations, Palgrave Macmillan: Besingtoke

Olins, W. (2002), “Branding the Nation – The Historical Context” in Brand Management, Vol. 9, Nº 4-5, 241-248