The Scholarship of Public Diplomacy: Analysis of a Growing Field

Authors

  • Efe Sevin Towson University
  • Emily T. Metzgar Indiana University
  • Craig Hayden Marine Corps University

Keywords:

public diplomacy, soft power, meta-analysis, topic modeling, text mining

Abstract

Public diplomacy is a fast-growing area of study with little agreement on its boundaries. In support of the subject’s development as a field of academic inquiry, we present a content analysis of English-language peer-reviewed articles on public diplomacy since 1965 (N = 2,124). We begin with analysis of bibliographic data to establish the field’s institutional boundaries by highlighting trends in scholarship over time and identifying prominent disciplines and journals. We then sketch the field’s conceptual boundaries by analyzing the concepts and topics that appear most in the literature. This process allows us to characterize decades of scholarship on public diplomacy and offer recommendations for future work.

Author Biographies

Efe Sevin, Towson University

Asistant Professor of Public Relations, Department of Mass Communication, Towson University, Towson, Maryland.

Emily T. Metzgar, Indiana University

Associate Professor of Journalism, The Media School, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Craig Hayden, Marine Corps University

Associate Professor of Security Studies, Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia.

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Published

2019-09-22

Issue

Vol. 13 (2019)

Section

Articles

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