Abstract
The starting point of this chapter is the perception shared among the national publics in various European Union (EU) member states as well as worldwide that the EU is not an effective political body and, as a result, it cannot play a significant role in world affairs. It suggests that the reason for which this (mis)perception prevails is that the Union’s public diplomacy has not been successful in making people understand how the EU functions, how decisions are made, and, most importantly, to highlight its achievements and demonstrate why the EU is a global power. These problems are compounded by the fact that the EU has been the target of disinformation campaigns. After examining the idea and content of public diplomacy, the chapter identifies the reasons for which a more effective EU public diplomacy is needed. It then examines the governance, targets, and instruments of the EU’s public diplomacy before it identifies and analyzes the factors limiting the effectiveness of the EU’s public diplomacy. It concludes that the image of the EU as an ineffective international actor requires a more effective EU public diplomacy; especially in times that the Union has become a target of disinformation campaigns. To this end, the concluding part of the chapter offers a set of recommendations.
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Notes
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Ibid.
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‘Communicating Europe in Partnership’, Speech Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Institutional relations and communications strategy, ECAS Conference ‘Is the EU really listening to citizens?’, SPEECH/07/602, 3 October 2007.
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Stivachtis, Y.A. (2023). Addressing Disinformation and Misplaced Criticism: The Need for a More Effective EU Public Diplomacy. In: Akande, A. (eds) Politics Between Nations. Contributions to International Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24896-2_15
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