Phd Thesis.Univtrieste GPREDA-2014
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“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music” (F.Nietzsche) 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all the faculty members of the University of Trieste from the Department of Political and Social Sciences and from the International University Institute for European Studies Iuies Gorizia, who inspired me during my PhD years and to the faculty members of the Free University of Brussels / l'Université libre de Bruxelles ULB and IEE- L'Institut d'Etudes Européennes that supported my work, opened new horizons for me and hosted me during my research in Brussels, in particular: -Professor Alberto Gasparini (University of Trieste, Iuies) my thesis supervisor, for his constant support, wise guidance and encouragements; - Professor Luigi Pelizzoni (University of Trieste) for his support during my PhD years; - Professor Marianne Dony (ULB Brussels /IEE), for her deep interest and belief in my work and for her extraordinary ability to stimulate my thinking; and to all the colleagues and contacts in Trieste / Brussels /Moscow (diplomats, public officials, experts, journalists ) who provided me with their valuable time and information without which this thesis would have not been possible. · Last, but most importantly, I would like to thank my family, where the most basic source of my life energy resides, for their unfailing support and unconditional love, and my close friends, for their warmth and kind encouragements. My gratitude goes in particular to my husband, for his constant belief in me, moral support and for always being there for me along this journey, and to my parents, my longstanding supporters, who have always been a constant source of inspiration in all my endeavours. 3 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the intricate relationship between European Union (EU) and The Russian Federation (referred to as Russia), through the lens of communication and public diplomacy practices. It sheds light on the question: Why do EU and Russia still lack the setup to map out a joint strategy for managing bilateral communications, despite their mutually acknowledged need to strengthen their comprehensive strategic partnership?. The overall claim is that, although both sides constantly reaffirm their “strong commitment” to an authentic strategic partnership on the axis Brussels-Moscow and to an enhanced bilateral communication, in reality the two actors have always maintained a certain distance in the public sphere and have never stopped perpetuating conflicting narratives on the evolution of their relationship (grounded in divergent vocabularies), while competing for the greatest possible domination of the political communication arena , as part of what appears a wide-ranging competition to sway international policy-making and gain political control when addressing common issues or concerns. In particular, the dissertation draws attention on some of the key distinctive features that typify communication practices in EU-Russian relations, whereby the two actors constantly compete for both access to and influence over the (inter)national media (over international agenda building and frame building as one central strategic activity of their public diplomacy processes). In this sense, it emphasizes the case of presidential summits, presented as a key indicator of a particularly complex relationship between these two partners gradually drifting apart. The assumption is that the “fight”/competition between EU and Russia for the greatest possible domination of the political communication arena (media access and media framing) has alwas been a central element of these events, with both actors realizing that sympathetic media coverage is a prerequisite for political 4 influence. On this point, the thesis identifies various divergent framings in EU and Russian public messages, media statements, discourses and press releases distributed on these occasions, which address common issues or concerns. Temporally, the period between 1998 and 2013 /January 2014 is essential to empirically map EU-Russia interactions in this specific settings and to derive the relevant conclusions. The dissertation speaks to various bodies of literature, as my investigation requires an interdisciplinary approach, while employing various theories and concepts, with emphasis on international relations, communications and public diplomacy. It will hopefully provide a useful baseline for future research and debates as it offers useful insights on the peculiar interplay between public diplomacy and realpolitik dynamics on the international political communication scene. Questo ricerca ha l’obiettivo di indagare ed analizzare alcuni aspetti chiave dei rapporti tra l’Unione Europea (UE) e la Russia, con una particolare attenzione alle dinamiche che riguardano la comunicazione e i canali della diplomazia pubblica negli ultimi decenni. L’analisi affronta alcuni nodi problematici ed ancora irrisolti, concentrandosi su casi ed aspetti specifici, quali per esempio quello dei canali della diplomazia pubblica russa ed europea o del significato dei summit presidenziali UE-Russia. La tesi incrocia vari temi di attualità e dibattiti internazionali attinenti la diplomazia pubblica e al rapporto tra le sue fonti intenzionali e quelle non intenzionali o il dibattito sulle sfide dei rapporti istituzionali UE-Russia. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: THE PUZZLE - RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS p.8 Chapter 1. Introduction p.9 1.1. The Background 1.2. The Research Problem 1.3. The Rationale- Research Question. Hypothesis Chapter 2. Research Design p.28 2.1 Organization of the dissertation 2.2. Research Design - Design/Methods, Data Sources/Collection 2.3. Key Terms /Concepts PART II: REALPOLITIK DYNAMICS.ENDURING ISSUES. EMERGING DILEMMAS - HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW p.49 Chapter 3. Past and present: Forging an (un)strategic partnership?! p.50 3.1.The outset - The unclear criteria, The historical legacies 3.2.The Current Institutional Framework - Major Shortcomings and Deadlocks Chapter 4. Future scenarios: Enduring Issues.Emerging Dilemmas p.90 4.1. Contributions from the literature – Brief overview of debates 4.2. Research Gaps and Missing Links - Social power, Public Diplomacy, Framing 6 PART III: COMMUNICATION EXERCISES: FRAMING THE DEBATE ON A TROUBLED RELATIONSHIP - AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS - p.117 Chapter 5. Public Diplomacy and Image Construction p.118 5.1.Communication Practices: A SWOT analysis – Messages, Processes, Context 5.2. Communication Styles: EU vs. Russia- Rationale, Tactics, Key protagonists Chapter 6. The case of presidential summits p.168 6.1. General overview & Controversies 6.2. Mediated Public Diplomacy Tools and Selected Frames PART IV: CONCLUSIONS p.202 Chapter 7. Discussions and Concluding Remarks p.203 Chapter 8. Limitation of the Study p.209 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY p.211 7 PART I. THE PUZZLE - RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION When studying new trends in the contemporary diplomatic landscape and global communications, such as the surge of public diplomacy, the EU and Russia are two interesting cases, as both are international actors in transformation, each one in its own way. Furthermore, the strategic relevance of their complex relationship, which might have a strong impact on the redefinition of the whole international system, raises several questions about the changes under way in an wider international context saturated with power and with its polymorphous character (Weldes &Van Ham, 2010): whether hard, soft, sharp, sweet, sticky, agentic, structural, power interaction between these two actors determines not only how political outcomes are produced, but also how their are constrained, transformed and eventually communicated to the public. This thesis argues that, by examining the intricacies of the EU-Russian flawed cooperation1, through the prism of public diplomacy, conceptualized as a key practice of power, we might thus arrive at a better understanding of the latest tendencies affecting the evolution of diplomatic relations and thus of the vast area of global governance. 1.1. THE BACKGROUND The study starts from the assumption that in the age of the Internet, of media ubiquity and of global communications, the evolution of diplomatic practices has reached a new stage in many aspects. Nowadays, the success of any actor on 1 The last event in EU-Russia relations analysed by the dissertation dates back to January 2014 (32nd EU-Russian Summit http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-58_en.htm) 9 the international scene 2 depends highly not only on the way it handles partnerships -be they strategic or not- and solves deadlocks3 at either bilateral or multilateral level, but also on how it manages its (public) communications with (non)partners, rivals and with the public opinion. In this sense, politics involves the exercise of power with various forms at play simultaneously (Weldes &Van Ham, 2010). Interestingly enough, as Van Ham (2010) suggests, passivity and non-action may also demonstrate at times a particular form of power, namely “an actor’s power to resist change 4 . Furthermore, several authors focus on the concept of “symmetry of power”, like Amrita Narlikar who claims that deadlocks often occur if there is “symmetry of power”, as neither party is able to impose its will on the other, and are more likely when parties are symmetrically strong (not equally weak) 5 . Also, according to Narlikar, mild discrepancies in power can lead to stalemates, with stronger parties for