INSTID conference “Image Diplomacy: Establishing the Field”

The way a country is perceived abroad affects not only its foreign policy but increasingly, the domestic state of affairs, too. This is mostly obvious with regard to the economy, in particular in relation to export and foreign investment, but the effect of foreigners’ attitudes also transpires in the political sphere, with voters opinions informing and sustaining foreign policies of their states towards a particular country.

Governments are increasingly aware of the situation. New states in particular are seeking to enhance their international recognition. This is most often done by the means of ‘country branding’, ’state PR’ or ‘country marketing’. Such an approach, we challenge, is deficient both with regard to the country representation and with regard to the audiences, as it reduces both to predictable, unimaginative and often identical “messages” to limited target groups. In place of such an approach, INSTID proposes to investigate and discuss how state identity can be shaped and communicated to the foreign audiences.

The conference brings together communications professionals, academics, public decision-makers, and officials engaged in the sphere of diplomacy and state media relations, as well as commercial companies already claiming expertise in country brand management. Its aim is to take forward the understanding of state image diplomacy and establish INSTID as the primary expert authority in the field.