Public diplomacy in selected conceptual documents of the Russian Federation, in the period 1991-2016

Abstract

2020 is the year of publication of a new military doctrine of the Russian Federation. The document will, undoubtedly, be received as an interesting object of analysis, expected to show not only direct intentions, but also the hinking patterns representative for the Russian political elites. It is, therefore, advisable to process the history of public diplomacy – the leading tool of building soft power – a long-standing component of Russian Federation’s capability, which due to the composition of determinants typical for the late-Westphalian international order gained an unprecedented level of meaning (or even can be seen as a leading factor).
For these reasons, the author – after adopting a working definition – attempts to retrace the direct and indirect (implied) instances of including public diplomacy into the most important strategic documents and legal acts, issued by Russia in the years 1991-2016. The analysis shows the evolution of Russia’s political elites’ approach to all of the dimensions of public diplomacy (shift from superficial westernisation and a liberal discourse on the international order, through demonstrations of assertiveness, to a narrative adopotion of the role of one of the poles of the new international order), and provides insight into the composition of the political, social end economic determinants behind the transition. Also discussed are the shifts within the specifics of the methods of public diplomacy – such as the perception of the role of diaspora, or the link between image, economic diplomacy and economic development. These changes are presented on the background of the state of the international system, and the analysis is an addition to the extensive literature on the Russian Federation’s informational influence.