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Deterrence by public diplomacy: The negative dimension of international political communication

Falk Hartig (Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany) (Ilmenau Center of Public Diplomacy Research and Training, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Ilmenau, Germany)

Journal of Communication Management

ISSN: 1363-254X

Article publication date: 6 November 2017

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing public diplomacy literature as it focuses on the crucial, but so far largely unnoticed negative dimension of public diplomacy by analyzing information campaigns targeting unwanted people as one instrument of public diplomacy.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the cases of Australia and Germany this paper analyses the public diplomacy narratives of these two countries and contrasts those with the messages both countries communicate to potential migrants/refuges through a number of information campaigns. Based on this assessment the paper highlights the negative dimension of public diplomacy and discusses how this negative dimension influences the conduct of public diplomacy.

Findings

Both cases clearly exemplify that public diplomacy is no altruistic affair and that public diplomacy is facing new challenges due to this concurrence of opposing images it aims to communicate. It further illustrates that this negative dimension not only challenges the understanding of public diplomacy, but at the same time exemplifies a communicative predicament which, it is argued, cannot be solved satisfactory and requires a trade-off between deterrence and attraction. The predicament arises from the dichotomy of presenting a positive image of a country to produce endorsement and sympathy as well as to attract tourists and investment, while at the same time communicating a negative image to deter uninvited people from entering the country.

Practical implications

Referring to this communicative predicament, the paper suggests that those campaigns are unrewarding for two reasons: first, they apparently do not achieve their objectives and at the same time undermine other public diplomacy initiatives.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the normally neglected fact that public diplomacy is not only concerned with presenting a positive image of a country and winning hearts and minds, but that public diplomacy also has a negative dimension which needs more academic analysis and practitioner’s attention.

Keywords

Citation

Hartig, F. (2017), "Deterrence by public diplomacy: The negative dimension of international political communication", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 342-354. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-02-2017-0024

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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