Global perspectives on European Union public diplomacy: an introduction

Public diplomacy has become increasingly important for countries around the world as a source of soft power. However, we still know very little about how international and supranational actors conduct public diplomacy. This Special Issue therefore looks at the public diplomacy of the European Union (EU) as a contribution to filling this research gap. Unlike existing research that has primarily focused on the institutional design and content of EU public diplomacy, the authors in this Special Issue examine the receptiveness of different countries and regions of the world to this specific type of diplomacy. Their key research findings are, firstly, an observed variation in the receptiveness of countries to EU public diplomacy, which correlates with the receiving country or region’s social, economic and political context and past and contemporary experiences with the EU; secondly, a need for EU public diplomacy to be flexible in its application; and thirdly, a need for more extensive research on the effectiveness of EU public diplomacy.