Russia's Public Diplomacy

Russian public diplomacy attracts growing attention in the current global climate of tension and competition. However, it is often not understood or is misunderstood. Although some articles and book chapters exist, there are almost no books on Russian public diplomacy neither in Russian, nor in English. This edited collection is an in-depth and broad analysis of Russian public diplomacy in its conceptual understanding and its pragmatic aims and practice. Various aspects of Russian public diplomacy – from cultural to business practices – will interest professors, students and practitioners from various countries. Written by a diverse collection of the most prominent and capable scholars, from academia to international organizations, with a wealth of knowledge and objective experience, this book covers the vital topics and thoroughly analyzes the best practices and mistakes within the broad understanding of public diplomacy conducted by the Russian Federation.

“The book is a useful addition to the library of current writings on ‘soft power,’ especially for adding public diplomacy of an ambitious state case study to the more theoretical scholarly literature.” (Oleksii Poltorakov, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics & Society, JSPPS, Vol. 6 (2), 2020)Chosen as one of the 7 Best New Diplomacy Books to Read in 2020 by the Book Authority.“The book provides a multi-faceted approach to the study of Russian public diplomacy and international engagement. … this volume will achieve its goal of encouraging and enabling readers to think about Russia’s public diplomacy and international engagement in a more rounded and complete way, and thereby help reduce the stereotypes plaguing this corner of the international political arena.” (Victoria, Hudson, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 72 (7), 2020)

Anna Velikaya works at the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Foundation, Russia, and is a member of the Expert Council of Rossotrudnichestvo Federal Agency. She specialised in humanitarian cooperation at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and has co-authored Modern International Relations (2017) and Public Diplomacy of Russia and Foreign Countries (2018). Her research interests include public diplomacy, humanitarian cooperation, nation branding, track II diplomacy and U.S. politics in Central Asia.Greg Simons is a researcher and Associate Professor at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden and a lecturer at the Department of Communication Sciences at Turiba University, Latvia. He studied at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and has authored or edited over 10 books, 16 book chapters and some 74 articles since 2002.