SIRAJ MASHOOR
COLOMBO : The INFACT Institute organized a seminar on a topic that is rarely discussed in the public sphere recently. The topic was ‘Public Diplomacy and the Civil Society.’
A.L.A. Azeez, a retired career diplomat, who was the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, brought to the table a depth of knowledge and experience, relevant to the topic, as the resource person.
Held last Saturday, 26 July at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) in Colombo, the seminar was the first of a series that the Inter-disciplinary Network for Advocacy, Cooperation and Transformation (INFACT) has planned for the coming months as part of its fact-based advocacy and inclusive transformation thrust.
When it comes to the ‘public’, the meaning of ‘people’ in it is important. In that sense, public diplomacy can be called people-oriented diplomacy.
The diplomatic tradition is largely viewed as state-to-state interaction. However, diplomacy has become multifaceted beyond this, taking on varied forms that involve diverse actors other than state authorities.
People-oriented diplomatic moves are taking place widely around the globe today. They go beyond traditional diplomatic initiatives.
It is common in today’s world for a government to interact with the citizens of another state and take diplomatic initiatives to advance its national interests, whether they are defined broadly or narrowly. In ideal situations, this kind of diplomacy should be a two-way process with government being a responsible enabler and the civil society being not a passive recipient but more than a feedbacker.
The question arises therefore as to what kind of diplomatic initiatives civil society can take to advance its just causes or interests legitimately? Can the civil society just continue to remain as a passive consumer or an intermediary in diplomatic initiatives? In other words, does the prevalent state-perception of civil society as a target group for messages, as Public Diplomacy traditionally has viewed it, make sense today, or can or should it evolve keeping apace with time and new and emerging challenges in innovative ways? This seminar addressed all these aspects with illustrations and case studies.
Particularly striking was the manner in which case studies were structured, that helped to enhanc theoretical knowledge while relating them to specific practices and features of Public Diplomacy. Participants were enthused to reflect deeper on what the civil society could do to effectively advance its just causes and interests and how it could initiate and influence diplomatic pursuits. It was explained that this approach went beyond mere advocacy into an exemplum of convincing diplomatic initiatives.
We know very well how misperceptions/perceptions create consequences, much of them negative.
In changing that discourse, public diplomacy initiatives, critically thought-out and promoted, can play a productive role.
An explanation was also given in this event regarding Perception Analysis and how perceptions and misperceptions were formed, with an elaboration of specific cases, both present and past.
Exchanges including small talks are the main starting points in any effort towards winning the narrative. Attention was drawn to instances when governments, through often-self-contradictory narratives, lost control over their original narratives, causing immense dents to their public images both domestically and abroad. With a proper orientation, civil society could be in a better position to grasp the intermestic aspects of national and global developments, which diplomatic services often fail to dissect professionally in this geopolitically fraught world.
Similarly, there are many tools of advocacy including lobbying, media publicity, audio-visual narrative, story telling, public campaigning etc, that strengthen diplomatic initiatives of the civil society
Overall, the seminar was a useful mutual-learning platform.
The resource person, former Ambassador Azeez, conducted the seminar, ably facilitated by professionals from the INFACT Institute.
