shottobani.com, 5th May 2019
Syed Badrul AhsanIn an era when foreign policy or the promotion of it has assumed new dimensions, it is only proper that public diplomacy [JB emphasis] insofar as Bangladesh is concerned be focused on, with all the intensity it calls for. Of course, when we speak of public diplomacy, we in essence refer to the new dimensions — the dissemination of ideas relating to a nation’s interaction with the outside world through means that go beyond official means of conducting foreign policy — that Bangladesh can go for or indeed has already gone for to an appreciable degree.The question of public diplomacy, for Bangladesh, is crucial given the dramatic changes which have defined diplomacy on a global scale especially since the end of the Cold War. The salient point here is the decline of stereotypes in the conduct of diplomacy. Briefly, it is a reference to the fact that where diplomacy in the past was confined to interaction between the foreign policy establishmen..