Public Diplomacy in the Academic Curriculum

    Today, public diplomacy is rapidly transforming from a practice-oriented field to a scientific discipline with a focus on international relations. However, public diplomacy gains its real importance with its interdisciplinary character. It has close ties with a wide range of scientific disciplines from anthropology to sociology, social psychology, communication science, history, political science and cultural studies, geopolitics and economic relations. It would be surprising if such a multidimensional and multidisciplinary field is considered only within the framework of practices and does not find a scientific place in university curricula. Public diplomacy courses are included in the faculties of political science, international relations and communication sciences at universities around the world. Moreover, it is observed that public diplomacy is attracting more and more attention in postgraduate programmes. This situation is no different in Turkey. In recent years, beyond undergraduate courses, a large number of master's and doctoral theses have been written. This is considered to be an important advantage for Turkey's developing public diplomacy.

    As a result, it can be assumed that in the near future, public diplomacy will no longer be a sub-discipline of international relations or communication sciences, but will have a unique theoretical background. In particular, it can be expected to become a field of its own in relation to conflict resolution and peace research in the world.