The Frontiers of Public Diplomacy

This edited volume provides one of the most formidable critical inquiries into public diplomacy's relationship with hegemony, morality and power. Wherein, the examination of public diplomacy's 'frontiers' will aid scholars and students alike in their acquiring of greater critical understanding around the values and intentions that are at the crux of this area of statecraft. For the contributing authors to this edited volume, public diplomacy is not just a political communications term, it is also a moral term within which actors attempt to convey a sense of their own virtuosity and 'goodness' to international audiences. The book thereby provides fascinating insight into public diplomacy from the under-researched angle of moral philosophy and ethics, arguing that public diplomacy is one of the primary vehicles through which international actors engage in moral rhetoric to meet their power goals. The Frontiers of Public Diplomacy is a landmark book for scholars, students and practitioners of the subject. At a practical level, it provides a series of interesting case studies of public diplomacy in peripheral settings. However, at a conceptual level, it challenges the reader to consider more fully the assumptions that they may make about public diplomacy and its role within the international system.

Colin R. Alexander is Senior Lecturer in Political Communications at Nottingham Trent University, UK. His expertise surrounds propaganda and public diplomacy and the role of strategic communications in the interplay of world politics. He has particular interests in the politics of East Asia, colonialism, moral philosophy and in philanthropy studies. He is the author of China and Taiwan in Central America: Engaging Foreign Publics in Diplomacy (2014) and Administering Colonialism and War (2019).

Introduction Part 1: The First Frontier: Understanding Public Diplomacy 1. Hegemony, Morality and Power: A Gramscian Theoretical Framework for Public Diplomacy 2. Communications Technologies and Public Diplomacy: A History of the Frontiers of Statecraft 3. Education Beyond Borders: Explaining the Frontiers of Public Diplomacy's Core Part 2: The Second Frontier: Early Public Diplomats and their Innovations during the Collapse of Colonialism 4. Hegemonic Communications with Colonial Subjects: British Public Diplomacy in Colonial India 5. Colonial Subjects as Hegemonic Actors: V.S. Srinivasa Sastri's 1922 Public Diplomacy Tour of British Dominion Territories 6. Non-governmental Public Diplomacy Networks: The Indian National Congress and US Public Opinion, 1914-1947 Part 3: The Third Frontier: Emergent Forces in Contemporary Public Diplomacy 7. China's "Exceptional" Public Diplomacy: Dressing Up the Dragon 8. India's Public Diplomacy Re-posturing: The BJP's use of Yoga within its Political Communications 9. Cities as Public Diplomacy Actors: Combining Moral "Good" with Self-interest Part 4: The Fourth Frontier: Public Diplomacy at the Edge of the World 10. Public Diplomacy at the Top of the World: Sub-state Communications between Russia's North-west and its European Neighbours 11. Outsourcing Public Diplomacy Operations: Neoliberalism and the Communications of the United Nations since the End of the Cold War 12. Public Diplomacy on the Frontiers of Madness: North Korea and the Hegemonic Coalition 13. Conclusions