Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Not Quite The Sum Of Its Parts: Public Diplomacy From An Australian Perspective, Caitlin Byrne

Caitlin Byrne

While public diplomacy has emerged as the subject of much attention internationally, Australia appears disengaged from the discussions and Australia’s public diplomacy program appears to be lagging behind. Closer examination of Australia’s public diplomacy program, coordinated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reveals that public diplomacy is not well understood within bureaucratic and academic circles; is lacking in strategic coordination, and is consistently under-resourced. Indeed, when it comes to Australia’s public diplomacy, it appears that the whole may not be greater than the sum of the parts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current …