Refocusing Public Diplomacy: The Need for Strategic Discursive Public Diplomacy

This article concerns itself with the agenda, the instruments, and the goals of public diplomacy (PD). Taking into account the current state of PD that concentrates predominantly on forging cultural and educational links and promoting values, but not policies, it refocuses PD in two substantial ways: driving it, first, to focus on the most significant global issues and, second, to employ profound discursive processes. The emphasis then shifts to how PD can strengthen the global public sphere with regard to the profoundly political and critical issues of the present era. It argues in favour of strategic discursive PD and suggests ways to enhance both the legitimacy and efficiency of states' foreign policies on the handling of the Greek economic crisis and the issue of economic governance.