Open AccessPUBLIC DIPLOMACY DURING CRISES AND CONFLICTS: THE COVID-19 CHALLENGE
Author(s) -
Ecaterina Hlihor
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the ... international scientific conference "strategies xxi". strategic changes in security and international relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2668-2001
pISSN - 2668-1994
DOI - 10.53477/2668-2001-21-29
Subject(s) - diplomacy , geopolitics , political economy , political science , politics , public opinion , democracy , pandemic , covid-19 , development economics , sociology , economics , law , medicine , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The spectacular evolution in communication technology, and not only, enabled the world to achieve today a high degree of interconnectivity and interdependence that would have been hard to fathom only a couple of decades ago. The economic, political and, alas, health crises swiftly cross political, cultural and religious borders and yield consequences not only where they appear. This phenomenon forces national institutions and international organizations to communicate with the public opinion at a transnational level, a process also achieved through public diplomacy. The present article suggests a framework of action in which public diplomacy may be used as an instrument of communication in the case of crisis provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The current period of time is seen as a critical moment, a crisis that can permanently shatter institutions and societies. There are considerable dangers beyond the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives, ranging from an economic crisis that might prove more serious than the one in 2008/9, to an accentuated crisis of democracy and geopolitical changes, while public diplomacy could mitigate or eliminate these possible evolutions.