The role of the public in foreign policy

Democracies need to rethink how the public learns about diplomacy…

The U.S. election campaign brought out three facts about foreign policy: (1) the public no longer supports longheld traditions - republican or democrat; (2) isolationism, albeit a nuanced 21st century form, has returned; and (3) public understanding and appreciation of foreign policy is at an all time low.

Across most Western states, there is a growing gap between what the public wants, and the capacity of governments and foreign ministries to provide it. This provides space for maverick politicians to jump in and offer short-term goals that fit the ebbs and flows of populist sentiment. This has happened before… and here we go… yes - it happened in the lead up to the Second World War.

Writing in the late 1930s, Harold Nicolson, the British diplomat and scholar, highlighted the growing tension between public opinion and effective diplomacy. In his his text Diplomacy, Nicolson acknowledged the necessity of democratic accountability but warned that the complexity of diplomacy is often at o…