The Domestic Dimension of Public Diplomacy
Discussions of public diplomacy often favor an international scope, especially as states address how they are perceived by publics abroad. But as Jitka Pánek Jurková of Charles University in Prague notes in a new analysis, the domestic dimension of public diplomacy is drawing increased attention. What must not be overlooked, the study notes, is the domestic environment that lays the foundation for a state’s public diplomacy framework.
By using Israeli public diplomacy as a case study, Jurková describes how domestic entities have a say in how their state represents itself abroad. Instead of examining this domestic element as a monolith, however, Jurková notes differences between the individual, organizational and national levels of domestic engagement. In Israel, a culture of individual engagement, differing views among public diplomacy organizations, and ideas of public diplomacy and national narratives come together to inform Israel’s public diplomacy approach.
“External communication is heavily intertwined with the domestic level and is shaped by the points of contention as well as of agreement between various domestic stakeholders,” Jurková writes. “When looking at the terrain of the domestic level of public diplomacy, we discover that this field is shaped by dramatically different phenomena, from narratives influencing whole nations to specific non-governmental organizations and to individuals engaged with public diplomacy.”
Read the full text of Jurková’s article, “The Domestic Dimension of Israeli Public Diplomacy,” in the Polish Political Science Yearbook here.
