External communication of international organisations: theoretical and practical aspects in the context of public diplomacy

Abstract

No matter what objectives International Organizations pursue, they gather and disseminate data, act as a platform for cooperation and information exchange, project specific norms onto member states and international community, establish and supervise the compliance with certain rules and constantly communicate with different actors. Communication is a process that is vital for the existence and functioning of IOs, as well as for their public diplomacy. The essence of public diplomacy is to communicate directly with foreign audiences, to influence public opinion and perceptions of specific problems or events. This article provides descriptive qualitative analysis of International Organizations’ communication process in Political Science, Public relations, and Communication Theory. The main goal is to understand how different elements of communication are defined and explained in various schools of research, how the communication of IOs is different from other types of communication and to provide new definition of Communication of International Organizations.