A Model of Country Concept: How Attitudes Toward Nations are Formed

Public diplomacy and nation branding, both rather new, practice-oriented disciplines, suffer from the lack of theory that is needed to optimize either teaching or researching in either component subject. To address this gap, this project will introduce, for the first time, Fullerton’s “Model of Country Concept.”

The Model of Country Concept is a comprehensive model that conceptualizes how global citizens form opinions about other countries – in essence how a nation’s image might be shaped.  Using the model as a foundation, scholars who write and research in the area of public diplomacy and nation branding will be invited to present papers at a one-day symposium that will be hosted by the research fellow and held in August 2015 in San Francisco. Papers resulting from the symposium will be collected into an edited book which will provide material from definitions, prior research findings, professional best practice, published theories and models, and a framework for future framing of and research about nation branding and public diplomacy.