Mediated Public Diplomacy and Political Dialectics: 2010 Free Gaza Flotilla

Abstract

In a networked world, national reputation management is an essential part of mediated public diplomacy and a unique part of intercultural communication. On May 31, 2010, the Free Gaza Flotilla breached the Israeli blockade off the coast of the Gaza strip which resulted in nine casualties. The purpose of this rhetorical analysis is to explore Israel’s attempt to manage its reputation during the incident. A Bakhtinian dialectical analysis was conducted to explore the conceptualization of political dialectics and to enhance the research on political grammars. The findings reveal the failures of public diplomacy when underlying tensions are ignored and when unwilling to negotiate through those tensions.

Keywords:

• Public Diplomacy
• Mediated Public Diplomacy
• Political Dialectics
• Political Grammars
• National Reputation Management
• Crisis Communication