Thai Public Diplomacy: Approaches, Challenges, and Potentials

Principal Investigator:
Kitti Prasirtsuk​, CPD-SIF Southeast Asia Research Fellow 2023-24

Public diplomacy is an under-explored area in Southeast Asia and in most developing countries. Several ASEAN countries took up initiatives on public diplomacy in the 21st century. Thailand has embarked on public diplomacy efforts in various dimensions, though not spelled out clearly, for more than two decades and has been accelerated recently. Two key organizations, namely Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) and Thailand Foundation, were established in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Given the importance of public diplomacy and increasing awareness in Southeast Asia, this research project thus shall investigate Thai public diplomacy in depth. What is the current status? What approaches have been taken? Its challenges and potential will be analyzed in the aim to provide policy recommendations. The project will have some comparison with public diplomacy of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, to shed more light on Thai policy practices and public diplomacy in Southeast Asia. The research shall also contribute in terms of understanding how small and medium countries pursue their public diplomacy.