Rethinking National Image in an Age of Global Crisis
By Anna Arenti
We are navigating in turbulent times, witnessing renewed international conflict, resurgent nationalism, declining multilateralism, and a torrent of hostile propaganda.
How are we to understand these developments and conduct diplomacy in this situation?
Nicholas J. Cull, the distinguished historian of propaganda, revisits the international media campaigns of the past in the light of the challenges of the present. In his groundbreaking work “Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World” (Polity, 2024), Cull argues that Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power, while “a perfect idea for the post-Cold War world,” has run its course.
The era of “benevolent unipolarity” has been overtaken by the “return of full-fledged power competition in a media-saturated age” and weakened by unprecedented developments in information technologies.
His concept of Reputational Security deftly links issues of national image and outreach to the deepest needs of any state, rescuing them from the list of low-priority optional extras to which they are so often consigned in the West. Reputational Security, he argues, comes from being known and appreciated in the world.
With clarity and determination, Cull examines core tasks, approaches, and opportunities available for international actors today, including counterpropaganda, media development, diaspora diplomacy, cultural work, and – perhaps most surprisingly – media disarmament.
This book is crucial for all who care about responding to the threat of negative media disruption, revitalizing international cooperation, and establishing the Reputational Security we and our allies need to survive and flourish.
The concept of reputational security emerges as particularly relevant in cases like Ukraine’s experience. The “shock of 2014” – Ukraine’s loss of territory with little response from the global public – serves as a stark reminder of what can happen when a country’s national narrative is not widely known or understood.
Ukraine has since dramatically improved its image projection, positioning itself in 2022 as a champion of democracy on the front lines of freedom.
Similar examples include Taiwan’s efforts to build and preserve its reputation in the face of Chinese aggression, and Kazakhstan’s promotion of pluralism to counter external perceptions of its social and economic inequities.
To summarize, therefore, Cull proposes comprehensive pathways to enhance reputational security through counterpropaganda, media development, information disarmament, diaspora engagement, and cultural relations. However, he acknowledges that there is “no clear strategy in play and certainly no vision of the kind necessary to rally the U.S.” in the global imagination.
This book is essential reading for students and scholars of public diplomacy, international relations, security studies, communications, and media, as well as practitioners.
Nicholas J. Cull is Professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.
