Public Diplomacy Source Bibliography
Over summer 2020, IPDGC Research Assistant and undergraduate student Kevin Lynch compiled the Public Diplomacy Source Bibliography to add to the various products from our Institute that support the academic study of public diplomacy. His faculty supervisor is Emilia Puma who is the Public Diplomacy Fellow, 2019-2021.
The Public Diplomacy Source Bibliography 2020 is available for download.
IPDGC Special Reports
As part of its mission to facilitate research in modern public diplomacy, IPDGC released its first Special Report in May 2014. Compiled and written by Bruce Gregory, adjunct professor of public diplomacy at GW and Georgetown University, “The Paradox of US Public Diplomacy: Its Rise and ‘Demise'” was met with critical acclaim in public diplomacy circles for bringing a “fresh perspective” to the current state of US public diplomacy.
IPDGC Special Report 2014 (PDF) is free and available for download.
Report summary
U.S. public diplomacy faces a paradox. As diplomacy’s public dimension increasingly dominates study and practice, public diplomacy has less value as a term and conceptual subset of diplomacy. It marginalizes what is now mainstream. This report examines transformational changes in diplomacy’s 21st-century context: permeable borders and power diffusion, new diplomatic actors and issues, digital technologies and social media, and the whole of government diplomacy. It critically assesses implications for diplomatic roles and risks, foreign ministries and diplomatic missions, and strategic planning. In an attempt to bridge scholarship and practice, the report explores operational and architectural consequences for diplomacy in a world that is more transparent, informal, and complex.
Blogs & Bullets Project
In partnership with the Centers of Innovation for Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding and Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding at the U.S. Institute of Peace, this series of reports explore ways to utilize quantitative and analytical tools to map online discourse and content in international conflict areas. Each report is released through a yearly panel event held at USIP featuring the authors and other commentators.
Summary: As part of the Blogs and Bullets project, PeaceTech Lab analyzed the role of social media in Egypt’s failed attempt to transform an effective uprising into a successful democratic transition. The study drew from unique Twitter and Facebook datasets to determine how social media was used with different effect during and following Egypt’s intense periods of protest. This report primarily focuses on how three key mechanisms of social media operated in Egypt’s transitional environment: clustering, fear, and translation.
Authors:
- Sean Aday, associate professor of media and public affairs, GW
- Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies, professor of political science and international affairs, GW
- Deen Freelon, associate professor American University
Blogs and Bullets IV social media (PDF) is the last report in this project and is free for download here.