The New U.S. Public Diplomacy vs. The New French Cultural Diplomacy Case Study

Introduction

Today, it is possible to observe the realization of two different practices in the field of diplomacy: public and cultural diplomacy. Depending on their goals, different governments prefer to focus on this or that practice. Still, during recent decades, these approaches have been changed, and nowadays diplomats often use the “new” public and cultural diplomacy. In this context, it is important to refer to the case of the United States and the country’s promotion of its new public diplomacy and the case of France and its focus on the new cultural diplomacy. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explain the discussed concepts, analyze the major differences in these approaches, and propose a new public diplomacy initiative for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Public and Cultural Diplomacy

To focus on discussing the cases, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the concepts of public and cultural diplomacy. Accordingly, public diplomacy is a practice of “diplomatic engagement with people” to create an appropriate image of the nation with the help of influencing public opinion.¹ This effect becomes achieved with the help of spreading information about the country using scholars, opinion leaders, or media representatives. Public diplomacy can directly address the views of representatives of foreign countries and contribute to increasing the soft power of a certain nation. The United States actively uses this approach to support the nation’s reputation among audiences from other countries, strengthen the power, and improve the image.² The new US public diplomacy means the active use of the Internet and social media for the further strengthening of soft power.

Cultural diplomacy is a practice that is based on involving cultural relations between countries, and it is usually promoted by leaders who are not related to the government. Thus, cultural diplomacy is focused on spreading different cultural values typical of a certain country using musicians, artists, and educators among others. The French cultural diplomacy is based on spreading the use of the French language abroad, promoting cultural values and traditions, and sharing information about educational institutions and programs.³ As a result, cultural diplomacy practices are viewed as associated with not only cultural but also ideological and social spheres.

Differences in US Public Diplomacy and French Cultural Diplomacy

Although cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy are often viewed as having many similarities, these approaches differ significantly about the following major aspects: objectives of these approaches and their relation to governments and politics. Cultural diplomacy followed in France is focused on realizing long-term objectives, according to which the spread of information about the French culture in the world will potentially influence the future relationships between the county and other nations because of increased flows of tourists or the interest in the French language, music, and cinematography.⁴ On the contrary, the US objectives regarding public diplomacy are rather short-term, and they are based on changes in global trends. The support of the United States’ image among the global public is realised with the help of different media as the response to various situations in the world that can affect the image negatively.⁵ From this perspective, the reaction of US diplomats is often immediate and associated with short-term goals.

The second difference is connected with the role of the government and politics in influencing diplomacy. The US public diplomacy is strictly controlled by the government, and the spread of the information depends on tendencies in an international political environment. Therefore, researchers are inclined to compare the United States’ approach to public diplomacy with propaganda promoted by the state.⁶ The French cultural diplomacy is also regulated by national goals, but the participation of the government is limited or hidden, and the key tasks are usually performed by non-governmental organizations or actors who are not directly associated with the state of politics.⁷ Therefore, the public’s attitude to France becomes minimally affected by people’s views on the country’s political course.

The UAE as the Centre of Science and Innovation in the World: The Initiative

The UAE’s public diplomacy initiative is based on strengthening the country’s ties with English-speaking countries with the focus on spreading the information about the nation’s economic potential in the world to attract well-educated expatriates to the UAE as a modern country that proposes wide opportunities for foreigners. The UAE is a gateway to the Middle Eastern region, and it is oriented to developing economic and scientific spheres. It is necessary to promote the image of the country by providing opportunities for scientists and experts in different spheres of knowledge.

This initiative is important for the country because the region develops quickly, and is known as a center for innovation and development, the UAE still lacks specialists and scientists to support this rapid development. Therefore, the country is interested in attracting knowledgeable expatriates. Furthermore, this initiative will contribute to developing economic relationships with English-speaking countries to invest both human and material resources in the region.

The target group includes specialists in different areas, with a focus on engineering, construction, biology, and IT, who have academic degrees and can be attracted to work in the UAE. Venues of actions mainly include world conferences on different subjects. The foreign policy goals should be formulated the following way: to develop directions for the development of economy, science, and innovation projects in the country; to promote the image of the country as an attractive modern place for scientists and specialists; to attract well-educated expatriates.

Conclusion

Despite many similarities, public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy have differences, and the state usually chooses what approach to use to spread its values among the public worldwide. The new US public diplomacy can be viewed as aggressive in some cases because of reflecting features of propaganda. The French cultural diplomacy is more oriented to developing prolonged effective relationships with other nations to support a positive image of the country. A new initiative for the UAE has also been proposed in the paper to address its public diplomacy goals.

Bibliography

Bonfatto, Richard. “A Brief Outlook of the French Cultural Diplomacy.” In Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy Proceedings, 1-4. Berlin: The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, 2012.

Kim, Hwajung. “Bridging the Theoretical Gap between Public Diplomacy and Cultural Diplomacy.” The Korean Journal of International Studies 15, no. 2 (2017): 293-326.

Melissen, Jan, ed. The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations. New York: Springer, 2005.

Pranaitytė, Giedrė. “The Role of Governmental Institutions in the Context of French Cultural Diplomacy.” Political Science Almanac/Politikos Mokslu Almanachas 15, (2014): 137-172.

Smith, Steve, Tim Dunne, and Amelia Hadfield, eds. Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Footnotes

1. Steve Smith, Tim Dunne, and Amelia Hadfield, eds., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 168.
2. Hwajung Kim, “Bridging the Theoretical Gap between Public Diplomacy and Cultural Diplomacy,” The Korean Journal of International Studies 15, no. 2 (2017): 293.
3. Giedrė Pranaitytė, “The Role of Governmental Institutions in the Context of French Cultural Diplomacy,” Political Science Almanac/Politikos Mokslu Almanachas 15, (2014): 137-138.
4. Ibid., 138-139.
5. Jan Melissen, ed., The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations (New York: Springer, 2005), 6-7.
6. Kim, “Bridging the Theoretical Gap,” 297.
7. Richard Bonfatto, “A Brief Outlook of the French Cultural Diplomacy,” in Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy Proceedings (Berlin: The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, 2012), 2-3.