https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0575-2549
Russia’s Public Diplomacy is a systematic, in-depth, and broad analysis of Russian public diplomacy as a concept and practice. For non-Russian speakers it is a highly valuable book in terms of exploring the Russian understanding of public diplomacy as it is the first book-length volume in English researched and written by Russian scholars and practitioners. In the book, the editors Anna A. Velikaya and Greg Simons seek to answer three questions. The first question addresses the concept itself: What is Russian public diplomacy? The second question concerns the measure of activity in question: What does Russian public diplomacy look like, historically and contemporarily? The third and final question regards the measure of influence: How effective are Russia’s public diplomacy programmes and efforts?
The questions are discussed over 13 chapters (in addition to the introduction and the conclusion) written by different authors on Russian public diplomacy practice and thinking. Olga Lebedeva’s chapter presents historical aspects of Russian public diplomacy and begins with the formation of the Soviet Union, even though the practice of Russian public diplomacy goes further back in time. Semed A. Semedov and Anastasiya G. Kurbatova’s chapter discusses the connection between the country’s public diplomacy efforts and nation-branding efforts, where one of the challenges is the fact that Russia, compared to the Soviet Union, does not have a clearly expressed brand. Stanislav L. Tkashenko’s chapter focuses on development diplomacy, where the aim is to build up a positive image of the donor country among citizens of the recipient country, as well as in the broader international community.
Natalia Bubnova’s chapter deals with the role of soft power in international relations, where a common Russian understanding of what soft power is exactly is currently lacking. Natalia Tsvetkova further discusses Russian digital diplomacy, which is a highly interesting chapter for grasping Russia’s standpoint on using social media and the Internet in their public diplomacy efforts. Alexey Fominykh’s chapter emphasizes the importance of higher education in public diplomacy. Russian universities are attracting large numbers of international students. In 2018 there were more than 243.000 international students in Russia, which places it fourth after the United States, the UK, and Australia (p. 120).
Elena Kharitonova and Irina Prokhorenko address Russian science diplomacy. In many cases, Russian science diplomacy agencies still rely on older merits dating back to the Soviet Union, such as the breakthrough in space exploration in the 1960s. Another important chapter covers the role of civil society in Russian public diplomacy, where Elena Stetsko discusses the difficulties for non-governmental organizations in Russia. Russian public diplomacy initiatives have for a long time been focused on intergovernmental relations, while neglecting the work with civil society and the expert community. There are various reasons for this, but the law on foreign agents, which was aimed at strengthening the state control over the activities of political non-profit organizations receiving financing from abroad, now seriously hinder civil society organizations to operate in Russia (p. 156). This is a problem that is being discussed in several different chapters.
Maria Chepurina and Evgeny Kuznetsov’s chapter deals with Russia’s role in international organizations, especially the United Nations system. Andrey Bykov and Kirill Solntsev address Russia’s business diplomacy in Southeast Asia; Daria Akhutina’s chapter regards humanitarian cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region; and Evgeny N. Pashentsev’ chapter contains a discussion of Russia’s view on strategic communication and its role in Latin America. Finally, Vladimir Morozov and Greg Simons discuss Russia’s public diplomacy in the Middle East.
As this brief description makes clear, it is a multi-faceted approach covering Russian public diplomacy from several different areas. It is of great value that the opinion of Russian experts on the topic now becomes accessible to a wider audience. Reviewing the book from a media and communication perspective, I find it important that the authors not only present their views on public diplomacy, but also discuss the different challenges of Russian public diplomacy and how it can improve. Although Russian public diplomacy is attracting a growing research interest, it is still a much-understudied field, even in Russia. As such, it is necessary to attract both well-informed and critical scholars and practitioners capable of making their assessments and suggestions heard by the decision-makers.
With that being said, Russia’s Public Diplomacy has some drawbacks. One concerns the highly politicized topic. It is stated in the introduction chapter that Russia’s relations with Western countries are at an all-time low and throughout the book a Russian perspective of current events are presented. This is a welcome complement to Western publications on the subject, but in some parts of the book it turns into a blame game. One example regards Western reactions to Russia’s digital diplomacy efforts. In the book it is stated that a Russian troll narrative has been created with the purpose to compromise and undermine Russia’s efforts in this area (p. 260). This is a rather peculiar statement since the Internet Research Agency is a real organization operating outside Saint Petersburg, Russia, and not a narrative. Another drawback concerns the overlap of chapters, where similar information such as the structures of Russian public diplomacy organizations are repeated. This makes it a bit heavy to read from cover to cover. In this sense, the editors of the book, Velikaya and Simons make a great contribution when introducing and later summarizing the book chapters.
Despite these drawbacks, this book is a significant and much needed contribution to non-Western approaches to public diplomacy. Having read many of the authors in the original language prior to the publishing of this book, I would say that for non-Russian speakers this book is a must-read for better understanding Russian foreign policy and public diplomacy in the twenty-first century.