| Abstract [eng] |
Nowadays more and more countries compete for luring investment, facilitating trade, attracting tourists and talents, or even securing geopolitical influence. The relevance of this research is based on a fact that the competitiveness is often shaped by the states image. Therefore, the governments are thinking of new ways how to attract attention and build a positive state image. The creation of information and communication structures became a part of foreign, economical and social politics in the developed countries; nation image became an important question in the political agenda. The past years represent a turning point in the methods states use to manage their image and reputations. Public diplomacy became a widely used tool for state image building but there is also a relatively new trend to apply corporate branding techniques for states. State image building and is extremely important for small states like Lithuania, Estonia, Finland that are facing challenges to become visible and significant in the International relations arena. The problem of the research is the question what is the impact of public diplomacy in the nation branding process? The object of this research is public diplomacy as state image building tool. The subject of the research is is public diplomacy as state image building tool in the Baltic Sea region states. The aim of the research is to assess how countries in the Baltic Sea region are building their image using public diplomacy as a tool and to submit proposals how to improve this process in Lithuania. There are three objectives: disclose the concept of public diplomacy and its main instruments; analyze the opportunities state image building using the principles of public diplomacy and nation branding; compare public diplomacy tools used by the Baltic Sea region countries. The main conclusions are that public diplomacy is a more modern and open form of traditional diplomacy that is based on communication; public diplomacy and nation branding show best results when are used together to build state image; countries that follow strategic planning process and have leading institution responsible for state image building has reached better results in applying public diplomacy and nation branding tools. The thesis is divided into three sections: the concept of public diplomacy and its main principles; the characteristics and challenges of state image building; the comparative analysis of The Baltic Sea region countries image building. During the preparation of this master thesis, the following research methods were used: analysis of scientific literature, official documents, secondary data and comparative analysis. |
