New Perspectives on Public Diplomacy

Introduction

Diplomacy can be understood as the direction and execution of international relations by states. It is an instrument that requires professionals, skills, abilities, knowledge and attitudes to successfully solve the assigned tasks in the execution of foreign policy. It is a primary foreign policy activity with rules, regulations, customs and uses.

Latin and Greek etymology reminds us that its function was the transport of a diplomatic message, an object of an informative nature which was confidential. Furthermore, its status as a profession reminds us that it is a full-time activity. Whoever is appointed as a diplomat assumes that his/her tasks are subject to public scrutiny.

The exercise of diplomacy has been professionalized, and tools have been provided to regulate relations between countries and identify diplomatic functions. Together with international law based on custom, the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations indicates those functions of the diplomatic mission. They are namely: the representation of the State, the protection of the interests of both the sending State and its nationals within the law, negotiation with the government, the collection of information on local events by lawful means and its transmission, and the promotion of friendly relations (Denza, 2009).

The heart of the mission has stayed the same: the diplomat pivots between the state and the citizen so that s/he fulfils an essential publicly owned service. Technology, globalization, open societies, the rise of transparency, connected citizens, the increase in multilateral negotiations, the return of geopolitics or the general uncertainty of the markets have not changed the five basic functions, which are the outline of diplomacy. This transformation has occurred in the environment where the profession is practised, in labour conditions and terms of citizen demand. The consolidation of the international media, the advent of the Internet and new mobile devices, the strength of social movements, the drive for globalized corporate interests or the creation of new commercial alliances feed a scenario of complexity in which the diplomatic official has lost the monopoly of international activity, be it interstate or between citizens. More individuals and organizations participate in making decisions.

For this reason, one cannot speak of “traditional diplomacy” faced with new technological diplomacy (Murray et al, 2011). One finds a context, an agenda and certain organizations in flux. This is where the set of competencies acquires its meaning. New ones provide capacities for understanding the strategic environment, fulfilling the diplomatic mission and for the citizen’s attention. They are incremental competencies, that is, they are sustained based on those that one knows and that organize international relations: knowledge of international law and political science, command of languages, intercultural communication, closeness to the citizen, ability to communicate abroad the interests of the government of a country, the diffusion of culture and scientific relations, conflict resolution or influence on foreign public opinion, among others. The axis of the diplomatic task remains unalterable: promoting the interests of governments and citizens who are represented in the international arena (Clinton, 2010). Moreover, for that, personal contact is irreplaceable.

Given this situation, it is time to think about how diplomacy will develop in the 21st century, how the Foreign Ministries will be organized and what professional skills will be necessary for the diplomatic official. Consular attention, bilateral relations, conventional diplomacy, cooperation for development, cultural action and many other functions require their transformations. This is an ongoing process. The technological transformation affects the conceptualization and practice of diplomacy (Hedling & Bremberg, 2021). Diplomacy is no longer a club in which states impose the game’s rules, identify the players or allow their entry and exit into international organizations. The network stimulates co-creation, that is, the management and administration of coalitions between public interests and the private sector, the participation of citizens in international affairs, the generation of connections outside the official circuit and the identification of influencers in the network. It is not a question of confronting one another but of seizing opportunities for innovation in diplomatic relations organized in a network. Three features are already on the political horizon: immediacy, visibility and direct interaction of citizens.