This thesis, as a case study, focuses on the perspective of foreign news reports on Taiwan’s first time hosting an international multi-sport event, the World Games 2009 in its biggest port city Kaohsiung. The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung, the significant Olympic type mega-event as to Taiwan, is applied as the approach to public diplomacy and soft power for the purpose of expanding Taiwan’s international space. It is expected to raise publicity and mass media exposure to boost Taiwan’s international profile and spur its tourism industry. From Taiwan’s image-marketing strategy, practices to foreign news reports, it outweighs to study foreign media’s reflection on Taiwan and the World Games 2009 as the important evaluation on the mega-event as a whole. This thesis attempts to answer two research questions: How was the World Games 2009 Kaohsiung reported by the foreign media? Did hosting the World Games improve Taiwan’s image? It presents the results and perspectives of foreign news reports by qualitative methods: case study and discourse analysis of online-English news reports and some quantitative methods applied on data. It combines news reports study with theory, model of public diplomacy, mega-event and expected-model. Within 101 pieces of online-English news found related to the World Games 2009, it unveils fruitful results such as the failure of interpreting the core story (Taiwan’s images and values) by foreign media during the sporting extravaganza, and it echoes Rivenburgh (2004)’s three viewpoints toward the Olympic type event (intercultural challenges, less news about host country’s culture and dramatic news). By the amount of news and the absence of foreign media on the press conference indicates that foreign media did not pay much attention to the World Games and Taiwan. In spite of reporting the sports and games, other major topics of reports were Taiwan’s hosting the event, the greenest solar-powered stadium designed by Japanese, Toyo Ito, Chu Chen’s promotion itinerary to Beijing and China’s absence on the opening and closing ceremony which triggered foreign media’s great concern.

Master´s thesis aims at giving an overview of public and cultural diplomacy used in the middle-sized countries such as Austria and the Czech Republic. The thesis explains what does the public and cultural diplomacy mean, as well as what are contributions for countries which participate either in bilateral or in multinational cooperation. The thesis is focused on national foreign cultural policy made by different actors, as well as on common foreign policy and common projects which these two states have worked on. The very last part of the thesis summarizes effectiveness and successes of promoting a national culture abroad, what sort of diplomacy is used to do so and which institutions are the most important ones.

Cette recherche a pour objectif de comprendre le rôle des chaînes internationales d’information à l’ère de la mondialisation : la tension et l’harmonisation entre l’objectif de diplomatie publique de la chaîne internationale d’information et les principes journalistiques ; le rôle des chaînes internationales d’information pour l’espace public global dans le monde « trans-nationalisé ». Afin de répondre à ces questions, dans une perspective constructiviste, nous avons analysé les missions annoncées par les chaînes sélectionnées (CNN International, France 24, BBC World News, NHK World TV, Arirang TV et Al-Jazeera English) puis leur contenu réel : la programmation et le contenu journalistique. Les résultats d’analyse nous démontrent que les chaînes considèrent et réalisent implicitement leur rôle de diplomate public et soulignent explicitement les principes journalistiques. Enfin, nous avons trouvé que les chaînes internationales d’information fonctionnent comme une infrastructure de communication internationale, en réalisant un double objectif et une double identité à cause du croisement de deux acteurs principaux concernés au sein de la chaîne internationale d’information : le gouvernement et les professionnels du journalisme. De plus, les efforts qui peuvent montrer « l’objectivité » et « le respect des principes journalistiques » des chaînes internationales conduisent ces dernières à jouer un rôle dans la sphère publique internationale, notamment grâce aux émissions participatives et interactives, ainsi que par les dispositifs d’interaction et de discussion. / This research aims to understand the role of international 24-hour TV news channels in the era of globalization: the tension and balance between the role of the international news channel for public diplomacy and the respect for journalistic principles; the role of international news channels for the global public space in the transnationalised world. In order to answer these questions, we analysed their missions announced by the selected channels (CNN International, France 24, BBC World News, NHK World TV, Arirang TV and Al-Jazeera English) and their media content with a constructivist perspective. The results show that the channels implicitly realize their role for public diplomacy and explicitly emphasize the journalistic principles. Finally, we found that international news channels work as an international communications infrastructure phenomenally with dual goal and a dual identity. In addition, the result shows that the international 24-hour TV news channels try to play a role as international public sphere through participatory and interactive programs.

Public diplomacy is a form of diplomatic activity aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics. In light of the technological developments of recent decades, digital tools and platforms have transformed the field of public diplomacy and became a significant force in shaping the diplomatic field. Sweden is a country with a strong international presence, where public diplomacy is a prioritized field for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This study contributes to the limited research on Swedish public diplomacy strategy by analyzing the way in which Sweden’s four core values are communicated in the digital sphere. The analysis is conducted in two segments. First, the Swedish public diplomacy strategy is examined. Secondly, using Critical Discourse Analysis, twelve articles published on the website for Swedish Foreign Policy Stories were analyzed. The analysis shows that the core values are incorporated in the texts. The values are not stated overtly, but strong indications in the discourse can be found suggesting their relevance. The size of the sample is not large enough to allow for generalizations of the findings. The study concludes that except for discourse, other elements, such as the visual semiotic choices also contribute to the communication of Sweden’s four core values.

The thesis Role of external radio broadcasting in the Czech public diplomacy deals with the audiovisual (radio and television) external broadcasting operated by the state. It focuses on the Czech external broadcasting represented by the radio station Radio Prague. The broadcasting is arranged by the Czech Radio and financed by the ministry of foreign affairs. The aim of this thesis is to describe the task of Radio Prague in contemporary Czech public diplomacy. It looks at the station's programming, extent of the broadcasting and its orientation. It is concerned with the relation of Radio Prague to the state and compares the Czech model with models of main democratic countries in the Euro-Atlantic space. It takes into consideration the small and medium-sized and also transition states' public diplomacy specifics. It is interested in the position of Radio Prague in the Czech public diplomacy and with the position of the public diplomacy as a whole in the Czech foreign policy. The thesis uses the analysis of relevant primary documents relating to the Czech public diplomacy and external radio broadcasting and information from personal interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and Radio Prague.

Town-twinning is a way of international cooperation between self-governments at the local level. The town-twinning is based on regular meetings of town representatives and citizens. The other type of international cooperation is the cross-border cooperation that points at common solution of problems in particular border area. The main aim of the town-twinning is information and experience exchange, arrangement of common cultural and sport events, school cooperation and language skills improvement. Thanks to the involvement of citizens in town-twinning activities, the mutual prejudices are eliminated and relations improved. The diploma thesis analyses the town-twinning between Prague and Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Pilsen and Regensburg, Domažlice and Furth im Wald. Thanks to the partnership, the towns and cities can advance their own interests in foreign policy by methods of public diplomacy and paradiplomacy regardless the relations between country governments. The improvement of international relations thanks to the town-twinning can be represented by the relationship between the Czech Republic and the Free State of Bavaria, where the twin towns were constituted without regard to the official policy of the country or the federal state. These contacts at the governmental level were very influenced by...

Gastronomy belongs among the important elements of the French national identity and at the same time it is one of the main tourist attractions. Which place and why does the gastronomy have among the modern trends of public diplomacy and how is the French gastro-diplomacy formed on the online social media? There are certain long-lasting tensions visible in the French gastronomic discourse, for example between the Republican idea of unity and the foreign policy strategy of supporting diversity. However, historical research shows that these aspects are not excluding one another, they are more like two sides of the same coin. Gastro-diplomacy is then understood as a narrow dimension of the foreign policy, namely as a part of public cultural diplomacy. In the framework of contemporary French gastro-diplomacy, it is possible to observe the employment of modern instruments, such as the communication through online social networks. Combined with the bet on the long-standing good image of French cuisine, it is one of the ways in which France prove successful in the international arena. It is also a sign of strategic behaviour against the standardization of food products. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts showed that during the period 1. 1. 2009 - 30. 6. 2017,...

This diploma thesis is a case study focused on Polish public diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy and its changes between 2005 and 2019. The way how public diplomacy is exercised in the Polish case is significantly influenced by two factors - the size of the country or rather its influence and its geographic location, which is closely connected with particular societal, political and economic features with relation to the country's history. The aim of the thesis is to find out what are the foundations of polish public diplomacy, how it has been changed within the studied period and what it tells us about public diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy and the possibility of domestic actors to influence it. There is a deep cleavage between the two main political parties, which have alternated in government since 2005, and their preferences in domestic and foreign policy. Based on the outputs of Polish public diplomacy in four spheres - nation branding, cultural diplomacy, historical diplomacy and communication channels - and in organizational framework, the thesis analyses the interconnection between public diplomacy and foreign policy and also the strategy of Polish public diplomacy, taking into account the alternation of governing parties.

The dissertation "Czech and Slovak Public Diplomacy after 1993: The Transformation of Czech Centres and Slovak Institutes" seeks to compare Czech and Slovak model of public and cultural diplomacy after the peaceful separation of Czechoslovakia in 1993. It seeks to investigate whether the two countries embarked on similar journeys in their foreign affairs and whether the public and cultural diplomacy is at the forefront of their international policies. The dissertation aims to establish whether to accept or reject the hypothesis that the same historical circumstances and transformational similarities inevitably lead to similarities of Czech and Slovak public and cultural diplomacy. The first chapter of the dissertation focuses on a theoretical interpretation of public and cultural diplomacy. The second chapter of the dissertation deals with both countries' historical experience and describes the model of public and cultural diplomacy in each country from year 1993 to now. This part of the dissertation delineates conceptual documentation and describes the institutional dimension of this issue. The third and fourth chapter of the dissertation then separately deal with Czech Centres and Slovak Institutes as the primary players in the cultural diplomacy abroad. The final and core chapter of the...

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