Foreign Policy Centre: Public Diplomacy

Public Diplomacy

Global public opinion is increasingly a strategic concern for states acting on the world stage. With recent advances in technology, the traditional spheres of international state activity – political, economic and military – have been joined by a fourth: information. The spread of democracy and the expanding technological reach of mass communication networks increasingly provide governments with the ability to bypass heads of foreign states to pursue their foreign policy agendas. Whether it is putting together - or maintaining - international coalitions on political or military issues, or trying to compete for a share of global trade, tourism or investments, governments must learn to communicate and extract a premium for their national reputation. They can no longer afford to ignore the value of 'public diplomacy' as a strategic tool.

The Public Diplomacy programme is one of the most established and successful projects run by the Foreign Policy Centre. Through a series of high-level panels, seminars and publications, the programme has placed the FPC at the forefront of thinking on the development of public diplomacy. Working with a range of government and non-government partners, the Public Diplomacy programme continues to develop cutting-edge research and effective practical strategies. The programme also conducts research into the broader role of media and communications in international affairs including the relationship between media, democracy and development. Current FPC public diplomacy research is focussing on diasporas, innovative use of technologies for effective monitoring and evaluation, and the 2012 London Olympics.

Contact: anna.owen[at]fpc.org.uk

Upcoming Events

Show just this event

Access and Inclusion… Delivering the Green Games

Date: Wednesday 15 July, 4.30-6.30pm

Venue: Committee Room 12, Palace of Westminster, London SW1A 0AA

Please use Cromwell Green Visitors' Entrance - marked no. 6 on this map: http://www.parliament.uk/documentsuploadcolmap.pdf

Speakers include:

Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Olympics Minister
Tim Yeo MP, Chair, Environmental Audit Committee
Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, The Financial Times
Jo Willacy, Director, Shuttle Services, Eurotunnel
Kulveer Ranger, Director of Transport Policy, Mayor of London
Stephen Twigg, Director, Foreign Policy Centre

In an increasingly interconnected world, universal and inclusive sustainable development is no longer just an option, it is an imperative. Can major international sporting events such as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the London 2012 Olympics champion the development of environmental sustainability and promote universal access and inclusion?

At this Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) Westminster seminar, the question of how major international sporting championships can move beyond the iconic infrastructure which so often symbolises such events, towards successfully promoting a practical agenda for action and change with sustainability, access and inclusion as achievable outcomes was examined. This seminar provided a platform for the promotion and discussion of ideas which will help inform the development of a Sustainability Charter.

Download Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP's speech (330 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Show just this event

Sustaining our Environment: Is Climate Change the Only Ill?

Date: Thursday, 28th February 2008

Speakers:

Gareth Thomas MP, DfID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Richard Black, BBC

Graham Wynne, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Chair: Stephen Twigg, FPC

About this event:

At the FPC's recent inaugural Annual Lecture, the Secretary of State for International Development, Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP announced that the UK Government would increase its climate change research to £100 million over the next five years (a tenfold increase).

Continuing with the theme of exploring the centrality of environmental sustainability and global social justice, the FPC in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds held a seminar on "Sustaining our Environment: Is Climate Change the Only Ill?".

This event was kindly supported by the RSPB.

Download Gareth Thomas's Speech (40 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Show just this event

Sustaining Our Environment: Is Climate Change the Only Ill?

Richard Black's Presentation

Download Richard Black's presentation (660 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

More Upcoming Events...

Articles

Greening the Games

By Alfie Stroud.

Half revered institution, half travelling circus, the Olympic Games is currently in transit between Beijing and London. The governments and societies hosting its consecutive incarnations could scarcely be more different, yet their finished products will be endlessly compared – and in more than the grandeur of their opening ceremonies.

Full text

The UN — Out of Africa and Into Asia?

By Richard Gowan, Richard Gowan. Source: The Globalist

As the United Nations prepares to replace its leader of the past ten years, Ghana's Kofi Annan, with Ban Ki Moon of South Korea, the organisation may be experiencing an eastward shift in more than just the Secretary General's office. As Richard Gowan notes, the UN's peacekeeping focus is already shifting from Africa to the Middle East.

Full text

A Special Relationship?

By Richard Gowan, Richard Gowan. Source: E-Sharp September-October 2006

Links between the EU and the UN have flourished under Kofi Annan. With his tenure about to expire, Richard Gowan looks at the implications for Europe of the search for his successor

Download A Special Relationship? (90 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Publications

Show just this publication

Global Politics After 9/11: The Democratiya Interviews

Alan Johnson (Ed.)

Order Today

Download The Democratiya Interviews (1.36 megabyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Price: £9.95 + £2 p&p (UK orders) / US$45 (overseas orders)

New Review of Global Politics After 9/11

"provocative and engaging … its focus on the moral and ethical dimensions of foreign affairs makes it accessible and eminently readable … Readers looking for a good ideological dust-up, one sorely missing from the current domestic political debate, will find plenty to invigorate and infuriate in Democratiya's excellent collection." Farook Faizal, Renewal, March 2009

This book brings together a series of conversations about the dilemmas of progressive foreign policy after 9/11. Democratiya editor Alan Johnson talks to Jean Bethke Elshtain, Martin Shaw, Kanan Makiya, Paul Berman, David Held, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Ladan Boroumand, Anne-Marie Slaughter (now Director of Policy Planning at the US State Department), Joshua Muravchik and Mary Kaldor.

Alan Johnson is founder and editor of Democratiya, and Professor of Democratic Theory and Practice at Edge Hill University. He is the co-author of the Euston Manifesto, a founder member of Labour Friends of Iraq, and an advisory editor of Engage Journal. He is the co-editor of Leadership and Social Movements and the co-author (with Abdullah Muhsin) of Hadi Never Died: Hadi Saleh and the Iraqi Trade Unions.

To order:

Send a cheque for £11.95 (for UK orders) made payable to The Foreign Policy Centre or an international money order for US$45 (for overseas orders) to: The Foreign Policy Centre (Book Orders), Suite 14, 2nd Floor, 23-28 Penn Street, London N1 5DL, UK. Make clear you are ordering 'Global Politics After 9/11' and include your full postal address.

Order Online using Paypal (via Democratiya)

Show just this publication

The Iraq Commission Report

Alex Bigham (Ed.)

14 July 2007

Download the report (440 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

The final report of the Iraq Commission Report is available to download here.

The Foreign Policy Centre, in conjunction with Channel 4, set up an independent, cross-party Commission tasked with producing a blueprint for Britain's future involvement in Iraq.

The Commission Report was launched in a special programme on Saturday 14 July at 7.30pm, televised on Channel 4. The report will be delivered to the incoming Prime Minister and the leaders of the main political parties.

FUTURE OF IRAQ EVENT: Debate the findings and response to The Iraq Commission Report on 24 July at LSE. More details: http://fpc.org.uk/events/131

For more details about The Iraq Commission, please email Alex Bigham at alex.bigham[at]fpc.org.uk, or visit The Commission website at: www.channel4.com/iraqcommission

Show just this publication

Having Faith in Foreign Policy

Alex Bigham (Ed.)

£9.95, plus £1 p+p.

The Foreign Policy Centre is delighted to launch of the new report, 'Having Faith in Foreign Policy'. This collection of essays brings together faith leaders and intellectuals to discuss, debate and attempt to answer some of the most vexed questions of our age: what is the relationship between religion and the state in a post-modern society; what is the interaction between faith, conflict and development and how can governments and leaders reach out to citizens who may feel disengaged from foreign policy?

This report and event are supported by HE Anthony Bailey, KCSS, Eligo International (www.eligo.net) and the Grand Magistral Delegation for Inter-Religious Relations of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (www.constantinian.com).

More Publications...