Публічна дипломатія ФРН

Abstract

У роботі розглядаються основні засади діяльності німецької публічної дипломатії, робиться аналіз суб’єктів публічної дипломатії ФРН. Аналізується історія формування складових публічної дипломатії ФРН, виділяються етапи такого розвитку. Аналізується використання сучасних інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій у діяльності МЗС Німеччини та організацій, які реалізують засади публічної дипломатії. Зауважується, що на сьогодні, публічна дипломатія часто є просто побічним продуктом діяльності організацій, що спрямовані на досягнення різних цілей. Через це, велика частина потенціалу публічної дипломатії залишається невикористаною. Не зважаючи на те, що Міністерство закордонних справ ФРН виступає в якості координатора та фінансового провайдера, не існує ні загальної стратегії, ні загальної мережі публічної дипломатії Німеччини.

In modern society, information plays a completely new role. This role changes the game rules in military, political and economic fields. Continuous development of information space produces new opportunities for the development of public diplomacy. The emergence of the Internet and other new information and communication technologies as well as the development of social media make the access to information easier and reduce the costs allocated to the implementation of public diplomacy making it fully available for all countries. The "Public Diplomacy" term is newly coined and has recently started to be used in the context of international relations. It is becoming increasingly important in domestic and foreign policy as national and international aspects have more and more points of convergence thanks to generally important issues such as the climate change, a higher degree of transnational cooperation etc. These and other issues are not to be solved only by governments but involve a wide range of actors including NGOs, companies and individuals. The recent advancements in information and communication technologies make these actors interact faster and more transparently. Public diplomacy allows meeting modern, constantly changing requirements and effectively resolving new problems in international relations. The "Public Diplomacy" term was introduced by Edmund Gullion in 1965. Different events in the international arena have eventually changed the understanding of the concept. The transnationalization of certain fields, the increasing role of non-state actors and new information and communication technologies have changed the procedures related to the implementation of foreign policy. There were three different stages of defining and conceptualizing this term which were related to the different historical events: the Cold War (1945-1989), the period after the Cold War (1989-2001), 9/11 terror attacks (since 2001 until present time). An example of a concept that emerged during the Cold War period is focusing on the Gullion’s definition which was considered as "the means by which governments, private groups and individuals influence the views and opinions of other nations and governments so that to influence their foreign policy decisions". At the end of the Cold War period, public diplomacy was seen as the means of understanding and empathy on the part of the foreign public. In the period following 9/11 terror attacks, the definition focused on mutual understanding, which was reflected in concepts such as "engagement" and "relationship building". Theoretical and empirical knowledge in the field of public diplomacy is important for scholars in all countries, but at the same time disproportionately distributed in terms of geography. Most institutions that study and practice public diplomacy are located in the United States. This leads to inconsistencies in the results of research where public diplomacy is interpreted primarily through the U.S. perspectives and undermines European, Asian, African, or Latin American interests. European researchers started to engage in public diplomacy issues only in the early 1990s. In recent years, researchers have paid special attention to public diplomacy conducted by Asian countries. In addition, scholars have begun to turn their attention to public diplomacy of supranational organizations such as the European Union, ASEAN, NATO. In broad terms, the study on public diplomacy covers a wider range of issues and, therefore, is becoming fragmented, with no strict boundaries, leaving many areas unexplored. The current state of the research discloses the dominance of case studies focusing on certain actors or countries, certain events or campaigns, and certain public diplomacy tools. The study of public diplomacy in Germany is extremely topical since Germany is one of the most developed countries, and the most influential (in terms of policy, diplomacy, economy, and demography) country of the European Union. The practice of public diplomacy in Germany did not start immediately with the appearance of the term in 1965. Public diplomacy in Germany has been developing by its own traditions and only recently gas become relatively independent of public diplomacy of the US. One should also bear it in mind that the "Public Diplomacy" term is almost never used as it is in Germany. However, some public diplomacy elements, such as the external representation, foreign cultural and educational policy, cooperation development initiatives, etc., have been used since the period of the establishment of the German Empire. Therefore, one can say that the German public diplomacy has passed a long way towards its development.