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A Framework of City Diplomacy on Positive Outcomes and Negative Emotional Engagement: How to Enhance the International Role of Cities and City/Mayor Branding on Twitter?

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Book cover City Diplomacy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy ((GPD))

Abstract

This chapter first conceptualizes the phenomenon of “negative emotional engagement” (understood as unfavorable behavior toward organizations; see Lievonen et al., The handbook of communication engagement. Wiley, New York, 2018) and introduces a framework for assessing it in relation to city diplomacy and city branding. Second, we demonstrate that negative emotional engagement can have measurable positive outcomes. In the empirical section, we use a mixed-methods case study approach applying content and sentiment analysis to understand how mayoral messages from the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group cross the boundary to the ‘dark side’ by publicly discussing and criticizing President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate change agreement. The study illustrates recent phenomena of negative emotional engagement (Lievonen et al., The handbook of communication engagement. Wiley, New York, 2018) and new diplomatic functions of cities (city diplomacy) that leverage city branding. Social media messages and press releases show how mayors, citizens and associations engage with the issue of climate change through disapproving of policies, leading them to be more active in bringing about local changes. This study shows how negative emotional engagements tend to use the rhetoric of a common enemy to motivate people to take participative actions, thus also showing the positive aspects of city diplomacy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Bruno Asdourian & Diana Ingenhoff

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  1. Bruno Asdourian
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  2. Diana Ingenhoff
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Correspondence to Bruno Asdourian .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, CA, USA

    Sohaela Amiri

  2. Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Sohaela Amiri

  3. Department of Mass Communication, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA

    Efe Sevin

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Asdourian, B., Ingenhoff, D. (2020). A Framework of City Diplomacy on Positive Outcomes and Negative Emotional Engagement: How to Enhance the International Role of Cities and City/Mayor Branding on Twitter?. In: Amiri, S., Sevin, E. (eds) City Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45615-3_5

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