As economic and political dialogue increasingly engages with populations, in addition to political elite, international communications in the form of public and cultural diplomacy have become a priority for Governments. ‘Imagine a nation’ will engage practitioners of various forms of international communication in the collective consideration of the most effective methods of engaging with foreign populations. Imagine a Nation seeks to examine existing approaches and techniques, identify issues and challenges public diplomacy deals with and define opportunities for developing multi-lateral approach to public diplomacy.
To achieve its goal the project will develop a strong network of practitioners from Governments, NGO and Foundations. These practitioners will be drawn from Canada, Europe and Russia with the intention that they not only work together to develop a greater understanding of the field; they will also begin to identify common goals on key issues and ultimately develop multilateral initiatives.
Project outcomes
Current activities: Playbook on Public Diplomacy and Cultural Relations
Previous activities
The project will:
- Bring together young influencers in the field of international relations and foreign policy to look at the international communications spectrum including nation branding to cultural relations.
- Examine good practise, asking whether current strategies are achieving the desired results. Are there other ways of conducting multi-lateral, multi-country approaches and how these could be best developed?
- Examine the external communication instruments from international broadcasting to listening: how has the role played by the cultural institutes evolved over the years, and what does the future hold? What is the role of media?
- Have conferences, seminars and workshops at its core, but also support job swaps, work attachments and other exchanges between think-tanks, academics, cultural institutes and civil services etc. Opinion polling will also be used.
- Work on public diplomacy Playbook that will present the results of case studies.
- Create the opportunity for job swap and internships between different international communication organisations.
Expected results of Imagine a Nation:
The development of a network of international communication professionals will create the capacity for the creation of multilateral initiatives. These initiatives will have a foundation in the collective consideration of good practise. As a result, they will build on personal contact between organisations and common understandings of key tools and methodologies for the conduct of effective public diplomacy.
Cultural Diplomacy is not just the tool used to keep communication channels open during times of tension; in the era of the New Public Diplomacy it is the means for countries to develop collective solutions to common challenges. Imagine a Nation provides a platform through which countries and NGOs can engage as responsible stakeholders in the development of multilateral programmes.
Public Diplomacy and Cultural Relations Playbook
Based on contributions from an international network of practitioners and academics this large scale project has been initiated to collate experience in Cultural Relations and Public Diplomacy practice from around the world. It draws together past and present experience, and recognises the importance of recording programmes that were both successful and unsuccessful, to facilitate the sharing of that experience and good practise. This will provide examples upon which practitioners can draw in designing programmes in the future as well as create a resource for education about the discipline.
The fields of cultural relations and public diplomacy are evolving rapidly as new players enter the field. International actors practicing public diplomacy and cultural relations include: national, regional and city governments, NGOs, multilateral organisations, and multinational companies. These actors are increasingly forming coalitions focused around specific issues. These coalitions are both long term partnerships based on fundamental policy overlaps and short term alliances focused on a specific – if transient – common interests. Recognizing this trend and responding to the need to develop effective coalitions, this playbook provides a resource through which common concepts can be identified and discussed, building shared approaches and reducing the risk of talking at cross purposes.
This ‘Public Diplomacy playbook’ provides a mechanism to develop capacity at home and build the voices of those we wish to empower.
Any Public Diplomacy and Cultural Relations organisation is very welcome to submit their examples. Please note all examples must be submitted in the standard format on the Form provided and may be edited. Due to editorial constraints not all examples will necessarily be included in the playbook. The outline form can be downloaded Here (MS Word).
1. First Imagine a Nation workshop (February 2008)
 Workshop programme (MS Word)
2. Second Imagine a Nation workshop (July 2008)
Workshop programme (MS Word)
Imagine a Nation workshop pre-reading materials:
Mutuality, Trust and Cultural Relations publication by Counterpoint
The New Public Diplomacy Demos publication by David Steven and Alex Evans
Competitive Identity The New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions book by Simon Anholt
Black Watch: Theatre as Cultural Diplomacy Nick Cull
For more information please contact Ekaterina Girshina
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