By Kadir Ayhan, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

This study explores whether South Koreans’ superordinate identification with North Koreans leads to increased humanization of and empathy for North Koreans as well as reduced negative feelings toward North Koreans. This study also examines whether superordinate identification intensifies support for
people-to-people exchanges and unification using an experiment. South Koreans’ increased superordinate
identification with North Koreans leads to greater humanization of the latter as well as less negative feelings toward them but does not affect support for unification. This suggests that extended contact is enough to generate superordinate identification with the outgroup but not enough to affect support for government policies.

This paper is available in PDF.

By Kadir Ayhan, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Public diplomacy (PD) lacks an agreed-upon definition and boundaries. The ambiguity surrounding the conceptualization of the term leads to confusion among scholars and practitioners and hinders the consolidation of PD as an academic field. This article surveys 160 articles and books on PD, categorizes diverse perspectives into a taxonomy, and explores the coherence of each. The taxonomy can be categorized into these perspectives: state-centric, neo-statist, nontraditional, society-centric, and accommodative. The article maps the boundaries of public diplomacy with much needed clear and coherent criteria and positions PD within the broader discipline of international relations.

This paper is available in PDF.

By Bruce Gregory, George Washington University

This book is the first to place U.S. public diplomacy within the full scope of American diplomatic history, from the colonial era to today. It shows how diverse actors—diplomats, citizens, soldiers, and others—moved diplomacy beyond governments to engage foreign publics. Challenging the view that public diplomacy began during the Cold War, it traces key turning points, enduring patterns, and cultural drivers like hard power preferences, episodic engagement, and American exceptionalism. It highlights the evolution of public diplomacy into a digital, decentralized practice beyond embassy walls.

More information is available here.

Edited by Sean Aday, Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs, George Washington University.

This Handbook provides a contemporary perspective on public diplomacy scholarship and practice, showcasing the growing diversity of the field. Expert contributing authors identify the challenges involved in implementing successful public diplomacy and analyse how to effectively measure and evaluate programs to determine best practices.

More information is available here.

Chapter by Natalia Chaban, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Chapter 10, Narratives of Ukraine on the Information Battlefields of Global Media, contributes to the ongoing debate on how narratives shape global influence by offering a comparative analysis of media portrayals of Ukraine during 2022–2023. It examines how narratives differ between the West, the Global South, and China, analyzing media coverage alongside public opinion surveys and knowledge production from think tanks and academia.

This book is available in PDF.

By Kadir Ayhan, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

This paper examines how South Korea’s Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) program shapes international students’ perceptions of the country. By analyzing changes in students’ and alumni’s emotional and intellectual evaluations of Korea, the study finds that participants tend to view Korea more positively after their arrival.

This research paper is available in PDF.

By Jeta Abazi-Gashi, University of Leipzig, Germany.

Jeta Abazi-Gashi is the current Visiting Scholar at IPDGC. Her paper, “Hello from the Other Side”: Albania and Kosovo’s Distinct Approach to Religion and Politics, explores how two Muslim-majority but constitutionally secular states, Albania and Kosovo, navigate the complex boundary between religion and politics through national symbols, historical narratives, and evolving geopolitical influences.

This research paper is available in PDF.