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Efe Sevin

Towson University, Department of Mass Communication, Faculty Member

Emerson College, Communication Studies, Alumnus

Middle East Technical University, International Relations, Alumnus

American University, School of International Service, Alumnus

Kadir Has University, Public Relations and Information, Faculty Member

Reinhardt University, Communication, Faculty Member

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Efe Sevin is an assistant professor of public relations at the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University (Maryland, US). His current research focuses on the identifying and measuring the impacts of social networks on place branding and public diplomacy campaigns. Prior to joining Towson University, he worked at Reinhardt University (Georgia, US), University of Fribourg (Switzerland), and Kadir Has University (Turkey). His works have been published in several academic journals and books including American Behavioral Scientist, Public Relations Review, and Cities. His most recent book, Public Diplomacy and the Implementation of Foreign Policy in the US, Sweden and Turkey, was published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2017.

Efe Sevin received his Ph.D. from American University’s School of International Service, Washington, D.C. He completed his graduate studies at Emerson College, Boston, MA as a Foreign Fulbright scholar, and his undergraduate studies at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Supervisors: Craig Hayden and Rhonda Zaharna

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Mersin University

Dr. Faruk Yazar

Necmettin Erbakan University

Suinbay Suyundikov

Ahi Evran University

Aysel Çetinkaya

Kocaeli University

bilig Türk Dünyası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Hazel ÇAĞAN-ELBİR

Middle East Technical University

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Papers by Efe Sevin

Public Diplomacy in Other Words: A Meta-Review and Analysis of Turkish Language Literature

This study surveys the public diplomacy (PD) scholarship in Turkish from 2001 to 2022 through an ... more This study surveys the public diplomacy (PD) scholarship in Turkish from 2001 to 2022 through an analysis of 221 peer-reviewed articles. Following a mixed methods approach, the study looks both at the meta data and the content of publications. Meta data analysis identifies trends in publication volume, and authorship patterns. Content analysis looks at most frequently studied topics and countries, as well as methods used. The findings indicate a growing interest in PD, with significant contributions from communication and social sciences journals. The analysis also highlights the dominance of Türkiye as a case study and the frequent use of literature reviews as a methodology. Thematic analysis identifies seven main topics, including soft power, international presence, NATO and military relevance, political and foreign policy outcomes, digital media, broadcasting, and health diplomacy. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing methodological rigor, and expanding comparative studies to deepen the understanding of PD in Turkish.

Unpacking soft power for cities: a theoretical approach

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

Recently, there has been a resurgence of cities asserting their presence in the international are... more Recently, there has been a resurgence of cities asserting their presence in the international arena, from engaging in collaborations with global actors to address pressing challenges, to competing to attract investments, visitors, and residents. While existing studies in city diplomacy and city branding offer insights into some of these activities, they often fail to provide a comprehensive account for three main reasons: a lack of dialog between these two fields, activities of cities that transcend the boundaries of either fields, and a disregard for the linkages between nation-states and cities. This article proposes a framework aimed at clarifying the international activities of cities and their relationships with their respective home countries, drawing upon the concept of soft power. The framework has the potential to generate theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, it offers a more inclusive analytical lens suitable for integration into future comparative studies examining the international activities of cities. From a practical standpoint, it facilitates strategic planning and policymaking processes.

Yet another turn? priotising the needs of diplomacy over the capabilities of generative AI

by Efe Sevin and Evren Eken

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

In this forum piece, we argue that the widespread heraldry regarding artificial intelligence (AI)... more In this forum piece, we argue that the widespread heraldry regarding artificial intelligence (AI) as a panacea in diplomacy and articulating research agendas on the changes it might bring are potentially clouding the future hardships of diplomacy. With all its subfields, International Relations (IR) has gone through numerous "turns", especially during the last two decades which made encounters poised to change the nature of foreign policy-such as new actors, ideas, or technologies-a familiar experience. While these discussions enriched the discipline of IR, hardly any of these turns lived up to their promises. Certainly, we have an increasingly challenging and complex multipolar world ahead of us. This manifests that a broader network of actors, interests, and technologies needs to be considered. AI, indeed, has the potential capacity to assist and disrupt the ways diplomacy works. Yet heralding an anticipatory practice and study of diplomacy based on AI's socio-technical imaginaries and calculations rather than as a participatory process centered on immediate human interaction, resources, intelligence, and rapport bears the potential of obscuring the analytical clarity needed. In short, we argue that the rise of AI should not be discussed as yet another new turn poised to cure diplomacy and international relations. We conclude our piece by reminding scholars to bring analytical focus on what lies at the heart of diplomacy.

Mapping the role of public actors in the constitution of place brand publics in social media

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

The paper offers an analytical approach to map and analyze the role of public actors in the digit... more The paper offers an analytical approach to map and analyze the role of public actors in the digital constitution of place brands. By tracking how different public actors contribute to the shaping of brand publics-specifically via the constitution of brand intangibles-this study examines how digitalization can challenge the traditional public-private dichotomy in administrative entities like municipalities, regions, and cities in creating specific social media brand publics. Within the contours of the study, digitalization refers to the shift of communication channels used by place-based public authorities, institutions, and organizations to digital venues as these actors follow the emergence of brand publics on these newer platforms. Additionally, the approach makes it possible to discuss the networked public brands as mechanisms to manage the numerous stakeholders creating branding messages within geographical associations. To demonstrate the characteristics of the analytical approach its potential, the study uses as illustrative example the Swedish county of Östergötland, and its two municipalities, Linköping and Norrköping. Following an actor-related approach to Social Media Analytics (SMA), 939,758 publicly posted contents generated in blogs, Facebook, forums, and Twitter are used as the empirical dataset. In addition to its analytical contributions, the approach also presents practical and conceptual implications by operationalizing how place-based public institutions, organizations, and sectors can use brand publics not only to influence reputation but also to promote specific brand publics for places in their daily communication in digital spheres.

digitalization of diplomacy: implications for cities

This chapter discusses the impact of digitization of diplomacy for cities. The introduction expla... more This chapter discusses the impact of digitization of diplomacy for cities. The introduction explains the revived interest in cities as international actors. The second section argues that diplomacy is not the only process through which cities engage with audiences beyond the borders of their home countries, and puts forwards the idea of international activities of cities by merging city branding and city diplomacy. The third section discusses the role of digitization and situates it as a framework to study the aforementioned international activities. These theoretical sections are followed by the empirical part of the chapter that looks at four select cities-New York (USA), Izmir (Turkey), Victoria (Canada), and Akureyri (Iceland). The findings suggest that digitization is a spectrum, rather than a binary variable. Moreover, digitization also brings its own policy and communication challenges by blurring boundaries between audience segments as well as institutions.

A Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy, 2023

City diplomacy at its core is about global engagement, people-to-people connections, internationa... more City diplomacy at its core is about global engagement, people-to-people connections, international relationship building and representations of policies, identities, and competence. The study of PD, that is centred on relationship building and maintaining must embrace city diplomacy. With the practice and study of city diplomacy growing from its roots in global PD, we need to shape and guide research, policies, and strategies that strengthen the dynamics between city diplomacy and PD. This chapter first discusses how and why city diplomacy attracted scholarly attention. Then, it introduces an overview of what could be called a “new wave of city diplomacy studies.” Third, the chapter points out important gaps in understanding of city diplomacy; namely scholar-practitioner gap, local-national gap, and agent-agency gap. The chapter ends with research questions for future research with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches, innovation, and system analysis.

Signal Cost in Digital Diplomacy: A Study of American and Chinese Public Outreach

by Efe Sevin and Di Wu

This study looks at how digital technologies disrupted signalling and signal cost calculations in... more This study looks at how digital technologies disrupted signalling and signal cost calculations in public diplomacy within the context of Covid-19. The pandemic presented a noteworthy opportunity to observe how countries attempt to navigate a relatively unknown communication landscape as a result of external shock and a crisis for states' images and reputations. We position the communicative outcomes of the pandemic as an exploratory case to discuss how countries use social media to engage with target audiences. We study American and Chinese messaging on Twitter about Covid-19 employing an analytical model of signal cost developed from signalling theory. Using a data set of 1,512 tweets coming from nine different American and Chinese accounts, we investigated their signal cost through content and network analyses. Our findings describe and operationalise signal cost in digital public diplomacy through signaller, signal content and outreach.

Neither External nor Multilateral: States’ Digital Diplomacy During Covid-19

Journal of Public Diplomacy, 2022

How does a public health crisis play into the digital rhetoric of states? As Covid-19 is presenti... more How does a public health crisis play into the digital rhetoric of states? As Covid-19 is presenting a
situation in which countries need to manage the international environment in a relatively short period,
their practices could signal how digitization is going to influence public diplomacy in the longer run. This
paper explores state public diplomacy in the context of a public health crisis. It develops a theoretical
framework of public diplomacy on social media through how and what states communicated during the
first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through keyword and hashtag analyses, we identify two patterns.
First, states usually regard social media as an instrument for domestic communication rather than public
diplomacy. The international impact of messaging has not been prioritized or well-recognized. Social
media platforms such as Twitter have global outreach and messaging can be seen by audiences all over
the world. Messages intended for the domestic audience could have an international impact. Thus, any
communication on digital platforms should consider their public diplomacy outcomes. Second, while
social media platforms are claimed to be for networking at different levels, states tend to connect with
other states rather than with international organizations during the pandemic. States do not like to
mention international organizations like the WHO and the UN on Twitter. Instead, they were either busy
dealing with internal problems or cooperating with another state to combat the virus.

Moving public diplomacy research forward: methodological approaches

Kaefer, F. (2021). Insider's guide to place branding: Shaping the identity and reputation of cities, regions and countries. Springer. $64.99 (paperback

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2021

Place branding has grown out of its 'new' or 'young' discipline label. As more and more cities, r... more Place branding has grown out of its 'new' or 'young' discipline label. As more and more cities, regions, and countries are recognizing the importance of public opinion, the practice, as well as the study of this practice, has become more mainstream than it used to be even just a decade ago. The author, Florian Kaefer, is a familiar name to most scholars and practitioners of place branding. Dr. Kaefer is the founder and editor of the Place Brand Observer (TPBO, https:// www. place brand obser ver. com/), a digital information hub on anything and everything related to place branding. Insider's guide to place branding builds largely on the experience of TPBO and the author's "desire to connect academics ("thinkers") with practitioners ("doers") and to build bridges across disciplines and departments" (p. 2). The book is structured in two parts: Place Branding Essentials and Interviews with Experts. It is difficult to write on place branding since the term has "no 'exact' definition" (p. 7). Other relevant and often-used terms such as place brands and place marketing create disagreements on even the topics we want, or rather, should be talking about. Insider's guide to place branding takes on an additional challenge by addressing practitioners, scholars, and students at the same time. The first part is imperative as the four chapters in this part help the readers gain a working knowledge of the terminology used by over three dozen experts interviewed. Dr. Kaefar tackles the most important definition questions right way in Chapter 1. Using his interviews with practitioners and scholars, he delineates working definitions of place brand and place branding. The book initially portrays place branding as a competitive practice for attention (p.11), yet acknowledges the limitation of such an audience-centric

ASEFEvaluationin PDCommunicatingwith Purposeand Value

Public diplomacy is a vibrant field of study and practice. Communicating with foreign publics is ... more Public diplomacy is a vibrant field of study and practice. Communicating with foreign publics is a process that welcomes contributions from a diverse group of experts ranging from diplomats to celebrities, and from scholars of media studies to branding. Unexpectedly, such richness paves the way to numerous debates on many aspects of public diplomacy. There is even a debate on what the concept stands for and what it does.

KIPA State Inclusiveness Index FINAL

Korea has achieved remarkable quantitative growth through developmental and neoliberal policies t... more Korea has achieved remarkable quantitative growth through developmental and neoliberal policies thus far, but the improvement in the quality of people's life has not been matched, as the gap between sectors continues to grow. For Korea's sustainable development, a new model of the state is needed that goes beyond the developmental state and the neoliberal state. The Moon Jae-in administration declared an innovative inclusive state as a national vision in 2018, followed by the Innovative Inclusive State Future Vision 2045 in 2019. In accordance with Vision 2045, this study seeks to develop State Inclusiveness Index as a possible policy indicator, in order to raise the level of inclusiveness in Korea in the long term. The concept of state inclusiveness In order to develop an index to measure the level of state inclusiveness in Korea, this study first defined state inclusiveness and attempted to refine and theorize the concept of state inclusiveness by dividing it into four fields: political, economic, social, and global. The inclusive state is a "political system that attempts, to the extent possible, to involve fully all citizens in the political, economic and social life of the country." The goal of an inclusive state is to "maximize the well-being and participation of all citizens." According to this definition, an inclusive state is fundamentally different from a developmental state that prioritizes the development of industries that are of strategic importance for economic growth and national security, and a neoliberal state that tolerates income inequality and poor quality of life for the general public to increase the overall return on capital. There are two ways to achieve an inclusive state: one is by "removing barriers," removing structural and behavioral barriers to inclusiveness. The other is by "building bridges," connecting the included and excluded groups. The transition to an inclusive state is a very difficult process that changes the framework of policies that have been around for decades and is likely to face resistance from the vested. In order to overcome such difficulties, a political coalition for the inclusive state is needed; economically, while a plan to finance the transition to the inclusive state should be prepared. In this process, the development of a composite index that measures the level of inclusiveness in a country can help to promote political action towards the transition to an inclusive state.

Bright Future for City Diplomacy and Soft Power

Cities are once again in the forefront of diplomatic activities. In this essay, I unpack a relati... more Cities are once again in the forefront of diplomatic activities. In this essay, I unpack a relatively understudied area within city diplomacy: the link between cities and countries. Although cities enjoy a heightened level of agency in the international arena, they do not exist in a vacuum. As substate actors, the actions of cities could impact their home countries. Using lessons learned from public diplomacy studies and situating soft power as a framework to describe such activities, I first present the changes in the diplomatic landscape that paved the way to resurgence of city diplomacy. Next, I propose a more inclusive definition of the activities of cities in the international arena. Last, I show the link between cities and countries.

New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns

American Behavioral Scientist, 2021

Social media has an undeniable role in presidential campaigns. Starting with Barack Obama's first... more Social media has an undeniable role in presidential campaigns. Starting with Barack Obama's first presidential campaign in 2008, on one hand, scholars and practitioners have embraced the potential and importance of these platforms. The 2016 presidential elections, on the other hand, raised concerns about social media's role in democratic processes as debates about how the platforms can sow misinformation have become mainstream. I argue that there has been a positive outcome of such debates: new data sources. Understanding their role-and their probable potential to do "harm"social media platforms have worked toward increasing transparency in the political advertisements they carry. From Snapchat to Facebook, transparency reports share detailed information on how political groups, including presidential nominees, have utilized their platforms, targeted audiences, and disseminated calls-to-action. In this article, I argue that these transparency attempts will be invaluable data resources for political communication scholars to better explain how voter choice and candidate positioning work within digital media ecology. I answer four sample research questions about 2020 Presidential Elections in the United States to demonstrate the potential of these data sets in shedding light on how issues, identities, and timerelevant variables change political advertising in presidential campaigns.

Capturing country images: a methodological approach

by Efe Sevin and Kadir Jun Ayhan

Journal of International Communication, 2021

Country images have been notoriously difficult to capture and measure effectively. In this articl... more Country images have been notoriously difficult to capture and measure effectively. In this article, we propose a methodological approach that combines designed and found data to capture public attitudes. We demonstrate how a mixed-method design with survey data and digital data – namely tweets and Google Trends – make it possible to better capture what target audiences think about a country. We make the case for such a combination by highlighting three aspects of country images. First, to understand what different types of public think about a country, we need to listen to different voices, and complement standardised public opinion survey data with open questions and digital data. Second, social media platforms are invaluable data resources as well as outlets that people on social media turn to for news and information. Last, digital data is unique and powerful, but difficult to analyse and interpret to create value for developing strategic communication policies. Public opinion survey data can help structure digital data and link both outcomes with each other. We support our methodological arguments through an illustrative study of the South Korean country image. We conclude our article by presenting a roadmap for multi-method analysis.

Key Influencers in Public Diplomacy 2.0: A Country-Based Social Network Analysis

Social Media Society, 2021

This article presents a study of Twitter-based communication in order to identify key influencers... more This article presents a study of Twitter-based communication in order to identify key influencers and to assess the role of their communication in shaping country images. The analysis is based on a 2-month dataset comprised of all tweets including hashtags of the three countries selected for this study: Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Following a two-step flow model of communication, we initially identified the influential Twitter users in all three countries based on their centrality measures. Subsequently, we carried out a qualitative content analysis of tweets posted by these influential users. Finally, we assessed the similarities and differences across the three country cases. This article offers new insights into public diplomacy 2.0 activities by discussing influence within the context of country images and demonstrating how opinion leaders can play a more dominant role than states or other political actors in creating and disseminating content related to country image. The findings also provide practical insights in the production of a country’s image and its representation on new media platforms.

Analyzing Country Images through Networks: Case of South Korea

The Scholarship of Public Diplomacy: Analysis of a Growing Field

by Efe Sevin and Emily T Metzgar

International Journal of Communication, 2019

Public diplomacy is a fast-growing area of study with little agreement on its boundaries. In supp... more Public diplomacy is a fast-growing area of study with little agreement on its boundaries. In support of the subject’s development as a field of academic inquiry, we present a content analysis of English-language peer-reviewed articles on public diplomacy since 1965 (N = 2,124). We begin with analysis of bibliographic data to establish the field’s institutional boundaries by highlighting trends in scholarship over time and identifying prominent disciplines and journals. We then sketch the field’s conceptual boundaries by analyzing the concepts and topics that appear most in the literature. This process allows us to characterize decades of scholarship on public diplomacy and offer recommendations for future work.
Keywords: public diplomacy, soft power, meta-analysis, topic modeling, text mining

From Embassy Ties to Twitter Links: Comparing Offline and Online Diplomatic Networks

Policy and Internet, 2019

This article investigates how diplomatic networks move into a new digital media platform, namely ... more This article investigates how diplomatic networks move into a new digital media platform, namely Twitter, through the analytical lenses of networked diplomacy studies and mediatization. We employ the studies in the former field to argue for the need to study the entire network to evaluate diplomatic relations, rather than relying on bilateral relations alone. Mediatization is then introduced to argue that moving to a digital platform (i.e., digitization) is a process in which countries might end up enjoying different levels of technology adoption. We first use social network analysis to compare the sizes and structures of brick and mortar embassy networks and Twitter following–follower relationship networks among ministries and ministers of foreign affairs of 130 countries. We then present a theoretical explanation of digitization of diplomatic networks. Our findings suggest that the majority of countries still have a larger diplomatic presence offline compared to their Twitter network. However, the structures of offline and online networks are similar, showing that countries have diplomatic relations (whether brick and mortar embassies or Twitter links) with the same groups of countries. We conclude by presenting the variance of the digitization process among countries.

Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Analyzing Networks and Content

Measurement has been and still is a challenging issue in the practice and study of public diploma... more Measurement has been and still is a challenging issue in the practice and study of public diplomacy. In this article, we propose a model to assess the impacts of public diplomacy projects by creating a link between social media communication campaigns and the perception of nations by audiences—or nation brands. We demonstrate how the model can be used to analyze the digital communication projects of four countries: Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, and Switzerland. Using data sets composed of tweets sent by and about four countries, we focus on the messages crafted by both official public diplomacy projects and nonstate users, and on the relations established as a result.

Public Diplomacy in Other Words: A Meta-Review and Analysis of Turkish Language Literature

This study surveys the public diplomacy (PD) scholarship in Turkish from 2001 to 2022 through an ... more This study surveys the public diplomacy (PD) scholarship in Turkish from 2001 to 2022 through an analysis of 221 peer-reviewed articles. Following a mixed methods approach, the study looks both at the meta data and the content of publications. Meta data analysis identifies trends in publication volume, and authorship patterns. Content analysis looks at most frequently studied topics and countries, as well as methods used. The findings indicate a growing interest in PD, with significant contributions from communication and social sciences journals. The analysis also highlights the dominance of Türkiye as a case study and the frequent use of literature reviews as a methodology. Thematic analysis identifies seven main topics, including soft power, international presence, NATO and military relevance, political and foreign policy outcomes, digital media, broadcasting, and health diplomacy. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing methodological rigor, and expanding comparative studies to deepen the understanding of PD in Turkish.

Unpacking soft power for cities: a theoretical approach

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

Recently, there has been a resurgence of cities asserting their presence in the international are... more Recently, there has been a resurgence of cities asserting their presence in the international arena, from engaging in collaborations with global actors to address pressing challenges, to competing to attract investments, visitors, and residents. While existing studies in city diplomacy and city branding offer insights into some of these activities, they often fail to provide a comprehensive account for three main reasons: a lack of dialog between these two fields, activities of cities that transcend the boundaries of either fields, and a disregard for the linkages between nation-states and cities. This article proposes a framework aimed at clarifying the international activities of cities and their relationships with their respective home countries, drawing upon the concept of soft power. The framework has the potential to generate theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, it offers a more inclusive analytical lens suitable for integration into future comparative studies examining the international activities of cities. From a practical standpoint, it facilitates strategic planning and policymaking processes.

Yet another turn? priotising the needs of diplomacy over the capabilities of generative AI

by Efe Sevin and Evren Eken

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

In this forum piece, we argue that the widespread heraldry regarding artificial intelligence (AI)... more In this forum piece, we argue that the widespread heraldry regarding artificial intelligence (AI) as a panacea in diplomacy and articulating research agendas on the changes it might bring are potentially clouding the future hardships of diplomacy. With all its subfields, International Relations (IR) has gone through numerous "turns", especially during the last two decades which made encounters poised to change the nature of foreign policy-such as new actors, ideas, or technologies-a familiar experience. While these discussions enriched the discipline of IR, hardly any of these turns lived up to their promises. Certainly, we have an increasingly challenging and complex multipolar world ahead of us. This manifests that a broader network of actors, interests, and technologies needs to be considered. AI, indeed, has the potential capacity to assist and disrupt the ways diplomacy works. Yet heralding an anticipatory practice and study of diplomacy based on AI's socio-technical imaginaries and calculations rather than as a participatory process centered on immediate human interaction, resources, intelligence, and rapport bears the potential of obscuring the analytical clarity needed. In short, we argue that the rise of AI should not be discussed as yet another new turn poised to cure diplomacy and international relations. We conclude our piece by reminding scholars to bring analytical focus on what lies at the heart of diplomacy.

Mapping the role of public actors in the constitution of place brand publics in social media

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

The paper offers an analytical approach to map and analyze the role of public actors in the digit... more The paper offers an analytical approach to map and analyze the role of public actors in the digital constitution of place brands. By tracking how different public actors contribute to the shaping of brand publics-specifically via the constitution of brand intangibles-this study examines how digitalization can challenge the traditional public-private dichotomy in administrative entities like municipalities, regions, and cities in creating specific social media brand publics. Within the contours of the study, digitalization refers to the shift of communication channels used by place-based public authorities, institutions, and organizations to digital venues as these actors follow the emergence of brand publics on these newer platforms. Additionally, the approach makes it possible to discuss the networked public brands as mechanisms to manage the numerous stakeholders creating branding messages within geographical associations. To demonstrate the characteristics of the analytical approach its potential, the study uses as illustrative example the Swedish county of Östergötland, and its two municipalities, Linköping and Norrköping. Following an actor-related approach to Social Media Analytics (SMA), 939,758 publicly posted contents generated in blogs, Facebook, forums, and Twitter are used as the empirical dataset. In addition to its analytical contributions, the approach also presents practical and conceptual implications by operationalizing how place-based public institutions, organizations, and sectors can use brand publics not only to influence reputation but also to promote specific brand publics for places in their daily communication in digital spheres.

digitalization of diplomacy: implications for cities

This chapter discusses the impact of digitization of diplomacy for cities. The introduction expla... more This chapter discusses the impact of digitization of diplomacy for cities. The introduction explains the revived interest in cities as international actors. The second section argues that diplomacy is not the only process through which cities engage with audiences beyond the borders of their home countries, and puts forwards the idea of international activities of cities by merging city branding and city diplomacy. The third section discusses the role of digitization and situates it as a framework to study the aforementioned international activities. These theoretical sections are followed by the empirical part of the chapter that looks at four select cities-New York (USA), Izmir (Turkey), Victoria (Canada), and Akureyri (Iceland). The findings suggest that digitization is a spectrum, rather than a binary variable. Moreover, digitization also brings its own policy and communication challenges by blurring boundaries between audience segments as well as institutions.

A Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy, 2023

City diplomacy at its core is about global engagement, people-to-people connections, internationa... more City diplomacy at its core is about global engagement, people-to-people connections, international relationship building and representations of policies, identities, and competence. The study of PD, that is centred on relationship building and maintaining must embrace city diplomacy. With the practice and study of city diplomacy growing from its roots in global PD, we need to shape and guide research, policies, and strategies that strengthen the dynamics between city diplomacy and PD. This chapter first discusses how and why city diplomacy attracted scholarly attention. Then, it introduces an overview of what could be called a “new wave of city diplomacy studies.” Third, the chapter points out important gaps in understanding of city diplomacy; namely scholar-practitioner gap, local-national gap, and agent-agency gap. The chapter ends with research questions for future research with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches, innovation, and system analysis.

Signal Cost in Digital Diplomacy: A Study of American and Chinese Public Outreach

by Efe Sevin and Di Wu

This study looks at how digital technologies disrupted signalling and signal cost calculations in... more This study looks at how digital technologies disrupted signalling and signal cost calculations in public diplomacy within the context of Covid-19. The pandemic presented a noteworthy opportunity to observe how countries attempt to navigate a relatively unknown communication landscape as a result of external shock and a crisis for states' images and reputations. We position the communicative outcomes of the pandemic as an exploratory case to discuss how countries use social media to engage with target audiences. We study American and Chinese messaging on Twitter about Covid-19 employing an analytical model of signal cost developed from signalling theory. Using a data set of 1,512 tweets coming from nine different American and Chinese accounts, we investigated their signal cost through content and network analyses. Our findings describe and operationalise signal cost in digital public diplomacy through signaller, signal content and outreach.

Neither External nor Multilateral: States’ Digital Diplomacy During Covid-19

Journal of Public Diplomacy, 2022

How does a public health crisis play into the digital rhetoric of states? As Covid-19 is presenti... more How does a public health crisis play into the digital rhetoric of states? As Covid-19 is presenting a
situation in which countries need to manage the international environment in a relatively short period,
their practices could signal how digitization is going to influence public diplomacy in the longer run. This
paper explores state public diplomacy in the context of a public health crisis. It develops a theoretical
framework of public diplomacy on social media through how and what states communicated during the
first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through keyword and hashtag analyses, we identify two patterns.
First, states usually regard social media as an instrument for domestic communication rather than public
diplomacy. The international impact of messaging has not been prioritized or well-recognized. Social
media platforms such as Twitter have global outreach and messaging can be seen by audiences all over
the world. Messages intended for the domestic audience could have an international impact. Thus, any
communication on digital platforms should consider their public diplomacy outcomes. Second, while
social media platforms are claimed to be for networking at different levels, states tend to connect with
other states rather than with international organizations during the pandemic. States do not like to
mention international organizations like the WHO and the UN on Twitter. Instead, they were either busy
dealing with internal problems or cooperating with another state to combat the virus.

Moving public diplomacy research forward: methodological approaches

Kaefer, F. (2021). Insider's guide to place branding: Shaping the identity and reputation of cities, regions and countries. Springer. $64.99 (paperback

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2021

Place branding has grown out of its 'new' or 'young' discipline label. As more and more cities, r... more Place branding has grown out of its 'new' or 'young' discipline label. As more and more cities, regions, and countries are recognizing the importance of public opinion, the practice, as well as the study of this practice, has become more mainstream than it used to be even just a decade ago. The author, Florian Kaefer, is a familiar name to most scholars and practitioners of place branding. Dr. Kaefer is the founder and editor of the Place Brand Observer (TPBO, https:// www. place brand obser ver. com/), a digital information hub on anything and everything related to place branding. Insider's guide to place branding builds largely on the experience of TPBO and the author's "desire to connect academics ("thinkers") with practitioners ("doers") and to build bridges across disciplines and departments" (p. 2). The book is structured in two parts: Place Branding Essentials and Interviews with Experts. It is difficult to write on place branding since the term has "no 'exact' definition" (p. 7). Other relevant and often-used terms such as place brands and place marketing create disagreements on even the topics we want, or rather, should be talking about. Insider's guide to place branding takes on an additional challenge by addressing practitioners, scholars, and students at the same time. The first part is imperative as the four chapters in this part help the readers gain a working knowledge of the terminology used by over three dozen experts interviewed. Dr. Kaefar tackles the most important definition questions right way in Chapter 1. Using his interviews with practitioners and scholars, he delineates working definitions of place brand and place branding. The book initially portrays place branding as a competitive practice for attention (p.11), yet acknowledges the limitation of such an audience-centric

ASEFEvaluationin PDCommunicatingwith Purposeand Value

Public diplomacy is a vibrant field of study and practice. Communicating with foreign publics is ... more Public diplomacy is a vibrant field of study and practice. Communicating with foreign publics is a process that welcomes contributions from a diverse group of experts ranging from diplomats to celebrities, and from scholars of media studies to branding. Unexpectedly, such richness paves the way to numerous debates on many aspects of public diplomacy. There is even a debate on what the concept stands for and what it does.

KIPA State Inclusiveness Index FINAL

Korea has achieved remarkable quantitative growth through developmental and neoliberal policies t... more Korea has achieved remarkable quantitative growth through developmental and neoliberal policies thus far, but the improvement in the quality of people's life has not been matched, as the gap between sectors continues to grow. For Korea's sustainable development, a new model of the state is needed that goes beyond the developmental state and the neoliberal state. The Moon Jae-in administration declared an innovative inclusive state as a national vision in 2018, followed by the Innovative Inclusive State Future Vision 2045 in 2019. In accordance with Vision 2045, this study seeks to develop State Inclusiveness Index as a possible policy indicator, in order to raise the level of inclusiveness in Korea in the long term. The concept of state inclusiveness In order to develop an index to measure the level of state inclusiveness in Korea, this study first defined state inclusiveness and attempted to refine and theorize the concept of state inclusiveness by dividing it into four fields: political, economic, social, and global. The inclusive state is a "political system that attempts, to the extent possible, to involve fully all citizens in the political, economic and social life of the country." The goal of an inclusive state is to "maximize the well-being and participation of all citizens." According to this definition, an inclusive state is fundamentally different from a developmental state that prioritizes the development of industries that are of strategic importance for economic growth and national security, and a neoliberal state that tolerates income inequality and poor quality of life for the general public to increase the overall return on capital. There are two ways to achieve an inclusive state: one is by "removing barriers," removing structural and behavioral barriers to inclusiveness. The other is by "building bridges," connecting the included and excluded groups. The transition to an inclusive state is a very difficult process that changes the framework of policies that have been around for decades and is likely to face resistance from the vested. In order to overcome such difficulties, a political coalition for the inclusive state is needed; economically, while a plan to finance the transition to the inclusive state should be prepared. In this process, the development of a composite index that measures the level of inclusiveness in a country can help to promote political action towards the transition to an inclusive state.

Bright Future for City Diplomacy and Soft Power

Cities are once again in the forefront of diplomatic activities. In this essay, I unpack a relati... more Cities are once again in the forefront of diplomatic activities. In this essay, I unpack a relatively understudied area within city diplomacy: the link between cities and countries. Although cities enjoy a heightened level of agency in the international arena, they do not exist in a vacuum. As substate actors, the actions of cities could impact their home countries. Using lessons learned from public diplomacy studies and situating soft power as a framework to describe such activities, I first present the changes in the diplomatic landscape that paved the way to resurgence of city diplomacy. Next, I propose a more inclusive definition of the activities of cities in the international arena. Last, I show the link between cities and countries.

New Data Sources and Presidential Campaigns

American Behavioral Scientist, 2021

Social media has an undeniable role in presidential campaigns. Starting with Barack Obama's first... more Social media has an undeniable role in presidential campaigns. Starting with Barack Obama's first presidential campaign in 2008, on one hand, scholars and practitioners have embraced the potential and importance of these platforms. The 2016 presidential elections, on the other hand, raised concerns about social media's role in democratic processes as debates about how the platforms can sow misinformation have become mainstream. I argue that there has been a positive outcome of such debates: new data sources. Understanding their role-and their probable potential to do "harm"social media platforms have worked toward increasing transparency in the political advertisements they carry. From Snapchat to Facebook, transparency reports share detailed information on how political groups, including presidential nominees, have utilized their platforms, targeted audiences, and disseminated calls-to-action. In this article, I argue that these transparency attempts will be invaluable data resources for political communication scholars to better explain how voter choice and candidate positioning work within digital media ecology. I answer four sample research questions about 2020 Presidential Elections in the United States to demonstrate the potential of these data sets in shedding light on how issues, identities, and timerelevant variables change political advertising in presidential campaigns.

Capturing country images: a methodological approach

by Efe Sevin and Kadir Jun Ayhan

Journal of International Communication, 2021

Country images have been notoriously difficult to capture and measure effectively. In this articl... more Country images have been notoriously difficult to capture and measure effectively. In this article, we propose a methodological approach that combines designed and found data to capture public attitudes. We demonstrate how a mixed-method design with survey data and digital data – namely tweets and Google Trends – make it possible to better capture what target audiences think about a country. We make the case for such a combination by highlighting three aspects of country images. First, to understand what different types of public think about a country, we need to listen to different voices, and complement standardised public opinion survey data with open questions and digital data. Second, social media platforms are invaluable data resources as well as outlets that people on social media turn to for news and information. Last, digital data is unique and powerful, but difficult to analyse and interpret to create value for developing strategic communication policies. Public opinion survey data can help structure digital data and link both outcomes with each other. We support our methodological arguments through an illustrative study of the South Korean country image. We conclude our article by presenting a roadmap for multi-method analysis.

Key Influencers in Public Diplomacy 2.0: A Country-Based Social Network Analysis

Social Media Society, 2021

This article presents a study of Twitter-based communication in order to identify key influencers... more This article presents a study of Twitter-based communication in order to identify key influencers and to assess the role of their communication in shaping country images. The analysis is based on a 2-month dataset comprised of all tweets including hashtags of the three countries selected for this study: Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Following a two-step flow model of communication, we initially identified the influential Twitter users in all three countries based on their centrality measures. Subsequently, we carried out a qualitative content analysis of tweets posted by these influential users. Finally, we assessed the similarities and differences across the three country cases. This article offers new insights into public diplomacy 2.0 activities by discussing influence within the context of country images and demonstrating how opinion leaders can play a more dominant role than states or other political actors in creating and disseminating content related to country image. The findings also provide practical insights in the production of a country’s image and its representation on new media platforms.

Analyzing Country Images through Networks: Case of South Korea

The Scholarship of Public Diplomacy: Analysis of a Growing Field

by Efe Sevin and Emily T Metzgar

International Journal of Communication, 2019

Public diplomacy is a fast-growing area of study with little agreement on its boundaries. In supp... more Public diplomacy is a fast-growing area of study with little agreement on its boundaries. In support of the subject’s development as a field of academic inquiry, we present a content analysis of English-language peer-reviewed articles on public diplomacy since 1965 (N = 2,124). We begin with analysis of bibliographic data to establish the field’s institutional boundaries by highlighting trends in scholarship over time and identifying prominent disciplines and journals. We then sketch the field’s conceptual boundaries by analyzing the concepts and topics that appear most in the literature. This process allows us to characterize decades of scholarship on public diplomacy and offer recommendations for future work.
Keywords: public diplomacy, soft power, meta-analysis, topic modeling, text mining

From Embassy Ties to Twitter Links: Comparing Offline and Online Diplomatic Networks

Policy and Internet, 2019

This article investigates how diplomatic networks move into a new digital media platform, namely ... more This article investigates how diplomatic networks move into a new digital media platform, namely Twitter, through the analytical lenses of networked diplomacy studies and mediatization. We employ the studies in the former field to argue for the need to study the entire network to evaluate diplomatic relations, rather than relying on bilateral relations alone. Mediatization is then introduced to argue that moving to a digital platform (i.e., digitization) is a process in which countries might end up enjoying different levels of technology adoption. We first use social network analysis to compare the sizes and structures of brick and mortar embassy networks and Twitter following–follower relationship networks among ministries and ministers of foreign affairs of 130 countries. We then present a theoretical explanation of digitization of diplomatic networks. Our findings suggest that the majority of countries still have a larger diplomatic presence offline compared to their Twitter network. However, the structures of offline and online networks are similar, showing that countries have diplomatic relations (whether brick and mortar embassies or Twitter links) with the same groups of countries. We conclude by presenting the variance of the digitization process among countries.

Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Analyzing Networks and Content

Measurement has been and still is a challenging issue in the practice and study of public diploma... more Measurement has been and still is a challenging issue in the practice and study of public diplomacy. In this article, we propose a model to assess the impacts of public diplomacy projects by creating a link between social media communication campaigns and the perception of nations by audiences—or nation brands. We demonstrate how the model can be used to analyze the digital communication projects of four countries: Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, and Switzerland. Using data sets composed of tweets sent by and about four countries, we focus on the messages crafted by both official public diplomacy projects and nonstate users, and on the relations established as a result.

City Diplomacy Current Trends and Future Prospects

This edited volume provides an inclusive explanation of what, why, and how cities interact with g... more This edited volume provides an inclusive explanation of what, why, and how cities interact with global counterparts as well as with nation states, non-governmental organizations, and foreign publics. The chapters present theoretical and analytical approaches to the study of city diplomacy as well as case studies to capture the nuances of the practice. By bringing together a diverse group of authors in terms of their geographic location, academic and practitioner backgrounds, the volume speaks to multiple disciplines, including diplomacy, political science, communication, sociology, marketing and tourism.

Public Diplomacy and the Implementation of Foreign Policy in the US, Sweden and Turkey

This book presents a comprehensive framework, six pathways of connection, which explains the impa... more This book presents a comprehensive framework, six pathways of connection, which explains the impact of public diplomacy on achieving foreign policy goals. The comparative study of three important public diplomacy practitioners with distinctive challenges and approaches shows the necessity to move beyond soft power to appreciate the role of public diplomacy in global politics. Through theoretical discussions and case studies, six pathways of connection is presented as a framework to design new public diplomacy projects and measure their impact on foreign policy.

Controlling the Message

This book explores and discusses the role of strategic communication in the nation branding proce... more This book explores and discusses the role of strategic communication in the nation branding process. Nation branding is fundamentally related to managing the perceptions of the audiences. Therefore, brand promises and messages carry the upmost importance in assessing the success of these campaigns. Three fundamental facets are introduced and explored in order to analyze how messages are crafted and disseminated. Firstly, the definition and components of nation branding are discussed. Subsequently, the concept of nation branding is evaluated, with particular focus on the communication tools, rhetorical mechanisms, and media platforms that can be used to reach target audiences. Finally, the role of strategic planning in nation branding is analyzed. The findings of this research will help scholars and practitioners to highlight the rhetorical aspects and strategic planning of future nation branding campaigns.

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'Digitalizing Coffee Houses – Social Diplomacy Web 2.0 and Turkey’s International Digital Coffee House’ with Gizem Salcigil White

'Digitalizing Coffee Houses – Social Diplomacy Web 2.0 and Turkey’s International Digital Coffee House’ with Gizem Salcigil White

Executive Summary

Dissertation ToC and Abstract

The purpose of this study is to situate relational public diplomacy in the larger picture of inte... more The purpose of this study is to situate relational public diplomacy in the larger picture of international affairs. Contemporary public diplomacy practice proclaims to be spending more resources on establishing relations than disseminating messages. However, scholarly works within the field of public diplomacy tend to reflect the old information-based enactment of public diplomacy. There is thus a need to articulate the causal mechanism through which these new