medium.com; original article contains footnotes
By: Coby Vail, THO Non-Resident Fellow

Public diplomacy [JB emphasis] and the use of soft power have finally come of age internationally and Turkey has become one of its top practitioners. Especially with the rise of the internet, digital communications and social media, states are better prepared and equipped than ever before to engage with foreign publics. But first, what is public diplomacy? According to the USC Center for Public Diplomacy, “public diplomacy has been widely seen as the transparent means by which a sovereign country communicates with publics in other countries aimed at informing and influencing audiences overseas for the purpose of promoting national interest and advancing its foreign policy goals.” But public diplomacy is broad, including anything from an embassy’s social media accounts to “language training, cultural events, radio and television broadcasting” and much much more. It’s a way of leveraging marketing and..