DOES PUBLIC DIPLOMACY MATTER? THE DEBATE ON ISSUES AND ACTORS OF PUBLIC DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT

Depending on how we define public diplomacy (PD), its roots can be traced back to the interwar period, to the 1940s, or more recently, to the 1960s and the post-Cold War era. At present, politicians, diplomats and scholars are increasingly attracted, concerned by and involved in the practice and theory of this challenging and extremely fast developing field. Academia as well as the world of politics and diplomacy, are striving to understand on the one hand, shape and influence on the other, the flow of public diplomatic engagement that can launch and sustain multiple dialogues with foreign publics in an unprecedented two way street, but also, inevitably, allows the dark side of misinformation and propaganda to take advantage of such an increasingly digitalized diplomatic environment.