People in different countries, and communities have opposing opinions, especially related to politics. Public ddiplomacy provides a process for different parties to successfully communicate with each other and better understand differing points of view.
Despite its vital importance in our lives, many people ask: “What is public diplomacy?”
In the modern world,public diplomacy is useful in handling conflicts and community disputes. Having skills in public diplomacy is a necessity for anyone who intends to follow a career path that deals with discussions among multiple groups.
Why Public Diplomacy Is Needed Today
Public diplomacy is necessary in many areas of the world to enable peaceful discussions among varying social groups. Today, public diplomacy is needed more than ever, due to the continued polarization of different interest groups.
The lack of constructive communication between parties can lead to a society that ceases to effectively function in key areas. Public diplomacy is critical to bringing key stakeholders to the bargaining table, enabling them to communicate without hostility and respectfully recognize each other’s different perspectives.
IAP has developed a spectrum for public participation, specifically for government decision making.
The spectrum can be easily adapted for other contexts and a modified version has been produced for a public diplomacy model.
The original spectrum, illustrated in the first figure below, describes five levels of participation:
inform,
consult,
Involve,
collaborate
and empower.
The main point is that “differing levels of participation are legitimate and depend on the goals, time frames, resources, and levels of concern in the decision to be made.”
We think that four levels of stakeholder engagement proposed by the IAP can be a useful framework for categorizing a range of approaches for engaging stakeholder groups in the implementation and
review of the 2030 Agenda.
These four levels include
1) inform,
2) consult,
3) involve,
and
4) collaborate.
A fifth level of engagement “empower” is also proposed by IAP
and would demand further adaptation.
Given that most our public diplomacy projects will not have the funding or time to involve all Doctor/PhD or Professional members who may be identified as potential contributors, what criteria are useful for selecting those to be invited to participate?
How can those identified be assessed against the criteria?
Four criteria for selecting stakeholders are:
their legitimacy
their real and potential power
the urgency they assign to the problem
practical considerations.