Without falling into the perils of academic debate, it is safe to say that identity is central to foreign affairs and engagement. Yet, public diplomacy (PD) initiatives often fail to embrace subnational identities. This creates disconnects and gaps between PD and the populations of target audiences. 

An alliance of public and private partners supporting immunization and vaccination of children in poor countries – known as Gavi – raised $7.5 billion from governments and philanthropists at their pledging conference in Berlin on 27 January. What public diplomacy and communications strategies did they use to achieve this success?

As ambassador to Macedonia during the Kosovo war, Poland during that country’s climb to democracy, South Korea during difficult talks with its northern neighbor, and Iraq as the United States was trying to determine how to extricate itself, Hill had to live foreign policy, not just ponder it.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of official international exchanges supported by the U.S. Department of State. This important milestone was celebrated at a recent event by the nonprofit organization Global Ties U.S., a network of over 100 nonprofit organizations from 44 American states. 

Diplomats and scholars now have the opportunity to gather and analyze vast quantities of data. Data has allowed us to explore how social media users responded differently to a variety of international broadcasters in the wake of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the actions of conservative cyber-activists in Iran.

Amongst the many ambiguities and unknowns surrounding “the great Sony hack” of 2014, one thing is clear: a non-state actor was publicly shamed—quite effectively—by a powerful state.

After decades as a career diplomat, Ambassador Y.J. Choi of South Korea wanted to find the root of the difference between Eastern and Western societies. 

Despite the widespread adoption of digital diplomacy, few studies have investigated how governments use SNS in order to frame foreign countries and themselves. Self-framing is practiced by countries as part of nation branding activities.