The onset of democracy. Information technology and social media have changed the nature of diplomacy. The traditional diplomacy was confined to the official interaction between the two or more states. But this is no more case. Now States are trying to make efforts to influence public opinion in foreign countries in support of their foreign policy and its national image in international arena. The Public Diplomacy is concerned with all such efforts. It is closely related with enhancing soft power of a nation.
What is Public Diplomacy?
The term ‘Public Diplomacy’ was coined in 1965 by former U.S. diplomat Edmund Gullion in a different context. It was developed partly to distance overseas governmental information activities of the US from the term propaganda, which had acquired negative connotations. Edmond Gullion was the Dean of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the Tuft University, US.
According to Gullion, ‘public diplomacy deals with the influence of public attitudes on the formation and execution of foreign policies. It encompasses the dimensions of international relations beyond the traditional diplomacy; the cultivation of public opinion by government in other countries; the interaction of private groups in one country with another and the process of inter-cultural communication’. This definition takes a broad view of public diplomacy as it recognizes the influence of public opinion on both the formation as well as execution of foreign policies.
The official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of India, has also defined public diplomacy. According to this definition,
‘Public diplomacy is regarded as the framework of activities by which a government seeks to influence public attitudes in a manner that they become supportive of its foreign policy and national interests’. It differs from traditional diplomacy in that public diplomacy goes beyond governments and interfaces primarily with non-governmental individuals and organizations.
Another noted scholar, K. Henrikson, defines it as ‘the conduct of international relations by the government through public communication media and through dealing with a wide range of non-government entities like political parties, corporations, trade unions, labour associations. educational institutions, religious organizations, ethnic groups and so on including the influential individuals for the purpose of influencing the policies and actions of other governments.’
In brief, public diplomacy refers to all those diplomatic activities which are undertaken to enhance the support for nation’s foreign policy and its image in international arena. In this manner, public diplomacy is the tool to enhance nation’s soft power.
What is Soft Power and Smart Power?
The concept of Soft Power has gained currency in contemporary international politics. The concept of soft power was, for the first time used by Joseph Nye, the US scholar of international relations in his book ‘Bound to Head: The Changing Nature of American Power’, published in 1990. However, Nye explained the concept of Soft Power in another book, ‘Soft Power: TheMeans to Success in World Politics’, which was published in 2004. Since then, the notion of Soft Power has become a core concept in public diplomacy studies. Nye defines soft power as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments.” Thus, the power of a nation to attract others is known as soft power. In other words, soft power is the degree to which a political actor’s cultural assets, political ideals and policies inspire respect or affinity on the part of others. Thus, soft power is like a resource and public diplomacy is a mechanism that seeks to leverage soft power resources.
The notion of Soft power is just opposed to the idea of Hard Power, which is the coercive capacity of a nation to influence the behaviour of others. The hard power of nation is the result of its military and economic as well as technological capacity. It should be noted that the use of Hard Power in realizing foreign policy objectives is becoming increasingly difficult in view of the rising consciousness of people and democratization of international relations.
However, the hard power is not entirely useless in modern international relations. Therefore, Nye deployed another concept of ‘Smart Power’ to make his views realistic in contemporary context. The idea of ‘Smart Power’ refers to the appropriate mix of both Hard power and Soft power in a given situation. It should be noted that the term smart power was used for the first time by Suzanne Nossel in 2004, but the term was given an international currency by Joseph Nye.
What are the Components of India’s Soft power?
The government of India has created in 2006 a dedicated Public Diplomacy Division in the Ministry of External Affairs, which was merged in 2014 with the External Publicity Division of the Ministry. According to the official statement of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, ‘India is blessed with an ancient civilization, a rich cultural heritage, an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit and a dynamic economy that operate within the framework of a secular ethos and a vibrant democracy’. Broadly, we can identify the following components of India’s soft power:
1. India’s Rich Cultural Tradition: India is an ancient civilization with deep root in History. India’s rich and long cultural tradition laid emphasis on peace, non-violence, toleration, harmony among the diverse cultural and social strains, balanced physical and spiritual achievements, harmony with nature, and so on. Many of these values are highly relevant for the global peace and security and have been carried forward by great Indian personalities. It is in recognition of these achievements that the UN General Assembly in 2015 has declared 21 June (Longest Day in the Northern Hemisphere) to be the International Yoga Day. The ancient Indian practice of Yoga deals with the perfect physical and spiritual development of man and the harmony between the two. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech at the UNGA, on 27 September 2014, remarked, ‘Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being.’
2.Ideals of Peace and Non-Violence: The ideals of peace and non-violence are deeply rooted in Indian psyche, philosophy and culture. The India national movement based on the non-violent struggle against imperialism generated strong hope among the subjugated people of the world. The ideal of non-violence still inspire people around the world. Gandhi has become the symbol of global peace. We have African Gandhi (Nelson Mandela), American Gandhi (Martin Luther King) and the International Non-Violence Day on 2nd October (the birth day of Gandhi) observed by the UN since 2007. The ongoing Peace Movements across the world are directly or indirectly influenced by the Gandhi’s ideals of peace and non-violence.
3. Support to Just Global Order: India supports to just and balanced global order, which is just, open, inclusive and rule based. The consistent support extended to the fight against colonialism and racialism by India, under her non-alignment policy and the leadership of NAM, during cold war has enabled India to enjoy soft power advantage in Asian and African countries. It is not by chance that India has been elected seven times the member of UN Security Council.
India supports international law and the ideals and objectives of United Nations. Among other things Indian peace keeping forces in UN Peace Missions have earned laurels in many countries.
4. Largest Functioning Democracy: India’s record in strengthening democracy and managing social diversities in a multicultural society is unparallel in the world. India, as the largest functioning democracy on the world continues to strengthen her democratic credentials. India has a flawless record of peaceful transfer of political power. India is firmly committed to the values of democracy, human rights and dignity, social justice and rule of law.
5. Emerging Economic Power: India has achieved a reasonable economic and technological success in last eight decades or so. Since the economic liberalization in early 1990s, India has achieved nearly 7-8 percent growth per annum in last two decades and has emerged as the fourth largest economy in the world, leaving behind countries like France and Britain. India has emerged as a leading player in the global affairs through many new mechanisms like G-20, IBSA, SCO and BRICS etc. Besides development of nuclear and space technology, Indian software technology is a brand name in the world.
Because of this economic profile, India has emerged a net donor to developing countries in 2003. India’s development partnership in terms of grants, Lines of Credit, technological assistance, training and education support, and trade concessions to developing and Least Developed countries has been a key element of India’s soft power in recent years.
6. Engaging with Indian Diaspora: Indian Diaspora is the living face of India’s soft power. Indian Diaspora has not only played valuable role in the development of their host countries, but they have also propagated Indian values and cultural practices in foreign countries. Indian Diaspora everywhere enjoys a degree of respect and admiration. According to the report of Ministry of External Affairs, (2025) there are approximately 35.4 million Indian Diaspora persons residing in different countries.
Indian government has realized its importance. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs was created in 2004, but was merged as a Service Division in 2016 with the Ministry of External Affairs. This Division focuses on developing networks with and amongst Overseas Indians with the intent of building partnership with the Diaspora. Besides dealing with all matters relating to Overseas Indians (OIs), the Division is engaged in several initiatives with OIs for the promotion of trade and investment, emigration, education, culture, health and science and technology.
India has started various schemes for Pravasi Bhartiya for involving them as cultural ambassadors of India. They are being roped in for the development of the country as well. In recent years, Indian Diaspora has been involved in the development efforts of country. Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is observed each year on 9 January, the day Gandhi came back to India from South Africa in 1915. Pavasi Bhartiyas and NRIs living abroad have been given many rights and facilities available to Indian Citizens. India has started the scheme of Double Citizenship in 2005 for the People of Indian Origin. Since 2014 Indian Prime Minister has addressed many rallies of overseas Indians in the US, Canada, UK, UAE, and Singapore etc. to rekindle age old bonds with India.
7. Assuming Global Responsibilities: The emerging concept of India as a “first responder” in the Indo-pacific region reflects the country’s growing capability and increasing willingness to assume the responsibilities of a leading power. India has been a prompt first responder in cases of natural disasters, expatriate evacuation operations, non-traditional security threats, and regime support. For example, during 2004 tsunami, India deployed 14 Navy vessels, nearly 1,000 military personnel and several dozen helicopters and airplanes to Sri Lanka. India launched a massive relief operation in 2015 just with six hours of massive earthquake in Nepal, which included landing 32 flights with 520 tonnes of relief and more than fifty medical, Army engineering and other rescue operation teams. In 2017, in response to Cyclone More, India was the first to respond to the devastating floods in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India has also provided safe evacuation to citizens from other countries during crisis. For example, in 2015, India extricated almost 2,000 nationals from 48 different countries. India has deployed almost thirty warships to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden since 2008 that have escorted more than 1500 ships and thwarted around thirty piracy attempts. India strengthened its Operation Sankalp during Gaza crisis in 2024 for the safe passage of commercial ships in the Red Sea, in view of threats posed by Houthis, based in Yemen.
India has also played global role in the UN Peacekeeping force. So far (2025) India has deployed nearly 290000 soldiers in more than 50 UN peace keeping missions. India is also the voice of global south in international trade negotiations, climate change negotiations, and UN fora.
Challenges of Public Diplomacy
In spite of these positive elements in favour of India’s soft power, there are certain crucial drawbacks also. Soft power does not mean ‘soft state’, as Gunnar Myrdal described Indian state much earlier. India is not able to manage some of her crucial challenges like poverty, slums, poor management of cities and towns, terrorism, corruption, naxalism, communalism and casteism, secessionism in Kashmir and elsewhere, which undermines India’s rising global image. Some of these challenges like naxalism and extreme poverty have been addressed, yet the practice of public diplomacy is handicapped by the existing domestic challenges.
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