Public diplomacy and how Ghana can use it

The rise in political importance of public opinion has given rise to a concept called 'public diplomacy' (PD). I want to use it to illustrate a point and show why I think Ghana should do a lot more with it if we want to enhance our standing in the community of nations. Rwanda is perfectly doing this.

What is it?

Seib defines it as a government's use of persuasive communication strategies to connect with and sway foreign audiences and opinion leaders. This practice has the long-term objectives of advancing national interests, fostering mutual understanding, and forging lasting relationships (Seib, P. 2013).

Melissen, on the other hand, defines PD as a term used to describe a government's organised attempts to interact directly with international audiences in an effort to inform and shape their views and opinions in favor of national goals (Melissen, J. 2005).

The combined effect of the two definitions is that PD is a strategy employed by the government of one country to influence the opinions of foreign audiences through actions such as public information campaigns, cultural exchanges, digital diplomacy, etc. This is done to ostensibly generate a certain goodwill for the acting country on the global stage.

As I was taught in a diplomatic practice class, the target audiences for effective PD are political parties, the media, corporations, educational institutions, religious organizations, ethnic groups, NGOs, influential individuals, etc. Because these categories of people and agencies are a
critical mass of opinion holders whose opinions can potentially influence a lot more people.

What is the history behind PD?

The practice originated in World War I, when the United States required goodwill through public backing to justify its involvement in the war (Alabo, 2018). This was done through high-falutin speeches, media engagements, and propaganda, among others, as a strategy to get the backing of the American people to enter the war. Something they eventually did on April 6, 1917.

Notable among these speeches was President Woodrow Wilson's address (war message) to Congress on April 2, 1917, where he underscored the need for the US to join the war to make the world 'safe for democracy'.

Here, democracy was used as a PD tool. Fast forward to the Cold War period (after WW2), when modern public diplomacy reached its crescendo (Alabo, 2018).

The US and its Western counterparts used it effectively to counter and
stem the ravaging tide of communism and fascism by animating a monster of an ideology around these two through public opinion shaping.

How has the US used PD over the years?

The following is just a synopsis (expandable) of how the US has used public diplomacy over the years to create goodwill of a sort for their country:
Humanitarian assistance like aid to countries in distress; information campaigns through platforms like the international broadcaster the Voice of America (VOA) established during WW2 and other robust media outlets working as purveyors of the US success stories to a wider global audience; educational and cultural exchanges like the Fulbright scholarships; public diplomacy campaigns like 'Brand USA', launched in 2011, to promote tourism; digital diplomacy via social
media, etc.

Each of the above is nuanced in its own right and tells a good story of the US and casts it in a certain good light across the globe. This is despite the storm of excesses they have also had to navigate through over the years as a country. Notably, the wars they fought along the way, especially in the aftermath of 9/11, where some people reckon such wars were needless, though still debatable.

The attendant configurations of PD over the years have had other equally powerful actors use it in a uniquely beautiful way to also paint and create in the minds of global audiences a pious picture of their countries. Some of them have done this through cultural exchange institutions.

like the Alliance Francaise (France), the British Council (Britain), the Confucius Institute (China), and the Russian Cultural Centre (Russia), among others. These are institutional strategies to imbue in the minds of succeeding generations beautiful impressions of their countries.

Having underscored the above, let me illustrate how I think Ghana should have a lot to learn from the practice of PD. Especially if we were to draw inspiration from the definition of Melissen, where he describes PD as an organized attempt by governments to interact directly with international audiences in an effort to inform and shape their views and opinions in favor of national goals.

Sometime ago, I shared my views on why I think Rwanda seems to be getting all the plaudits in Africa and the world over. I underscored the fact that they have been able to beautifully push a narrative about their country, something most African countries have not been able to do. A story of prosperity, development, etc.

What Rwanda does is, at best, PD on steroids

How should Ghana learn from the above? What PD tools should Ghana deploy to also begin to create goodwill in the eyes of global audiences for our country?
In a moderate way, I think we should begin to consider the following:

Firstly, embark on climate change and environmental diplomacy.What this means is that we need to deliberately take commanding heights in global climate change conversations and position ourselves as that environmental protection poster boy in the sub-region, if not the world over. We can do this through the promotion of sustainable environmental practices. Climate change conversations are all-encompassing. Because of the existential threat it poses to our very survival.
When we show the way as a country, we could just be carving a beautiful narrative for ourselves.

Secondly, let us begin to take digital diplomacy seriously. As a country, we also need to aggressively begin to showcase our success stories and our remarkable developmental efforts to international audiences using social media. For instance, what Zipline is doing with the drone delivery of blood and other essential medicines to hospitals in rural Ghana needs more showcasing. This is a good story to tell. And many more other success stories we can be deliberate about by putting them across.

Thirdly, I call it peacekeeping diplomacy (my own coinage). Ghana, over the years, has continued to contribute to peacekeeping operations across the globe. And has earned itself a good name. One figuratively written with gold. We need to deliberately promote our peacekeeping success stories. That we can become that one-stop point for military exchange programs, among others. We also need to project our commitments to global peace and stability over the several years of our involvement in peacekeeping operations.

Publicising success stories, etc., about the exploits of our gallant men in uniform is a big deal. What General Anyidoho did during the Rwandan genocide is the kind of story we should project. Many of these stories abound in the corridors of both UN and AU peacekeeping operations in which our men have participated in the past.

The last PD Soft Opening I think we should do more than we are currently doing is to promote tourism through the showcasing of the UNESCO heritage sites in our country. I think we should do a little more showcasing of our castles and forts as a country. Artifacts like these that are tied to emotive epochal events like the transatlantic slave trade need more projection. We don't take it for granted.

The highly commendable year of return initiative should be tied to this PD tool. It will work perfectly.

We can include other soft PD tools like democracy diplomacy, economic diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, educational exchange programs, diplomacy through sports, and many other soft spots we can leverage to promote our international image as a country.

The above are some moderate ways we can leverage them in the pursuit of PD since the rise of public opinion about countries has become a real big deal.

Conclusively, and following this narrative, I want to ask a question.

Why do you think America may have fought the most wars in history compared to Russia and should potentially have a battered international image, yet it continues to be the dream of most young people for relocation and greener pastures?

Why do you also think we see Rwanda as the poster boy of excellence?

The answers to the above question could vary, but based on the foregoing, I will want to safely tie it to PD. I think the US is the real enabler of PD. And Rwanda has been more deliberate about it as well.

We may be doing a lot more good things, but many may not know about them, which can give us the pride of a place across the world.

The impressions people make of you matter.