The past, the present, and the future of public diplomacy research

Public diplomacy and strategic communication are closely connected. Both fields focus on helping organizations and/or institutions to achieve their goals and missions through communication, but in different contexts. The goals of public diplomacy may differ: For governments, public diplomacy can help achieve foreign policy goals. For NGOs, public diplomacy can be linked to development goals. And for international corporations, it may be an indispensable element of global expansion. Although various actors may have different goals in engaging in public diplomacy, they use strategic communication to achieve them. This chapter explains the development of the public diplomacy research field, and the changing roles of different public diplomacy actors. We outline major streams of public diplomacy research. In conclusion, we discuss the current research trends and offer suggestions for future studies.