Mapping Boundaries in Diplomacy’s Public Dimension

• Author: Bruce Gregory¹
• Source: The Hague Journal of Diplomacy
• Available online: October 2015
• Document Type: Research Article
• Publication Year : 2015
• DOI: 10.1163/1871191X-12341317
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• Keywords: civil society; governance; public diplomacy;diplomacy; polylateralism

• Abstract
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Radical changes in diplomacy’s global environment challenge traditional categories in diplomacy’s study and practice. The “foreign” and “domestic” divide is blurred beyond easy recognition. Public diplomacy is no longer a separate instrument of diplomacy. The term marginalizes a public dimension that is now central in diplomatic practice. This article examines four boundaries that both separate and connect: (1) a distinction between diplomacy and foreign policy that benefits diplomacy studies and clarifies choices in practice; (2) a framework for diplomacy’s public dimension that connects types of diplomatic actors with process variables; (3) a separation between diplomacy and civil society that distinguishes diplomacy from other relationships between groups; and (4) characteristics of diplomacy and governance that explain how they differ from other political and social categories. Diplomatic and governance actors are categorized in trans-governmental and polylateral networks. Civil society and private sector actors are categorized in cosmopolitan and private governance networks.

Affiliations: 1: Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication, George Washington UniversityWashington, dcUnited StatesBGregory@gwu.edu