Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty (Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy)

This edited book explores the multi-layered relationships between public diplomacy and intensified uncertainties stemming from transnational political trends. It is the latest wave of political uncertainty that provides the background as well as yields evidence scrutinised by authors contributing to this book. The book argues that due to a state of perpetual crises, the simultaneity of diplomatic tensions and new digital modalities of power, international politics increasingly resembles a networked set of hyper-realities. Embracing multi-polar competition, superpowers such as Russia flex their muscles over their neighbours; celebrated 'success stories' of democratisation - Hungary, Poland and Czechia - move towards illiberal governance; old players of international politics such as Britain and America re-claim "greatness", while other states, like China, adapt expansionist foreign policy goals. The contributors to this book consider the different ways in which transnational political trends and digitalisation breed uncertainty and shape the practice of public diplomacy. Paweł Surowiec is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Communication at the University of Sheffield, UK. Ilan Manor is a Digital Diplomacy Scholar at the University of Oxford, UK. Front Matter ....Pages i-xli Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 The “American Century” Is Over: The US Global Leadership Narrative, Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy (Steven Louis Pike)....Pages 3-28 From External Propaganda to Mediated Public Diplomacy: The Construction of the Chinese Dream in President Xi Jinping’s New Year Speeches (Yan Wu, Richard Thomas, Yakun Yu)....Pages 29-55 Climate Change Begins at Home: City Diplomacy in the Age of the Anthropocene (Juan Luis Manfredi Sánchez, Francisco Seoane Pérez)....Pages 57-81 ‘Rough Winds Do Shake the Darling Buds of May’: Theresa May, British Public Diplomacy and Reputational Security in the Era of Brexit (Nicholas J. Cull)....Pages 83-107 Front Matter ....Pages 109-109 Public Diplomacy in the Age of ‘Post-reality’ (Ilan Manor, Corneliu Bjola)....Pages 111-143 The Manufacturing of Uncertainty in Public Diplomacy: A Rhetorical Approach (Christopher Miles)....Pages 145-170 Russian Public Diplomacy: Questioning Certainties in Uncertain Times (Lucy Birge, Precious N. Chatterje-Doody)....Pages 171-195 The Confucius Institute and Relationship Management: Uncertainty Management of Chinese Public Diplomacy in Africa (Zhao Alexandre Huang)....Pages 197-223 Front Matter ....Pages 225-225 Managing Disinformation Through Public Diplomacy (Alicia Fjällhed)....Pages 227-253 Economic Determinants of India’s Public Diplomacy Towards South Asia (Sara Kulsoom)....Pages 255-276 Managing Uncertainty: The Everyday Global Politics of Post-9/11 US Public Diplomacy (Laura Mills)....Pages 277-303 Foreign Correspondence and Digital Public Diplomacy (Shixin Ivy Zhang)....Pages 305-328 Back Matter ....Pages 329-345