ABSTRACT
A twenty-first-century approach to public diplomacy (PD) recognizes the complex architecture of the multi-hub, multi-directional networks that exist between communities around the world. We live in an interconnected world where many of the complex challenges that societies now face straddle borders and continents. Equally, the communities that make up these societies communicate through a wide range of networks. These networks pivot around multiple hubs, and influence flows in multiple directions. As a result of this complexity, public diplomacy will increasingly adopt an approach based on genuine cooperation and collaboration with these interconnected communities. Relational strategies will not be a public diplomacy add-on but a core imperative. We call this shift in public diplomacy the connective mindshift.
