PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

by J Chahine · 2010 · Cited by 14 — Nicholas Cull, in his essay ―‗Public Diplomacy’ before arises from a misguided tendency to ―equate soft power behaviour with the cultural.

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PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Joumane Chahine Graduate Program in Communications Dep a rtment of Art History & Communication Studies McGill University Montreal August 2010 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and R esearc h in Partial Fulfilment of the D egree of Doctor of Philosophy ©Joumane Chahine 2010

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iii ABSTRACT Since its much publicized deployment in the wake of the September 11 th attacks and during the subsequent so – a substantial body of critical discourse emanating from both the professional and academic spheres. These analyses, however, have been for the most part empirical studies, aimed at strengthening the efficiency of the practice by identifying potential flaw s or weaknesses in its current conception or application and offering possible correctives. Significant enquiries into the conceptual origins and evolution of the practice, on the other hand, have generally been rare and limited. This thesis proposes to re medy, in part, this lack by situating public diplomacy within a broader and deeper conceptual context. affairs in the Cold War environment of the mid – 1960s. It could howe ver be argued that the essence of the practice government communication with foreign publics is as old as history itself. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to argue that public diplomacy, as the specific form taken by the practice of government communication with a foreign audience in the latter half of the twentieth century, is a distinctive product of the development and ultimate intersection of several discrete though somehow connected concepts in social and political thought. We shall seek t o substantiate this claim by identifying three fundamental concepts that lie at the heart of the idea of public diplomacy public opinion, civil society and the information age — and charting their historical trajectory and various points of interaction. T he main body of the dissertation will therefore be divided into three genealogical chapters, one for each of the elected concepts cited above. Throughout, and increasingly as the thesis progresses, these various evolutional paths will be correlated, their points of convergence highlighted, so as to gradually situate the birth of public diplomacy at the intersection of their trajectories. The conclusion will offer further reflections on the continued influence of this collection of notions on the more recent development of public diplomacy, and the implications these might entail for its future.

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iv RÉSUMÉ , suite à sa mise en prati que particulièrement publicisée durant la principalement cantonnées à des considérations empiriques et prescriptives, cherchant surtout à identifier les faiblesses et mésinterprétations qui marqueraien actuelle de la ” diplomatie publique “, et à proposer certaines mesures correctives. Les recherches substantielles quant aux origines e manière générale, rares ou du de “diplomatie publique” dans un contexte conceptuel plus étendu et approfondi. état pour rallier à sa cause un ou plusieurs autres états, la “diplomatie publique”, elle, consiste pour un état à faire passer son point de vue, non parmi ses homologues sur la scène internationale, mais au sein de la population de ces derniers. Bien que français) est relativement jeune, ayant fait son entrée dans le lexique de la politique internationale aux Etats – Un is dans les années soixante, en pleine Guerre Froide. forme singulièrement contemporaine de communication entre un gouvernement et un public étranger, est le produit d istinct du développement et des entrecroisements de plusieurs concepts fondamentaux de la pensée politique et sociale. “diplomatie publique” — et soumettrons chacune de ses notions à une étude généalogique détaillée. Au fur et à mesure que la thèse avancera , ces différents cheminements conceptuels seront corrélé s , leurs points de convergence mis en évidence, de manière à progressivement situer la genèse de la ” diplomatie publique ” à l’intersection de leurs trajectoires. ces observations, la conclusion ouvrira un nouveau champ de réflexion en examinant leurs retombées possibles sur l e futur de la pratique.

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