Public Diplomacy Evaluation

This chapter explores the benefits and challenges of public diplomacy, notably identifying an effective assessment regime. What is effective can be structural, financial, cultural, administrative, conceptual, or all of the above. The chapter outlines the intangible hurdles, short-term orientation of programs that manifest over time, frequent changes in leadership, etc., and argues that key to effective campaigns is whether or not the recommendations are acted upon. The author concludes that, in the end, public diplomacy evaluation is neither magic bullet nor rabbit hole. It is a process that encourages institutional reflection, a tool that promotes learning, an exercise in soft discipline for staff, and a means to ensure accountability.