Charm offensive: mediatized country image transformations in international relations

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on what has come to be known as a ‘charm offensive,’ a diplomatic technique countries may use to shift their international image through strategic public relations campaigns utilizing personal magnetism. The charm of the selected representative is meant to appeal to a broad international audience with the hope of improving the country's brand. The paper examines the concept and practice of a charm offensive through two case studies. The first is the Iranian charm offensive during the 2015 negotiations of the nuclear deal with the United States, when Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif aimed to improve his country's controversial international image through gentle, diplomatic communication and an aura of civility. The second case study is the charm offensive of North Korea from the 2018 Winter Olympics until the historic meeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald J. Trump in June 2018. Both case studies analyze the media representations of the particular charm offensive in two countries, the United States and a regionally more proximate, and therefore likely more directly affected country: Israel and South Korea, respectively. I argue that quick image-transformations often characterize contemporary, highly mediatized international diplomatic communication. Unlike classical cases of soft power, the temporary alliances forged through charm offensives are not built on shared values, but on momentary appearances, and sometimes on deception.

KEYWORDS:

• Charm offensive
• diplomacy
• international relations
• foreign affairs
• media
• Iran
• North Korea
• Trump

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Julia Sonnevend is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Communications at the New School for Social Research in New York. She has held fellowships at the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, and the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology in New Haven. Her scholarship lies at the intersection of media studies, the sociology of culture, and international relations, and focuses on the ‘re-enchantment’ of society, on the magical moments, qualities, technologies and artifacts of contemporary social life worldwide. Sonnevend's work aims to show that we are far less rational in our political, social and mediated lives than we imagine ourselves to be.

Notes

1 This paper, under the title ‘Capturing Hearts: Charm, Personal Magnetism and the Iranian Nuclear Deal in the American and Israeli Press’ is currently under review in a peer-reviewed journal.

2 This paper, under the title ‘An Unlikely Seducer: Kim Jong-un's Charm Offensive from the PyeongChang Winter Olympics Until the Trump-Kim Summit’ is currently under review in a peer-reviewed journal.