Public diplomacy’s scholarship and practice are evolving and seeking to adapt to the expanding interests, expectations, connectivity and mobility of the publics that have come to define the field in an organic fashion. The characteristic distinction between international and domestic publics as the key to defining the practice of public diplomacy is increasingly challenged by public audiences that are no longer constrained by such traditional delineations. The attention on the involvement of domestic publics in public diplomacy, or its domestic dimension, has to be understood within this context. This article aims to cast further light on public diplomacy’s domestic dimension, with Canada and Australia — two countries that have much in common — as the launch pads for discussion. The article’s first section investigates the approach and development of public diplomacy’s domestic dimension in both countries and draws out the similarities and differences. The second section identifies the opportunities, challenges and tendencies in its practice as well as the conceptual implications. The article finds that while differences in approach remain, Canada and Australia have more in common than not when it comes to involving domestic audiences in international policy, especially in recent years. Their practice of public diplomacy’s domestic dimension appears to be resilient and adaptive in nature, although it has been subject to fluctuations resulting from changes in the political climate, leadership styles and governmental preferences, and resource availability. Additionally, reconceptualizing public diplomacy with a domestic dimension and constructivist underpinnings opens the window on norms that are taken for granted in diplomacy and offers the potential for a more inclusive view and practice — a better fit for its time.
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See Bruce Gregory, ‘American Public Diplomacy: Enduring Characteristics, Elusive Transformation’, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, vol. 6, no. 3-4, 2011, p. 353; and Jan Melissen, ‘Public Diplomacy’, in Pauline Kerr and Geoff Wiseman (eds), Diplomacy in a Globalizing World: Theories and Practices (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 192-208.
Ellen Huijgh, ‘Changing Tunes for Public Diplomacy: Exploring the Domestic Dimension’, Exchange: The Journal of Public diplomacy, vol. 2, no. 1, 2011, pp. 62-74.
Daryl Copeland, ‘James Eayrs on Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, and International Relations: A Twenty-first Century Retrospective’, International Journal, vol. 62, no. 1, 2007, p. 52; and Evan H. Potter, Branding Canada: Projecting Canada’s Soft Power through Public Diplomacy (Montreal, QC, and Kingston, ON: McGill-Queens’ University Press, 2009), p. xiii.
Alan K. Henrikson, ‘What Can Public Diplomacy Achieve’, Discussion Papers in Diplomacy, no. 104 (The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’, 2006), p. 11.
Kathy R. Fitzpatrick, ‘US Public Diplomacy’s Neglected Domestic Mandate’, USC CPD Perspectives (Los Angeles, CA: The USC Center on Public Diplomacy of the University of Southern California, 2010).
Jozef Bátora, ‘Public Diplomacy Between Home and Abroad: Norway and Canada’, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, vol. 1, no. 1, 2006, p. 79.
John C. Blaxland, Strategic Cousins: Australian and Canadian Expeditionary Forces and the British and American Empires (Montreal, QC: McGill-Queens University Press, 2006).
See Government of Canada, DFAIT, A Horizontal Review of the Range of Canadian Public and Cultural Diplomacy Programming: Evaluation Report (Ottawa, ON: DFAIT, 2005), online at http://www.international.gc.ca/about-a_propos/oig-big/2005/evaluation/horizontal_review-examen_horizontal.aspx?lang=eng&view=d; and the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Australia’s Public Diplomacy: Building Our Image (Canberra, ACT: Australian Senate, 2007), online at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=fadt_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/public_diplomacy/report/index.htm.
Ellen Huijgh, ‘The Public Diplomacy of Federated Entities: Examining the Quebec Model’, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, vol. 5, no 1-2, 2010, pp. 135-136.
John Kirton and Blair Dimock, ‘Domestic Access to Government in the Canadian Foreign Policy Process, 1968-1982’, International Journal, vol. 39, no. 1, winter 1983-1984, pp. 68-98; James M. McCormick, ‘Democratizing Canadian Foreign Policy’, p. 117; and Bruce Thordarson, Trudeau and Foreign Policy: A Study in Decision-Making (Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, 1972), pp. 37 and 95-96.
GOC DFAIT, Evaluation of the Public Diplomacy Program of Foreign Affairs Canada, p. 2.
Lloyd Axworthy and Sarah Taylor, ‘A Ban for All Seasons’, International Journal, vol. 53, no. 2, 1997, pp. 189-203; Maxwell A. Cameron, ‘Global Civil Society and the Ottawa Process: Lessons from the Movement to Ban Anti-Personnel Mines’, Canadian Foreign Policy, vol. 7, no. 1, 1999, pp. 85-102; and Jody Williams, Stephen D. Goose and Mary Wareham (eds), Banning Landmines: Disarmament, Citizen Diplomacy and Human Security (Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008).
See Monica Gattinger, ‘A Dialogue on Foreign Policy: Useful but not Quite Satisfactory’, Optimum Online, vol. 33, no. 2, June 2003; John B. Hay, Practising Democratic Foreign Policy: DFAIT’s Consultations with Canadians (Ottawa, ON: Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development, 2003); and Christie A. Hurrell, ‘Civility in Online Discussion: The Case of the Foreign Policy Dialogue’, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 30, no. 4, 2006, pp. 633-648.
DFAIT, Programs of Domestic Outreach, Call for Applications of the Foreign Dialogue, Citizen Diplomacy and Multi-Assemblies Program (Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada, 2005), document no longer available online; and DFAIT ‘Programs for Domestic Outreach’, Presentation to Policy Committee (Ottawa, ON: GOC, unpublished document, 8 November 2005), p. 4.
See Kenneth Whyte, ‘In Conversation: Stephen Harper the PM on How He Sees Canada’s Role in the World and Where He Wants to Take the Country’, MacLeans, 5 July 2011, available online at http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/07/05/how-he-sees-canada%E2%80%99s-role-in-the-world-and-where-he-wants-to-take-the-country-2/.
See Carl Meyer, ‘Budget 2012: DND Cuts Billions, Military Heads into “Lower Pace of Operations”’, The Embassy, 29 March 2012; GOC, Budget Plan, 2012, online at http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/pdf/Plan2012-eng.pdf, table A.1.9 and A.1.16, at http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/anx1-eng.html#a11 and http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/anx1-eng.html#a18.
See DND, Defense Administrative Orders and Directive, 2008-2005: Public Affairs Planning and Program Delivery (Ottawa, ON: GOC, 2008), available online at http://www.admfincs-smafinsm.forces.gc.ca/dao-doa/2000/2008-5-eng.asp; and DND, Strategic Communication and Public Affairs Plan 2009-2010 (Ottawa, ON: GOC, September 2009).
Richard Woolcott, The Hot Seat: Reflections on Diplomacy from Stalin’s Death to the Bali Bombing (Sydney: Harper Collins, 2003), p. 70. The lack of public involvement was sharply criticized by some academic figures, including in the early editions of Australian Outlook, the regular academic journal produced by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, today known as the Australian Journal of International Affairs. See Gordon Greenword, ‘Australia’s Foreign Policy’, Australian Outlook, vol. 1, no. 1, 1947, p. 56; and George Caiger, ‘Australia’s Diplomatic Representation’, Australian Outlook, vol. 2, no. 4, 1948, p. 230.
Allan Gyngell and Michael Wesley, Making Australian Foreign Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 180.
Woolcott, The Hot Seat, p. 70; and Mark Beeson and Kanishka Jayasuriya, ‘The Politics of Asian Engagement: Ideas, Institutions and Academics’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 55, no. 3, 2009, p. 366.
Established in 1950, the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific launched a cooperative effort to improve the economic and social development opportunities for nations within the region, including through the promotion of education and vocational training scholarships.
Evans and Grant, Australia’s Foreign Relations in the World of the 1990s, p. 71.
Greg Sheridan, Living with Dragons: Australia Confronts its Asian Destiny (Sydney, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1995), p. 10.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs: Defence and Trade Inquiry into the Nature and Conduct of Australia’s Public Diplomacy Program (Canberra, ACT: Australian Government, 2007), p. 5, available online at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=fadt_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/public_diplomacy/submissions/sublist.htm.
Peter Costello, ‘Opinion: Rudd’s Grand Talkfest Proves All Process and No Outcome’, The Age, 1 April 2009; and Daniel Hoare, ‘2020 Summit no Talkfest’, ABC News Online, 4 February 2008, available online at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-02-04/2020-summit-no-talkfest/1032176.
Melissa Conley Tyler, ‘Domestic Public Diplomacy: International Experience’, AIIA Discussion Paper, Australian Institute of International Affairs, April 2012, available online at http://www.aiia.asn.au/resources/publications (accessed on 26 April 2012).
Gyngell and Wesley, Making Australian Foreign Policy, p. 182.
Daryl Copeland, ‘Canadian Public Diplomacy, Then and Now’, The Mark, 3 January 2012.
Brian Hocking, ‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Diplomatic System’, pp. 123-140.
Andrew Shearer and Alex Oliver, Diplomatic Disrepair: Rebuilding Australia’s International Policy Infrastructure (Sydney, NSW: Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2011), p. 17; and Copeland, ‘Canadian Public Diplomacy, Then and Now’; and Copeland, ‘A Future for Public Diplomacy’, The Mark, 12 January 2012.
Rima Berns-McGown and Jack Jedwab (eds), ‘Diasporas: What it Now Means to be Canadian’, International Journal (special issue), vol. 63, no. 1, winter 2007-2008; David Carment and David Bercuson (eds), The World in Canada: Diaspora, Demography, and Domestic Politics (Toronto, ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2008); and Roy Norton, ‘Ethnic Groups and Conservative Foreign Policy’, in Nelson Michaud and Kim R. Nossal (eds), Diplomatic Departures: The Conservative Era in Canadian Foreign Policy, 1984-1993 (Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 2001), pp. 241-259.
See Daryl Copeland, ‘Virtuality, Diplomacy, and the Foreign Ministry: Does Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada need a “V Tower”?’, Canadian Foreign Policy, vol. 15, 2009, pp. 1-15; and Janice Gross Stein (ed.), Diplomacy in the Digital Age (New York: Random House, 2011).
See Fergus Hanson, Digital DFAT (Sydney, NSW: Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2011); and Australian Institute for International Policy, ‘ICT4IR: International Relations in the Digital Age’, Policy Commentary, April 2011.
Ted Hopf, ‘The Promise of Constructivism in International Relations Theory’, International Security, vol. 23, no. 1, 1998, p. 173; and Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’, International Organization, vol. 52, no. 4, 1998, p. 892.
See Nicholas G. Onuf, World of Our Making: Rule and Rules in Social Theory and International Relations (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1989); Alexander Wendt, ‘Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics’, International Organization, vol. 46, no. 2, 1992, pp. 391-425; Alexander Wendt, Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1999); John G. Ruggie, Constructing the World Polity (London: Routledge, 1998); and Jonathan Cristol, ‘Constructivism’, in David Armstrong (ed.), Oxford Bibliographies Online: International Relations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Geoffrey Wiseman, ‘Bringing Diplomacy Back in: Time for Theory to Catch Up with Practice’, in Stuart Murray, Paul Sharp, Geoffrey Wiseman, David Criekmans and Jan Melissen (eds), ‘The Present and Future of Diplomacy and Diplomatic Studies’, International Studies Review, vol. 13, no. 4, 2011, p. 712.
Sending, Pouliot and Neumann, ‘Future of Diplomacy’, p. 540; and Christian Reus-Smit, The Moral Purpose of the State: Culture, Social Identity and Institutional Rationality in International Relations (Prince-ton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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Public diplomacy’s scholarship and practice are evolving and seeking to adapt to the expanding interests, expectations, connectivity and mobility of the publics that have come to define the field in an organic fashion. The characteristic distinction between international and domestic publics as the key to defining the practice of public diplomacy is increasingly challenged by public audiences that are no longer constrained by such traditional delineations. The attention on the involvement of domestic publics in public diplomacy, or its domestic dimension, has to be understood within this context. This article aims to cast further light on public diplomacy’s domestic dimension, with Canada and Australia — two countries that have much in common — as the launch pads for discussion. The article’s first section investigates the approach and development of public diplomacy’s domestic dimension in both countries and draws out the similarities and differences. The second section identifies the opportunities, challenges and tendencies in its practice as well as the conceptual implications. The article finds that while differences in approach remain, Canada and Australia have more in common than not when it comes to involving domestic audiences in international policy, especially in recent years. Their practice of public diplomacy’s domestic dimension appears to be resilient and adaptive in nature, although it has been subject to fluctuations resulting from changes in the political climate, leadership styles and governmental preferences, and resource availability. Additionally, reconceptualizing public diplomacy with a domestic dimension and constructivist underpinnings opens the window on norms that are taken for granted in diplomacy and offers the potential for a more inclusive view and practice — a better fit for its time.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 884 | 223 | 14 |
Full Text Views | 223 | 17 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 216 | 37 | 2 |