Soft Power and Public Diplomacy
Preliminary requirements:
Basic knowledge in theory of international relations or theory of politics.
Course Description:
1.Introduction to the course and literature. Introduction to the field: soft power as a concept: sources of power in international relations. Soft power as resources and as behavior of states in international relations.
2. Theories and approaches, fields and disciplines. Soft power, smart power and communication power as frames for studies on public diplomacy and nation branding. Power and discourse, discourse as power in international relations.
3. Social power (van Ham) and normative power (Manners): how it works? Soft lining of economic power in international relations.
4. Public diplomacy: development of the concept and practice, historical approach.
5. Culture as an element of soft power. Cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy.
6. Public diplomacy as a form of international political communication. Global context.
5. Public diplomacy and nation branding: links and clashes. Economization of foreign policy. Foreign image policy.
7. The impact of public diplomacy and nation branding on opinion abroad: how it works? Narratives and discourses. International broadcasting.
8. The fate of small and medium size countries: the use of soft power tools for more scurity and international visibility.
10. Indexing states as brands. NBI and Anholt’s Good Country Index as examples. Soft Power indexes.
11. Campaigns and strategies. How to make soft power work?
12. The case of US: superpower’s soft power resources and its deficits.
13: Poland’s use of soft power and model of Public Diplomacy.
14. The use of soft power and public diplomacy by authoritarian regimes: China and Russian Federation.
Aims of the course:
The course is focused on soft power and its tools, and their relevance in international relations. The lectures give insight into main theoretical approaches in the field, starting with J.S Nye concept of the three dimensions of power. Public diplomacy (and also its new version – the so called New Public Diplomacy) will be discussed as a form of external political communication and the way, governments use the countries’ soft power assets and translate their values, culture and foreign policy for foreign audiences. Thus, soft power and its tools are presented as means of contemporary foreign policy, basing on the experiences of superpowers, middle powers and small countries. The lectures introduce also nation branding as a term and as a policy and confront soft power tools with the theory and practice of propaganda. The course integrates approaches from international relations and media and communication studies. Poland’s public diplomacy is included into the course as one of the cases.
Evaluation & Completion:
Lecture: written examination, closed- and open-ended questions.
Basic Literature:
Castells, M., Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2009.
Fairclough, N. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press. 1992.
Fischer A., Lucas S., Trials of Engagement. The Future of US Public Diplomacy. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden 2011.
Golan G.J, Yang S.-U., Kinsey, D.F. (eds), International Public Relations and Public Diplomacy. Peter Lang, New York - Berlin 2015.
van Ham,P., Social Power in International Politics. Routledge, London, 2010
Manners, I., Normative power Europe. A contradiction in terms? “Journal of Common Market Studies”, 2 (40), 2002: 235-258.
Melissen, J. (red.), The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan London 2005.
Nye, J.S, The Future of Power. Public Affairs, New York, 2011.
Nye,J.S., Jr., Soft Power. The Means to Success in World Politics. Public Affairs, New York, 2004.
Ociepka, B., Poland’s New Ways of Public Diplomacy. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 2017
Ociepka, B. Polish Public Diplomacy. http://www.e-ir.info/2012/10/08/polish-public-diplomacy/
Osgood,K.A., B. C. Etheridge, The United States and Public Diplomacy. New Directions in Cultural and International History. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden 2010.
Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy. Routledge 2009.
Zaharna R., (2014) China’s Confucius Institutes: Understanding the relational structure and relational dynamics of network collaboration. In: Confucius Institutes and the Globalization of China’s Soft Power. Figueroa Press, Los Angeles, September. http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/story/closer-look-chinas-confucius-institutes
Additional Literature:
Arquilla, J., Ronfeldt D, The Emergence of Noopolitik. Toward an American Information Strategy. RAND, Santa Monica 1999,: www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1033/.
Batora, J., Public diplomacy in small and medium – sized states. Norway and Canada. “Discussion Papers in Diplomacy”, No 97, 2005, March, Clingendael.
Dinnie,K. (ed.), Nation Branding. Concepts, Issues, Practice, Elsevier 2009.
Clingendael Papers on Public Diplomacy: www.clingendael.nl.
“Place Branding and Diplomacy”.
Nye, J.S, The Future of Power. Public Affairs, New York, 2011.
Zaharna, R.S., The Soft Power Differential: Network Communication and Mass Communication in Public Diplomacy. “The Hague Journal of Diplomacy” Vol. 2(3), 2007, p. 213-222.
