Abstract
Russian Public Diplomacy: The Paradox of Contradicting with Foreign Policy Approaches
This essay examines Russian public diplomacy in the framework of foreign policy and institutional mechanisms. The transformation of global politics, which unveiled public diplomacy initially analyzed and considered as a starting point. Thus, public diplomacy elucidated with respect to the Russian perception and the methods of its practices. In this context, it is argued that Russia performs public diplomacy with the image and nation-branding management for the most part. The reason of Russian public diplomacy conduct is essentially based upon to solve the image problem. Furthermore, the expansion of the U.S., EU and NATO into the former Soviet geography identified as the driving force for the implementation of public diplomacy. Subsequently, Russian public diplomacy scrutinized on the basis of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the Rossotrudnichestvo Agency, the Gorchakov Fund and the instruments of new media since 2005. It follows that Russian public diplomacy implemented with the new media channels for the preparation of information wars. In addition, Russia conducted cultural diplomacy with the Russkiy Mir, diaspora diplomacy with the Rossotrudnichestvo, and specifically public diplomacy with the Gorchakov, which assess the practice and methods of these institutions. Consequently, it is highlighted that Russia’s public diplomacy is constructed and performed top-down, state-centric model and with realist approach. For these reasons, and along with that realist, militarist, aggressive, neo-imperial Russian foreign policy, and the restriction of media freedom, growing authoritarianism factors paralyzed public diplomacy initiatives and projects as well as these facts reproduced and fed the Russian negative image after all. <
Keywords
Public Diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy, Soft Power, Diaspora, Russian Foreign Policy
