Research

Public diplomacy of federate entities: Quebec

09 Sep 2008 - 09:14

Public diplomacy as the sole stomping ground of nation states is an outmoded model. Like a tide, calls for reducing the barriers to entry to public diplomacy are coming thick and fast, and waiting in the wings are federate entities and regions for which public diplomacy has quickly become an instrument of statecraft. Because of a lack of hard power, and driven by identity-based and functional imperatives, federate entities and regions such as California, the world's sixth largest economy; Quebec, one of few that institutionalized public diplomacy; and Flanders; tend to be busy creating a distinct profile for public diplomacy. One can even state that in the long-term the predominant models of public diplomacy could harness the alternative insights and ingenuities of federate entities to adapt to changes in diplomatic practice. Yet, rhetoric more often than not does not equate with reality.

This compendium of a Clingendael study into the public diplomacy of Quebec's Ministry of International Relations (MRIQ) on behalf of the Flemish Department of Foreign Affairs (DIV) was conducted by Ellen Huijgh in Canada within the framework of the Flemish Centre for International Policy's research project on European and Global relations (promotor: Jan Melissen)