Public Diplomacy and Mongolia
According to the “Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Process” by US Department of State, there are five different Foreign Service Officer Career tracks to choose from and they are Management, Economic, Consular, Political and Public Diplomacy. Some career tracks, currently Political and Public Diplomacy, attract far more candidates than others; meaning that, on a percentage basis, a smaller number of candidates for these career tracks are actually offered jobs.
In order to conduct public diplomacy successfully, a country must train public diplomacy officers. Because, Public Diplomacy officer, with his skills, character and commitment to public service, is the backbone of a country’s diplomacy, he or she represents the country’s people, advocate their interests to the rest of the world and are the first line of defense in a complex and often dangerous world. So public diplomacy officer must be the one who cares about his country and its leadership in the international arena and who is talented enough and tough enough to get the job done, consider a career in the Foreign Service. The world has gone through many dramatic changes recently and the career diplomats of the Foreign Service have been in the forefront of those changes.
Moreover, the work of a public diplomacy officer involves a high degree of outside contact work, dealing with the independent media, ministries of information, universities, cultural and arts institutions, libraries, think tanks and non-governmental organizations. He is the face of his embassy, maintaining contacts with key people who influence public opinion. Public diplomacy officers or embassy people identify key people and institutions where a special effort is vital to achieve mutual understanding. They depict their countries views and policies accurately and track local editorial and public opinion, detecting shifts that can affect the countries interests. They need excellent communication and language skills, a strong sense of cultural and other nuances that affect how their message is received, and management skills for handling cultural education exchanges and other programs. Public diplomacy officer has to possess strong interpersonal and communication skills; adaptability and stress tolerance; good problem-solving and decision-making skills; integrity and dependability; ability to plan and set priorities; and initiative and leadership.
Thoughtful public diplomacy planners can reach large audience through broadcast and Internet-based media; this takes us back to the fundamentals of public diplomacy. If terrorist organizations draw their support from a large public, they should not be allowed to access that public without competition from those who want to bring terrorism to an end. Conventional diplomacy operates on too narrow a wavelength to compete in this way, but well-designed public diplomacy can reach large numbers of the political public and can challenge terrorism at its base.
In conclusion, in the past decades Mongolians are travelling a lot and going abroad meeting people from other cultures as they form their ideas of what Mongolian is like. They are representing their families, friends and the people they work or go to college with. Mongolians want to make sure they are well-accepted or well-represented in whatever country they are in. Those who go abroad must know that they are representatives for everyone they know at home. There are many of them who are passionate about sharing Mongolians’ values and culture through exchange programs and other artistic and cultural programs abroad, which means there are great possibilities to conduct Public Diplomacy in Mongolia successfully. Thus in order to do that:
First of all, a critical issue needs to be addressed is whether just big and economically powerful nations conduct public diplomacy or the scope of public diplomacy can be variable depending on its nature.
Second, there must be official Mongolian plans for Public Diplomacy. Public Diplomacy (PD) is to seek to promote the national interest of Mongolia through understanding, engaging, informing, and influencing foreign publics, and by promoting mutual understanding between the people from other nations around the world.
Third of all, Mongolia must stay as open to the world as it has been since the 1990s. Openness to different cultures really set us off on a great foot when we come into the world stage. As foreign affairs expert Richard Haas observed, “There is no way the United States can protect itself and promote its interests if it pulls back from the world.” Mongolia cannot protect itself and promote its national interest, if it pulls back from the world.
Fourth, by informing and influencing foreign publics and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of Mongolia and citizens of the rest of the world, Mongolia may become one of the influential international actors and “Neutral negotiator” as it has geographically unique and significant location between the two Super Powers – Russia and China.
At a time when the need for collaboration and cooperation among nations and peoples has never been greater, Mongolia’s role in the world can be very important, but is threatened by Mongolians’ apparent disinterest in and lack of understanding of global affairs. In particular young Mongolians are not interested in global affairs and they just spend their time playing computer games, gambling, using narcotics, browsing through the Internet watching dirty movies, and shopping.
Fourth, to have a career track for Public Diplomacy in the Mongolian Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Process (if there is one) and train IR students how each interact with one another, so that they would understand the lifestyle and work of a Foreign Service Officer and the roles of Public diplomacy career track. The reason is when they go abroad they represent Mongolia’s interests and its people overseas as goals would be accomplished in part through the expansion of people-to-people relationships and by better-informed policymaking.
In order to conduct public diplomacy successfully, a country must train public diplomacy officers. Because, Public Diplomacy officer, with his skills, character and commitment to public service, is the backbone of a country’s diplomacy, he or she represents the country’s people, advocate their interests to the rest of the world and are the first line of defense in a complex and often dangerous world. So public diplomacy officer must be the one who cares about his country and its leadership in the international arena and who is talented enough and tough enough to get the job done, consider a career in the Foreign Service. The world has gone through many dramatic changes recently and the career diplomats of the Foreign Service have been in the forefront of those changes.
Moreover, the work of a public diplomacy officer involves a high degree of outside contact work, dealing with the independent media, ministries of information, universities, cultural and arts institutions, libraries, think tanks and non-governmental organizations. He is the face of his embassy, maintaining contacts with key people who influence public opinion. Public diplomacy officers or embassy people identify key people and institutions where a special effort is vital to achieve mutual understanding. They depict their countries views and policies accurately and track local editorial and public opinion, detecting shifts that can affect the countries interests. They need excellent communication and language skills, a strong sense of cultural and other nuances that affect how their message is received, and management skills for handling cultural education exchanges and other programs. Public diplomacy officer has to possess strong interpersonal and communication skills; adaptability and stress tolerance; good problem-solving and decision-making skills; integrity and dependability; ability to plan and set priorities; and initiative and leadership.
Thoughtful public diplomacy planners can reach large audience through broadcast and Internet-based media; this takes us back to the fundamentals of public diplomacy. If terrorist organizations draw their support from a large public, they should not be allowed to access that public without competition from those who want to bring terrorism to an end. Conventional diplomacy operates on too narrow a wavelength to compete in this way, but well-designed public diplomacy can reach large numbers of the political public and can challenge terrorism at its base.
In conclusion, in the past decades Mongolians are travelling a lot and going abroad meeting people from other cultures as they form their ideas of what Mongolian is like. They are representing their families, friends and the people they work or go to college with. Mongolians want to make sure they are well-accepted or well-represented in whatever country they are in. Those who go abroad must know that they are representatives for everyone they know at home. There are many of them who are passionate about sharing Mongolians’ values and culture through exchange programs and other artistic and cultural programs abroad, which means there are great possibilities to conduct Public Diplomacy in Mongolia successfully. Thus in order to do that:
First of all, a critical issue needs to be addressed is whether just big and economically powerful nations conduct public diplomacy or the scope of public diplomacy can be variable depending on its nature.
Second, there must be official Mongolian plans for Public Diplomacy. Public Diplomacy (PD) is to seek to promote the national interest of Mongolia through understanding, engaging, informing, and influencing foreign publics, and by promoting mutual understanding between the people from other nations around the world.
Third of all, Mongolia must stay as open to the world as it has been since the 1990s. Openness to different cultures really set us off on a great foot when we come into the world stage. As foreign affairs expert Richard Haas observed, “There is no way the United States can protect itself and promote its interests if it pulls back from the world.” Mongolia cannot protect itself and promote its national interest, if it pulls back from the world.
Fourth, by informing and influencing foreign publics and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of Mongolia and citizens of the rest of the world, Mongolia may become one of the influential international actors and “Neutral negotiator” as it has geographically unique and significant location between the two Super Powers – Russia and China.
At a time when the need for collaboration and cooperation among nations and peoples has never been greater, Mongolia’s role in the world can be very important, but is threatened by Mongolians’ apparent disinterest in and lack of understanding of global affairs. In particular young Mongolians are not interested in global affairs and they just spend their time playing computer games, gambling, using narcotics, browsing through the Internet watching dirty movies, and shopping.
Fourth, to have a career track for Public Diplomacy in the Mongolian Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Process (if there is one) and train IR students how each interact with one another, so that they would understand the lifestyle and work of a Foreign Service Officer and the roles of Public diplomacy career track. The reason is when they go abroad they represent Mongolia’s interests and its people overseas as goals would be accomplished in part through the expansion of people-to-people relationships and by better-informed policymaking.
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