Public diplomacy: lessons for the conduct of Indian foreign policy

The Realist dictum that power struggle would dominate relations among states still holds ground. Conflictual relations and clash of national interests continues to involve states in different forms of diplomacy. As the contours of the power struggle are changing so are the tools of diplomacy. Public diplomacy is fast emerging as the essential tool for serving national interest in international politics. Public diplomacy refers to the art of serving national interest by informing, influencing and understanding foreign audiences. Educational, cultural, social and diverse media activities constitute the core of public diplomacy.
In May 2006 India’s Ministry of External Affairs established the Public Diplomacy Office aimed to educate the global and domestic opinion on key policy issues and project a better image of the country. It is modeled on the Public Diplomacy Division of the US State Department. The target audience is domestic and international think-tanks, faculties in institutes of higher learning, press clubs and editors of local and foreign newspapers. The public diplomacy efforts by India have turned out to be merely an organizational refinement of the Ministry of External Affairs, rather than a serious attempt at utilizing the benefits possibly accrued through public diplomacy. It is important for the Ministry of External Affairs to realize certain essential requisites of conducting public diplomacy before tangible results can be expected.
Public diplomacy is not merely a generic activity aimed at disseminating data about India. It is not expected to be limited to detailing the economic growth and industrial potential of the country and its democratic credentials. Public diplomacy is a target oriented activity; both in terms of objectives and audience. Positive attributes of the country needs to be projected through the right strategy at the right time in the right place to serve national interest.
It is essentially pro-active rather than reactive. The purpose of public diplomacy is to prepare the ground for launching a policy campaign rather than being limited to explaining the details of the campaign.
It does not merely seek to influence the public and governments of others countries but is also an exercise in informing the host government about the perceptions of others. Hence such diplomacy is not limited to gathering laurels for policy choices but also examining the failures resulting from complicated strategic options.
Public diplomacy efforts by the Government of India have been highly cosmetic and barely enlightening. The public diplomacy division has conducted conferences across the country on various themes with the declared objective of receiving feedback from experts and providing information to the public. The agenda chalked out for these conferences and the speakers invited simply reassert the official thinking rarely attracting popular attention. The Public Diplomacy Division held a conference on the “Connectivity in SAARC” in Kolkata last year with the apparent objective to understand the views of the eastern states on the issue, but invited all speakers from New Delhi.
The “Incredible India” banner on a hop-on hop-off New York Bus simply depicts a roaring loin; the International Media Press Opinion section in the Ministry of External Affairs website show no results for the year 2007 and 2008; the efforts of the India Brand Equity Foundation- a private-public partnership between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industries- are commendable as a information provider on economic opportunities in India rather than a strategic public diplomacy tool; can the activities of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, without centers in the US and China be compared to the British Council or Swiss Pro Helvetia; these efforts clearly show that the public diplomacy efforts by the Government of India are neither issue oriented nor target specific.
The government of India has not used the tool of public diplomacy in managing concerns like the Indo-US nuclear deal, Chinese actions in Tibet, Pakistan’s assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, refugee influx from Bangladesh. Dissemination of authentic data on these issues in a manner serving the national interests of India could help to garner more support for the policy choices. Public diplomacy offers the opportunity to create a favorable environment whereby tough decisions can be executed with minimum resistance. The concept of ‘information warrior’ and ‘perception manager’ gaining prominence in the US needs to inspire the conduct of public diplomacy in India.
In an era where the most successful advertising agencies are running the public diplomacy efforts of countries like the US, the UK and China, efforts by India are rudimentary at best. Innovativeness, foresight, marketing blitz, strategic planning and psychological management are imperative for any successful public diplomacy effort. India needs to realize that public diplomacy is not simply meant to be an office space in the South Block, but a connecting link and strategic leverage in our foreign policy.

(The article is also avaliable at http://www.ipcs.org/)