14.08.2020

The key word during the COVID-19 crisis has been digital adjustment, even in a niche field such as public diplomacy. States’ priorities and global dynamics changed, and one question arises: will public diplomacy be affected by how effectively countries manage the COVID-19 crisis?

Author: Alexandra Peca

Public diplomacy (PD) is a tremendously useful resource for state authorities and other actors, helping them understand public behaviors, cultures, and attitudes. It is also a practice that helps these actors build relationships with foreign publics and influence them to advance certain values. It is not state-sponsored propaganda, as some may call it. A key difference between the two is that propaganda does not aim to build relationships with the public that it seeks to influence. PD is an innovative tool and is not limited to diplomatic agents, but benefits from the actions of advocacy experts, NGOs, civil society practitioners, just to name a few.

Nowadays, every other news we hear is related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the United Nations, up to 265 million people could face starvation by the end of the year because of COVID-19 [i]. According to the International Monetary Fund, the world may be facing the worst recession since the Great Depression [ii]. Governments imposed emergency states, closed business and limited public movement to contain the spread of the virus, which has a devastating impact on the economy. At the same time, the public reacts differently now, when the daily cases are, in certain countries, higher than during March-April, limiting the actions that governments can take.

We have seen protests in countries like Germany, Serbia or Romania from people who are not satisfied with how governments deal with the pandemic. While these movements do not reflect the entire society’s perspective, they surely offer a glimpse into the feelings of a world that has been shaken at the core by the appearance of the new virus. In this context, states struggle to manage their public image, and the old public diplomacy practices seem obsolete.

Some countries have already started adapting their public diplomacy strategies to reflect the changes imposed by the pandemic. For instance, the Republic of Korea has launched the TRUST campaign [iii]. It aims to promote the Republic’s responses to COVID-19 based on transparency, openness, and democracy, and to send global messages emphasizing the necessity of solidarity and cooperation.

With states relying on the media to convey their message, fake news is a real threat to public diplomacy. It has become difficult for states to control the narrative since media is continuously analyzing every decision and every action that states take. People need to learn to differentiate between reliable sources and fake news to shape their perception of how each country is dealing with the pandemic and its effects.

Countries have dealt with the pandemic differently, with consequences on their public image. For instance, the case of New Zealand, which committed relatively early to a clear elimination strategy and pursued it aggressively and on August 2nd marked 100 days without community transmission of COVID-19. At the other end of the spectrum, we have Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the impact of the virus and opposed measures to protect the economy. Now we see Brazil’s death toll double in just 50 days, surpassing 100,000.

The current situation may be a challenge, but it is also an opportunity for states and international organizations to rethink public diplomacy practices and innovate to adapt to the context. The EU Delegation to the United States gives a good example. It transformed its annual in-person Open House events into two online campaigns. Stronger Together [iv] and HomeWithEU [v], which this year timed with the signing of the Schuman Declaration, 70 years ago. By moving its message exclusively in the digital environment, the EU managed to stay connected to the public, convey the important message that we are all in this together, and bring citizens closer to its values, even if not in a “conventional” manner.

While it is hard to tell yet how states and other international actors will change their public diplomacy strategies and practices following the pandemic, public diplomacy practices are certainly impacted by the pandemic. Being forced to think outside the box and transform their usual activities into digital-friendly ones will prove to be a valuable practice for the future. As we do not know how long it will take for the world to move past the pandemic, governments and international organizations have to make sure they have the tools and know-how to virtually reach their audience.

Departments: Făgăraș Research Club; Society, Crisis, and Resilience Program; Policy Analysis and Outreach Department

Region: Global

Themes: COVID-19, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy

[i] UN News, COVID-19: UN relief chief urges G20 to step up to avert ‘cascading crises’ in fragile countries, https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1068511

[ii] IMFBlog, The Great Lockdown: Worst Economic Downturn Since the Great Depression, https://blogs.imf.org/2020/04/14/the-great-lockdown-worst-economic-downturn-since-the-great-depression/

[iii] Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Post COVID-19 Public Diplomacy Policy, http://www.mofa.go.kr/eng/brd/m_5665/view.do?seq=319618

[iv] More information about the campaign at https://ec.europa.eu/cefdigital/wiki/display/CEFDIGITAL/2020/05/09/Europe+Day+2020+StrongerTogether

[v] More information about the campaign at https://events.euintheus.org/landing_page/euopenhouse/