The Foreign Service Journal, October 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2020 73 Insights into Russia’s PD Challenges Russia’s Public Diplomacy: Evolution and Practice Edited by Anna A. Velikaya and Greg Simons, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, $119.99/hardcover, $89.00/ e-book, 285 pages. Reviewed by Vivian S. Walker At first glance, Russia’s Public Diplomacy: Evolution and Practice , an edited volume on the practice of public diplomacy by Russian scholars and practitioners, might be dismissed as official promo- tional material. After all, co-editor Anna A. Velikaya is directly affiliated with the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Foundation, an institution run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and founded by former President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 to improve Russia’s global reputa- tion. And the opening dedication, by a senior Russian diplomat, offers over-the- top praise for the book’s “paramount importance in the prevailing interna- tional situation.” Don’t let that fool you. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in truly understanding the nature of Russia’s information and influence activities. Though neither written nor priced for the casual reader, it is a valu- able resource for libraries and university courses’ reading lists. We are drowning in expertise about the threats posed by Russian malign influence strategies and calls for ever- more-aggressive measures necessary to combat them. But we don’t actually know enough about the prevailing context for Russia’s public diplomacy initia- tives—including origins, key actors and institutions, resourcing and objectives— to address their effects. Russia’s Public Diplo- macy is, in this respect, a significant resource. First, this volume reveals that official Russian thinking about the nature of public diplomacy is in many ways identical to the U.S. gov- ernment model, beginning with the “Russian” defini- tion of public diplomacy— “to understand, inform and influence for- eign audiences in the service of national interests.” Moreover, nearly every chapter cites Joseph Nye’s universally appropriated definition of soft power as the ability to obtain preferred outcomes by attraction rather than coercion or inducement. Scholar Nicholas J. Cull’s ubiquitous public diplomacy taxonomy, familiar to U.S. PD practitioners, is taken as gospel. The basic elements of the U.S. govern- ment public diplomacy toolkit—edu- cation and cultural exchanges, inter- national broadcasting entities, digital platforms, development initiatives, business and science diplomacy, and civil society engagement—are all corner- stones of Russian public diplomacy. And, like the United States, Russia wants to project itself as a viable great- power competitor. Indeed, Russian pub- lic diplomacy is fixated on the projection of a Russia resurgent, as articulated in the “Russian World” narrative. Russia’s Public Diplo- macy’ s real value lies, however, in its illumi- nating insights into Russia’s unique public diplomacy challenges. For example, as several contributors point out, the Soviet legacy of secrecy and repression casts a long shadow on current efforts to “illuminate” Russia. Even today, “dissent is often confused with disloyalty” (p. 269) and challenges to the official government narratives are discouraged. Satellite television juggernaut Russia Today , the centerpiece of Russia’s inter- national broadcasting apparatus, boasts a jaunty “Question More” motif, but its openness to actual disagreement is exclusively rhetorical. In addition, “direct interaction with external civil society and expert communities” is still “very politi- cally sensitive” (p. 269) and, therefore, represents another impediment to effec- tive public engagement. Though their quality is somewhat uneven, each chapter contains useful and, in some cases, previously unavail- able information on the nature and prac- tice of Russian public diplomacy, includ- ing funding and resource data. Olga Lebedeva’s historical overview presents a good rundown of key institutions and actors. Natalia Bubnova’s essay on Mos- cow’s policy of international cooperation addresses soft power failures but also BOOKS We cannot win this two-sided information war until we know how and why the Russians play it.