487711

research-article2013
ABS57910.1177/0002764213487711American Behavioral ScientistGolan

Introduction
American Behavioral Scientist
57(9) 1251­–1255
An Integrated Approach © 2013 SAGE Publications
Reprints and permissions:
to Public Diplomacy sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0002764213487711
abs.sagepub.com

Guy J. Golan1

By focusing on global engagement between governments (along with corporations

and nongovernmental organizations [NGOs]) and citizens of foreign nations, public
diplomacy research has gained much attention from international relations, mass
communications, and political scientists alike. While mostly atheoretical (Entman,
2008; Gilboa, 2000), public diplomacy research is largely influenced by Joseph
Nye’s (1990, 2008) soft power perspective. Nye’s perspective highlights the need to
move away from traditional government-to-government diplomacy and toward a
government-to-citizen perspective that highlights a relational approach based on
two-way engagement.
The soft power approach was so influential on both public diplomacy practitioners
and scholars that President Clinton abolished the United States Information Agency
(USIA) and replaced it with the Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy and Public
Affairs. This move signified not only an organizational realignment but also a philo-
sophical shift from a global persuasion model to a model of government-to-citizen
engagement focusing on such soft power programs as educational, cultural exchanges
along with language training and development programs as the key tools of public
diplomacy.
Many critics, including the current author, have argued that while soft power pro-
grams serve an important role in international engagement, they should complement
rather than replace a strategic global communication effort that draws from the medi-
ated public diplomacy approach (Entman, 2004; Sheafer & Gabay, 2009; Sheafer &
Shenhav, 2010). While traditional diplomacy is focused on government-to-government
engagement and the soft power approach is focused on government-to-citizen engage-
ment, the mediated public diplomacy approach is focused on government-to-citizen
engagement that is mediated by a third party—the global news media. The rising influ-
ence of global satellite networks and social media (Kwak, Poor, & Skoric, 2006; Nisbet,
Nisbet, Scheufele, & Shanahan, 2004; Seib, 2007, 2008) necessitates an updated

1S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:
Guy J. Golan, 215 University Place, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
Email: [email protected]
1252 American Behavioral Scientist 57(9)

Integrated Public
Diplomacy

Mediated Public Naon Branding/Country Relaonal Public

Diplomacy Reputaon Diplomacy

(Short/Medium Term) (Medium/Long term) (Long Term)

Figure 1.  An integrated model of public diplomacy.

practical approach to 21st-century public diplomacy. As governments aim to engage

foreign public through third-party mediators (global media and international social
media influencers), many scholars have argued for the centrality of the public relations
perspective as a useful paradigm for the study and practice of public diplomacy
(Fitzpatrick, 2007; Signitzer & Coombs, 1992; Signitzer & Wasmer, 2006).
The current author agrees with this argument by positing that mediated public
diplomacy is just one element in a broader perspective that is referred to as integrated
public diplomacy. The integrated approach identifies three layers of public diplomacy:
the short- to medium-termed mediated public diplomacy, the medium- to long-termed
nation branding and country reputation, and the long-termed relational public diplo-
macy that is based on soft power programs (see Figure 1). While each element of
integrated public diplomacy differs on the basis of its stakeholder engagement goals,
it is only through the integration of all three that governments are likely to produce
positive long-term engagement outcomes.
The current issue of the American Behavioral Scientist aims to advance integrated pub-
lic diplomacy research by examining public diplomacy through a strategic communication
lens. Six different studies provide unique perspectives on this approach. Together they
build knowledge on the growing body of literature that expands public diplomacy research
beyond the soft power approach and toward a more integrated outlook.
In “The Conditional Nature of Value-Based Proximity between Countries: Strategic
Implications for Mediated Public Diplomacy,” Sheafer, Ben-Nun Bloom, Shenhav,
and Segev (in press) discuss the relationship between proximity in values and global
media coverage and its importance in the field of public diplomacy. Noting the central
role of proximity both cultural and political as key predictor of international news flow
and coverage, the study compares online nation visibility across 57 nations. The study
advances research on both the determinants of international news coverage and public
Golan 1253

diplomacy by highlighting the conditional effects of value proximity on foreign coun-

tries’ web visibility, showing that countries systematically differ in recognizing prox-
imity such that democracies base their judgment on similarity in shared democratic
principles, while authoritarian countries focus on the affinity in religious culture.
Among the practical implications of the study on the integrated public diplomacy
approach is the realization that nations should emphasize shared core values (of cul-
tural proximity) when targeting foreign audiences. The study is of particular relevance
to the mediated public diplomacy approach when applied to the deliberation of fram-
ing a government’s message strategy. Study results can also provide guidance for
nation reputation and branding campaigns that can benefit from the incorporation of
core values as central components of global outreach campaigns.
In “Diplomat in Chief? Assessing the Influence of Presidential Evaluations on
Public Diplomacy Outcomes Amongst Foreign Publics,” Golan and Yang (in press)
investigate the relationship between evaluations of President Obama and evaluations
of the United States and the American people by the people of Pakistan. On the basis
of the public relations perspective to public diplomacy research, the authors argue that
organizations are often evaluated according to the reputation of their leadership.
Through their advanced analysis of data from the Pew Research Center’s Global
Attitudes Project, the authors present a model that demonstrates just how meaningful
evaluations of President Obama were on the evaluations of the United States, the
American people, and the U.S.-led global war on terror. The authors suggest that future
public diplomacy campaigns should consider the reputation of a nation’s leader as a
potential asset of liability. As such, the implications of the study should be considered
in both mediated public diplomacy and country reputation campaigns.
In “Al-Jazeera, Qatar, and New Tactics in State-Sponsored Media Diplomacy,”
Samuel-Azran examines the manner in which the nation of Qatar used the Al-Jazeera
network as a strategic tool of public diplomacy. More specifically, the study demon-
strates that coverage of matters related to Saudi Arabia was directly related to Qatari-
Saudi international relations. Overall, the Samuel-Azran study shows that Al-Jazeera
was used by Qatar as a hybrid network whose independence is influenced by Qatar’s
national interests. The implications of the study are of great importance when consid-
ering the diffusion of global satellite networks affiliated with global governments,
such as the Al-Arabiya network of Saudi Arabia, Russian Television of Russia, and the
Xinhua global news agency of China. As the lines blur between broadcast news net-
works and their strategic use by governments, one must recognize that broadcasting is
a key tactic in modern public diplomacy. More specifically, ownership of global
broadcasting networks takes the mediated public diplomacy concept to a new level as
governments bypass gatekeepers (or appoint them) and are able to directly influence
the framing of their nation by the news media. A rare exception of this rule is the
American Broadcast Board of Governors (BBG), which is the American broadcast
authority that promotes press freedom around the world without much government
interference. The BBG’s commitment to its independence and to press freedom has
been criticized by some who suggest that the United States must have its own broad-
casting arm in the war for international influence over global public opinion.
1254 American Behavioral Scientist 57(9)

In “A Strategic Issue Management (SIM) Approach to Social Media Use in Public

Diplomacy: Based on Two Case Studies,” Zhang suggests that the use of social media
in public diplomacy should be considered as a strategic issue management (SIM) func-
tion. While the author recognizes that social media platforms serve as public diplo-
macy tactics in their initial and later stages, he argues that they serve a strategic
function as well. Two case studies involving U.S. public diplomacy and Chinese citi-
zens were used to present four stages of the SIM model of public diplomacy, which
includes a phase whereby an issue ferments and goes viral, a proactive phase, a reac-
tive phase, and phases whereby the issue recedes and a new issue emerges. The author
challenges traditional definitions of public diplomacy engagement and discusses the
potential impact of social media on 21st-century public diplomacy.
In “Strategic Uses of Mediated Public Diplomacy: International Reaction to U.S.
Tourism Advertising,” Fullerton and Kendrick discuss the application of paid advertising
as a tactic of public diplomacy. The authors discuss the historic use of these tactics by such
governments as the United States in its Shared Values Initiative (SVI), which was widely
criticized as ineffective, along with other similar case studies. The study uses a quasi-
experiment to test the influence of tourism advertising on a variety of public diplomacy
measures. Based on a representative sample of Australian adults, the quasi-experiment
results indicate that Brand USA’s Land of Dreams commercial (the treatment) was suc-
cessful in both increasing interest in visiting the United States and improving perceptions
of the United States and its people. The authors argue that paid advertising can be a con-
structive tactic in mediated public diplomacy campaigns. The study’s findings are impor-
tant to the integrated public diplomacy approach since it demonstrates the potential impact
of paid advertising on both the mediated public diplomacy and nation-branding levels. I
argue that one potential limitation of paid advertising, as a tactic of public diplomacy cam-
paign, is the high cost of global media buying. However, the proliferation of online file-
sharing websites, such as Youtube and Reddit, offer governments an alternative or
complementary web distribution network for the ads.
In “Crisis Communication, Image Restoration, and Battling Stereotypes of Terror and
Wars: Media Strategies for Attracting Tourism to Middle Eastern Countries,” Avraham
integrates the mediated public diplomacy and nation-branding approaches by studying
the manner in which Middle East governments attempted to repair their global image
and reinvigorate their tourism industries via public diplomacy engagement campaigns.
More specifically, he offers a multistep model for altering place image focusing on
source, message, and audiences. The study identifies a multitude of message strategies
used by Middle East governments in their image restoration campaigns. Furthermore,
the study’s findings highlight the need for the integration of the short- to medium-term
mediated public diplomacy approach (as reflected in the nations’ media relations efforts)
and the medium- to long-termed nation-branding campaigns aimed at the reshifting of
public opinion regarding a nation’s global reputation.

References
Avraham, E. (in press). Crisis communication, image restoration, and battling stereotypes of ter-
ror and wars: Media strategies for attracting tourism to Middle Eastern countries. American
Behavioral Scientist.
Golan 1255

Entman, R. M. (2004). Projections of power: Framing news, public opinion, and foreign policy.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Entman, R. M. (2008). Theorizing mediated public diplomacy: The U.S. case. International
Journal of Press/Politics, 13, 87-102.
Fitzpatrick, K. R. (2007). Advancing the new public diplomacy: A public relations perspective.
Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 2, 187-221.
Fullerton, J. A., & Kendrick, A. (in press). Strategic uses of mediated public diplomacy:
International reaction to U.S. tourism advertising. American Behavioral Scientist.
Gilboa, E. (2000). Mass communication and diplomacy: A theoretical framework.
Communication Theory, 10, 275-309.
Golan, G. J., & Yang, S.-U. (in press). Diplomat in chief? Assessing the influence of presidential
evaluations on public diplomacy outcomes among foreign publics. American Behavioral
Scientist.
Kwak, N., Poor, N., & Skoric, M. M. (2006). Honey, I shrunk the world! The relation between
Internet use and international engagement. Mass Communication and Society, 9(2), 189-213.
Nisbet, E. C., Nisbet, M. C., Scheufele, D. A., & Shanahan, J. (2004). Public diplomacy, televi-
sion news, and Muslim opinion. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 9, 11-37.
Nye, J. S., Jr. (1990). Soft power. Foreign Policy, 153-171.
Nye, J. S., Jr. (2008). Public diplomacy and soft power. ANNALS of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 616, 94-109.
Samuel-Azran, T. (in press). Al-Jazeera, Qatar, and new tactics in state-sponsored media diplo-
macy. American Behavioral Scientist.
Seib, P (2007). New media and the new Middle East. New York, NY: Palgrave McMillian.
Seib, P. (2008). The Al Jazeera effect. Washington, DC: Potomac Books.
Sheafer, T., Ben-Nun Bloom, P., Shenhav, S., & Segev, E. (in press). The conditional nature
of value-based proximity between countries: Strategic implications for mediated public
diplomacy. American Behavioral Scientist.
Sheafer, T., & Gabay, I. (2009). Mediated public diplomacy: A strategic contest over interna-
tional agenda building and frame building. Political Communication, 26, 447-467.
Sheafer, T., & Shenhav, S. R. (2010). Mediated public diplomacy in a new era of warfare.
Communication Review, 12, 272-283.
Signitzer, B. H., & Coombs, T. (1992). Public relations and public diplomacy: Conceptual cov-
ergences. Public Relations Review, 18(2), 137-147.
Signitzer, B. H., & Wasmer, C. (2006). Public diplomacy: A specific government public relations
function. In I. C. H. Botan, & V. Hazelton (Eds.), Public relations theory II (pp. 435-464).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Zhang, J. (in press). A strategic issue management (SIM) approach to social media use in public
diplomacy: Based on two case studies. American Behavioral Scientist.

Author Biography
Guy J. Golan is an associate professor of public relations and public diplomacy at the S.I.
Newhouse School of Public Communications of Syracuse University. His research focuses on
public diplomacy, political communications, and international public relations. Golan has pub-
lished more than two dozen peer reviewed journal articles in such journals as Communication
Research, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, The Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, and the Journalism Studies.