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Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Author : A. Velikaya
Project Manager, The Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, Candidate of Science (Political
Science)
TODAY, with Russia in the center of a discussion about the world order,
public diplomacy can and should be used to inform foreign audiences
about Russia's positions, to organize their discussions and to achieve mu-
tually acceptable solutions.
Public diplomacy leads to cooperation and the efforts to arrive at com-
mon points. Edmund Gullion, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, was the first to use the phrase in its modern meaning; it pre-
supposes a dialogue on the most important international issues between
representatives of expert communities and civil societies of different
countries.
Those who look at public diplomacy as a synonym of "soft power" or
"people-to-people" diplomacy are wrong: It is an instrument of "soft
power." In English, the public diplomacy concept includes people-to-
people diplomacy while in Russia they are two different concepts. Public diplomacy concentrates on
the expert community correlated with the aims and targets of official diplomacy.
Unlike propaganda, public diplomacy is expected to build bridges, not barbed-wire fences; it is expected
to shape objective ideas about one's own country rather than to spread slander about other international
actors.Regrettably, analysts from Russia's closest noted recently that Russia's main aim was to rebuff
"soft power" of the West; therefore, Russia should work hard to explain its position on the burning in-
ternational issues to foreign audience.
It should be said that public diplomacy is a very complicated process that unfolds at many levels. Until
recently, everything that was done in the sphere of public diplomacy in Russia was limited to interstate
relations or projects of the creative class and academic community. Practically nothing was done to
draw civil society - NGOs, public opinion leaders, decision-makers, and experts in international relations
- into public diplomacy.
The correctly chosen foreign policy should be complemented with work among young people - under-
graduates, post-graduate students, young professionals who in five to ten years from now will become
analysts, diplomats, journalists, lecturers or heads of NGOs. This is another important and indispensable
aspect of public diplomacy, the results of which will crop up much later.
To sum up: Public diplomacy makes it possible to cut down the trends leading to greater disunity and
to capitalize on cooperation trends. This is practically impossible to achieve in the present conditions,
therefore, the legislative, cultural and historical specifics of states should be taken into account. It is
very important to listen to what the other side has to say and to borrow its positive experience; a space
for a dialogue helps consolidate long-term relations between states. On the other hand, there is no need
to insist on absolute compatibility of all positions; it is much more important to identify the space of
common interests to build up cooperation on this basis. In this respect, public diplomacy can be very
useful.
Public Diplomacy as an Instrument of International Dialogue