Public diplomacy: a framework-based literature review and decentering research agenda

Abstract

Public diplomacy scholarship is multifaceted, eclectic, and accelerating at a tremendous rate. The purpose of this article is to conduct a semi-systematic framework-based literature review of the 200 most cited articles in public diplomacy with the aim of synthetizing and organizing the literature on public diplomacy into a structured and holistic framework and contribute to the advancement of future research. The organizing framework of the literature review is based on a combination of Lasswell’s 5W construct and the TCM (Theory-Context-Methods) framework (Paul et al. 2017). Using Lasswell’s 5W framework, the paper reports on the actors, audiences, strategies, instruments, and effects found in the public diplomacy literature, which enables the paper to explain what we know about public diplomacy. Next, using the TCM framework, the paper reports on the theories, contexts, and methods used by public diplomacy scholars to uncover past findings, thereby answering the question how we know what we know about public diplomacy. Finally, the paper proposes a potentially fruitful agenda for decentering future public diplomacy research.