Introduction
When it comes to international relations, credibility refers to a measure of someone’s capability to fulfill their promises. It is an important part of coercion and the military alliances’ functioning. It is closely associated with reputation and resolve, which means standing firm while enduring loss. For instance, immediately after the September 2001 tragedy, then-US President George Bush became popular due to his promises to the public to defeat terrorism. However, the positive ratings changed near the end of his term. The main reason for the plummeting of his credibility is due to failure in the domestic policy. For example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina and the eavesdropping of the citizens by the National Security Agency. When this happens internally, it becomes hard to maintain public diplomacy since foreign nations will use such incidents to judge one’s dependability. This paper aims to discuss how the future of diplomacy would be a contest of credibility.
Discussion
In international relations, a government’s credibility impacts its diplomatic efforts. Public diplomacy refers to government-supported efforts to directly communicating with the international public (Aydemir, 2022). It involves official strategies to convince targeted sectors of foreign opinion to tolerate certain objectives. It plays a major role in forming soft power. A government engages in public diplomacy by utilizing its resources to attract other nations and establish soft power (Aydemir, 2022). Nevertheless, the resources can be of no use if there is no credibility.
Nevertheless, owing to functional boundaries, public diplomacy cannot work in every problem area. In politics that involve territorial security, it is probably to be of less use (Gass & Seiter, 2020). Even in areas it is of use, power structure change, political systems’ differences, and the political relations among nations, influence its effectiveness. However, it is mainly credibility that determines the outcomes of dealings between nations (Gass & Seiter, 2020). Being viewed as honest as well as dependable is compulsory for obtaining and holding the attention of specific audiences and effective persuasion.
The future of diplomacy will be the contest of credibility as it will continue to become easier for a nation to adopt the ideologies of another when there is trust due to a good reputation. For instance, in many third-world countries, there are problems, including famine, drought, and national security (Kourgiotis, 2020). The First World states, through their leaders, always pledge to help. Those who keep their promises have a higher chance of developing diplomatic relations than those who fail.
Apart from that, when two nations are in a territorial conflict, how they solve the problem determines their image in the international scene. According to various international organizations, for example, the United Nations, it would be improper to allow the matter to cause a war. A leader’s credibility will be impacted by the way they handle such a situation (Gass & Seiter, 2020). An example of a good reputation is the United Arab Emirates. The nation continues to be among the greatest providers of official development assistance globally relative to the national income. It has offered more than $5 billion across one hundred and forty-seven nations (Kourgiotis, 2020). It is through this that it has been able to form great diplomatic relations with the United States, Russia, Japan, and most African and European states. This shows that in the future, public diplomacy will significantly be determined by credibility.
Conclusion
The paper has discussed how the future of diplomacy would be a contest of credibility. Leaders or governments need to consider the type of reputation they have according to other countries. It is essential not only for proper international relations with others but in public diplomacy. The United Arab Emirates has been able to form diplomatic relations with many nations in the world due to its credibility. In the future, it appears that a state’s image will determine how its policies are received by foreign powers. Leaders’ credibility will be impacted by their previous record in international dealings. A good example is the United Arab Emirates’ leadership, which continues to form good relations with other governments.
References
Aydemir, E. (2022). Public diplomacy of the George W. Bush administration: 9/11 and war on terror. İletişim ve Diplomasi, (8), 25-41. Web.
Gass, R. H., & Seiter, J. S. (2020). Credibility and public diplomacy. In Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy (pp. 155-168). Routledge. Web.
Kourgiotis, P. (2020). ‘Moderate Islam in the United Arab Emirates: Public diplomacy and the politics of containment. Religions, 11(1), 5-43. Web.