6 Public Diplomacy

Diplomacy aimed not at governments but at foreign (and domestic) publics — the deliberate communication of a state's story to build attraction (soft power's operational arm, Unit 1). Instruments: international broadcasting and media engagement; cultural diplomacy (cultural centres, exhibitions, Lumbini's Buddhist circuit diplomacy); educational exchange (scholarships, the Nepali student diaspora as a public-diplomacy channel); nation branding campaigns (Visit Nepal; the Everest-Buddha-Pashupatinin? — the heritage portfolio); digital and social-media diplomacy (the era's ministry tweets and leader-to-leader messaging); diaspora diplomacy (mobilizing citizens abroad as ambassadors); and international public goods as branding (peacekeeping, climate advocacy — Nepal's mountain-state voice). The domestic face: public diplomacy also means explaining foreign policy at home (the national debate over MCC or BRI showing why — diplomacy without domestic consent is unstable in a federal democracy). Satow'sworld inverted: once conducted behind closed doors, diplomacy now lives partly in public — the exam's observation.