International trust and public diplomacy

Abstract

National leaders struggle to communicate in ways that are perceived as trustworthy by citizens of other nations because trust is linked to efficiency, business opportunities, and political influence. In this article, four recent public diplomacy activities are analyzed from a trust-building perspective: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's letter in The Washington Post; The British Council's strategy for trustbuilding in China; Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's letter in The New York Times; and the USA's trust-building effort in Turkey. The analyses are based on already publicized descriptions of public diplomacy activities, public polls, and scholarly literature. Public diplomacy ideas discussed include lightshow, hand-on cooperation, win-win projects, and the creation of frameworks for self-expression. A central concept is international trust as described by Brewer, Gross, Aday and Willnat. Based on the analysis it is suggested to amend the concept, to distinguish between trust in foreign people and trust in foreign governments.

Pathways of connection: An analytical approach to the impacts of public diplomacy

“…When Hassan Rouhani was elected as president in Iran, the country was considered unfriendly and deemed not trustworthy (Mogensen, 2015). Public diplomacy projects focused on demonstrating that Iran had similar foreign policy interests with the rest of the world (Mogensen, 2015). President Rouhani publically shared such messages in a letter published in the Washington Post and other high-profile speeches (Mogensen, 2015).…”

“…Public diplomacy projects focused on demonstrating that Iran had similar foreign policy interests with the rest of the world (Mogensen, 2015). President Rouhani publically shared such messages in a letter published in the Washington Post and other high-profile speeches (Mogensen, 2015). Given the fact that there is no complete information about the motives of Iran in the international arena, these projects aimed to encourage foreign publics to consider the better alternatives or explanations.…”

“…Thus, in the lack of full evidence -which is likely to be the case in foreign affairs -the audience will have a favorable judgment towards the practitioner country. When Hassan Rouhani was elected as president in Iran, the country was considered unfriendly and deemed not trustworthy (Mogensen, 2015). Public diplomacy projects focused on demonstrating that Iran had similar foreign policy interests with the rest of the world (Mogensen, 2015).…”

Strategic Communication and Violent Extremism: The Importance of State Action

“…Yet, reducing (as opposed to eliminating) such inconsistencies is vital in improving a state’s image and in some cases, rebuilding and/or building trust. As Kirsten Mogensen of Roskilde University writes: ‘Just as is the case in corporate branding and public relations, public diplomacy is only perceived as convincing and can only create soft power if the country behaves in accordance with what it says it does’ (Mogensen, 2015, p. 320).…”

Drivers and barriers in public diplomacy evaluation: understanding attitudes, norms, and control

“…While the general influence of public diplomacy initiatives on foreign news coverage (Zhang and Cameron, 2003), public opinion (Kiousis and Wu, 2008), or trust in foreign governments (Mogensen, 2015) is widely acknowledged, nuanced evaluation of the effectiveness of specific programs remains a significant challenge (Sevin, 2017). Evaluation has become particularly challenging in the era of "new" public diplomacy-wherein two-way communication and long-term relationship building is emphasized-as opposed to "old" diplomacy, which focused on instrumental use of one-way communication channels for image cultivation and nation branding (Melissen, 2005).…”