Presidential election as a tool for public diplomacy

(Dunand, n.d)

Last week, the American presidential election was in the spotlight as it was time for one of the most important dates: the ‘Super Tuesday’, on which primary elections in ten states were held. Yet, despite the obvious and immediate importance this event has on the continuous campaign, one should stop for a moment and consider how it may be used as a tool to establish communication with foreign audiences. Due to the great impact that American policy has internationally, the election is an event followed with curiosity around the world. Thus, it provides the government with great opportunities to speak to foreign audiences as well as domestic ones by engaging in public diplomacy. Still, the question remains on how this ought to be done.

Philip Seib (2012) offers some interesting opinions relating to this question. He suggests that the government should encourage a bigger amount of international news channels to report on the election, as well as encourage them to offer viewers access to more professional sources of information such as academics and politicians that could help explain how the process of the American presidential election works in further detail. Also, Seib (ibid) suggests the usage of online communication and social media forums in order to establish contact with young activists fighting for democracy in regions that may have been neglected in media due to the uprisings in Northern Africa, such as countries within Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The American election can thus be used as an “inspirational” example of a democratic and peaceful event in countries where elections are accompanied by military presence and suspicions regarding outcomes, and utilized in order to establish contact with foreign public engaged in democratic reforms in their own countries. Yet, the focus ought not to be to “sell” an image of America, but instead to provide activists with tools that they can utilize in ways that fits them.

What is particularly interesting about these ideas is that they are long-term strategies – establishing dialogues through online platforms – rather than short-term ones – such as solely sending out a message to its listeners. This latter way of conducting public diplomacy may be one of the reasons for the failure of the Bush administration to gain support for its foreign policy conducted in the aftermath of 9/11, and what led American scholars to ask themselves what went wrong with their public diplomacy (Kruckeberg, Vujnovic 2005: 297). One of the reasons may be that it was too simplistic: focused on delivering a self-created image of a “good” America across the world whilst ignoring the person that the message was delivered to (Kruckeberg, Vujnovic 2005). This way of conducting public diplomacy neglects the importance of two-way communication and the need to engage in listening and understanding if one wants to create mutual support.

As such, this reflects a more innovative and modern view on public diplomacy – and one that may change peoples’ opinions about the way that America engages with foreign public. Telling people how to conduct their domestic politics is one thing; showing them how America conducts theirs is another. The presidential election seems to offer perfect opportunities for doing this. At the end of the day, it may be that ‘the golden rule of public diplomacy is that what counts is not what you say but what you do’ (Cull 2010: 13).

 

References:
Cull. N, 2010, “Public Diplomacy: Seven lessons for its future from its past”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, vol. 6 (1): 11-17;

Dunand. E, n.d, “A polling station in Cambridge, Massaschusetts on Super Tuesday”, (photograph online), Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/06/super-tuesday-voting-day-live, [Accessed 12 March 2012];

Kruckeberg. D, Vujnovic. M, 2005, “Public relations, not propaganda, for US public diplomacy in a post-9/11 world: Challenges and opportunities, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 9 (4): 296-304;

Seib. P, 2012, “U.S. Presidential Politics as Public Diplomacy”, Huffington Post, (online: posted 3 March), Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-seib/us-presidential-politics-abroad_b_1178779.html, [Accessed 7 March 2012]