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Focusing on the "state" rather than the "nation," this article explores the interplay between nation branding and Poland's soft power statecraft. Contextualised by Poland's European orientation in foreign affairs, this Bourdieusian study focuses on the field of diplomacy and statecraft, particularly its communicative practices for the articulation of soft power. Aided by policy documents and campaign artefacts, this analysis of interviews (n=45) with state actors and newcomers to the field, nation branders, traces their actions, and unfolds the effects of their practices on soft power statecraft. The central argument emerging from the analysis of findings rests on the cultural conditions and ideological effects of nation branding on the field. On the one hand, I find, these effects advance the process of "corporatisation" of Poland's soft power statecraft. On the other hand, the embeddedness of nation branding in Poland marks a cultural shift in soft power statecraft towards technocratic and transactional promotional culture.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Certainty of Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Part I: Heteropolar World, Global Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 2: The "American Century" is Over – the US Global Leadership Narrative, Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 3: From External Propaganda to Media Diplomacy: the Construction of the 'Chinese Dream' in President Xi Jinping's New Year Speeches -- Chapter 4: Climate Change Begins at Home: City Diplomacy in the Age of the Anthropocene -- Chapter 5: 'Rough Winds do shake the Darling Buds of May': Theresa May, British Public Diplomacy and Reputational Security in the era of Brexit -- Part II: Regime Shifts, Institutional Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 6: Public Diplomacy in the Age of 'Post-Reality' -- Chapter 7: The Manufacturing of Uncertainty in Public Diplomacy: A Rhetorical Approach -- Chapter 8: Russian Public Diplomacy: Questioning Certainties in Uncertain Times -- Chapter 9: The Confucius Institute and Relationship Management: Uncertainty Management of Chinese Public Diplomacy in Africa -- Part III: Public Diplomacy Practice and Uncertainty Management -- Chapter 10: Managing Disinformation Through Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 11: Economic Determinants of India's Public Diplomacy Towards South Asia -- Chapter 12: Managing Uncertainty: The Everyday Global Politics and Post-9/11 US Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 13:Foreign Correspondence and Digital Public Diplomacy -- Conclusions. .

Chapter 1: Introduction: Certainty of Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Part I: Heteropolar World, Global Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 2: The "American Century" is Over – the US Global Leadership Narrative, Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 3: From External Propaganda to Media Diplomacy: the Construction of the 'Chinese Dream' in President Xi Jinping's New Year Speeches -- Chapter 4: Climate Change Begins at Home: City Diplomacy in the Age of the Anthropocene -- Chapter 5: 'Rough Winds do shake the Darling Buds of May': Theresa May, British Public Diplomacy and Reputational Security in the era of Brexit -- Part II: Regime Shifts, Institutional Uncertainty and Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 6: Public Diplomacy in the Age of 'Post-Reality' -- Chapter 7: The Manufacturing of Uncertainty in Public Diplomacy: A Rhetorical Approach -- Chapter 8: Russian Public Diplomacy: Questioning Certainties in Uncertain Times -- Chapter 9: The Confucius Institute and Relationship Management: Uncertainty Management of Chinese Public Diplomacy in Africa -- Part III: Public Diplomacy Practice and Uncertainty Management -- Chapter 10: Managing Disinformation Through Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 11: Economic Determinants of India's Public Diplomacy Towards South Asia -- Chapter 12: Managing Uncertainty: The Everyday Global Politics and Post-9/11 US Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 13:Foreign Correspondence and Digital Public Diplomacy -- Conclusions. .

Introduction : social media, politics and democracy in the post-transition Central and Eastern Europe / Pawel Surowiec and Václav Stetka -- Who is afraid of the platforms? : adoption and strategies of use of social media by politicians in the Czech Republic / Alena Macková, Václav Stetka, Jan Zápotocký, Radim Hladík -- Presidential elections campaining in Romania : connecting with civic-ness on Facebook / Monica Patrut -- Towards self-mediatization of politics : representatives' use of Facebook and Twitter in Croatia and Hungary / Norbert Merkovity -- Political use of social media and personalisation of political communication in Slovenia / Jernej Amon Prodnik, Tomaz Dezelan and Alem Maksuti -- Professionalization and intentional disengagement : Facebook campaigning in the local Bulgarian elections in 2015 / Ognyan Seizov -- We have been to Bolotnaya : Russian protests, the online public sphere and the discourse of division / Alina Ryabovolova -- The networked public sphere and Ukrainian journalists / Dmytro Hubenko and Melissa Wall -- Branding Poland online : propagating and resisting nation branding on Facebook / Pawel Surowiec and Magdalena Kania Lundholm -- The dilemmas of social media-enabled civic activism : the case of sexual minorities in Lithunia / Galina Miazhevich -- Conclusions / Václav Stetka and Pawel Surowiec

This article theorises the interplay between public diplomacy and populism. Building on Baudrillard's simulacra, we advance the hybridity approach to soft power statecraft by analysing a cultural shift in US presidential public diplomacy. Using discourse analysis, we uncover how, rather than aiding the building of relationships with foreign publics, Donald Trump has brought to the field cultural codes alien to public diplomacy, imploding the meanings central to the endogenous norms of diplomacy, and turning towards an agonistic relational dynamic with foreign publics. This article reveals how digitalisation enables the expansion of Trump's populist style and foregrounds the populist cultural shift visible in his Twitter discourse. To reveal this dynamic in granular detail, we propose 'kayfabe' as an epistemic lens for the interpretation of the populist style at the core of Trump's 'simulated public diplomacy'. As well as considering how socialities are re-shaping relational dynamics, this article unpacks the tensions that stem from the expansion of populist style into the realm of presidential public diplomacy. Finally, we reflect on the implications of the epistemic crisis of US public diplomacy for the larger strategic landscape of political uncertainties associated with the proliferation of populism in the field.

This chapter explores the existing body of research on crisis communication in Poland and Hungary. It maps out key avenues in and approaches to the development of scholarship of the field in the contexts of both countries. Our overview reveals that the key research themes demonstrate strong influences of political and economic changes in the contextualization of crisis communication research. It also demonstrates diversity of contexts in which crisis communication is practiced and researched in Poland and Hungary, such as public administration, political communication, public relations, or organizational communication. Crisis communication researchers in both countries rely on Western frameworks but there is a growing set of data that help understand crisis communication in local contexts – as a growing specialism within communication studies.

Adding to the growing scholarship on the use and role of social media in election campaigning, this article examines and compares the character and determinants of Internet users' engagement with political party communication in 2013 and 2015 Parliamentary election campaigns in Czechia and Poland. Apart from the relationship between the thematic focus of party produced content and the level of users' interactivity, the study also explores the way the tonality of users' comments is influenced by different types of party communication, as well as by users' gender. The results suggest that the level of support for a party status is largely independent of the content of the message in both countries. The type of content has, however, an effect on the intensity of criticism by the users, with policy-related subjects generating more negativity than mobilization- or campaign-oriented statuses. Finally, the study points to both gender gaps and gender as a strong predictor of user negativity, as female users – while constituting a minority of participants in both countries – tend to be significantly less negative in their comments towards the home party. Overall, the comparative study reveals both similarities and differences in the way Czech and Polish parties utilize Facebook as campaign platform, as well as in their respective Internet users' engagement with parties messages.

Adding to the growing scholarship on the use and role of social media in election campaigning, this article examines and compares the character and determinants of Internet users' engagement with political party communication in 2013 and 2015 Parliamentary election campaigns in Czechia and Poland. Apart from the relationship between the thematic focus of party-produced content and the level of users' interactivity, the study also explores the way the tonality of users' comments is influenced by different types of party communication, as well as by users' gender. The results suggest that the level of support for a party status is largely independent of the content of the message in both countries. The type of content has, however, an effect on the intensity of criticism by the users, with policy-related subjects generating more negativity than mobilization- or campaign-oriented statuses. Finally, the study points to both gender gaps and gender as a strong predictor of user negativity, as female users – while constituting a minority of participants in both countries – tend to be significantly less negative in their comments towards the home party. Overall, the comparative study reveals both similarities and differences in the way Czech and Polish parties utilize Facebook as campaign platform, as well as in their respective Internet users' engagement with parties messages.

This paper was published in the journal European Journal of Communication and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323118810884. ; Adding to the growing scholarship on the use and role of social media in election campaigning, this paper examines and compares the character and determinants of Internet users' engagement with political party communication in 2013 and 2015 Parliamentary election campaigns in Czechia and Poland. Apart from the relationship between the thematic focus of party-produced content and the level of users' interactivity, the study also explores the way the tonality of users' comments is influenced by different types of party communication, as well as by users' gender. The results suggest that the level of support for a party status is largely independent of the content of the message in both countries. The type of content has, however, an effect on the intensity of criticism by the users, with policy related subjects generating more negativity than mobilization- or campaign-oriented statuses. Finally, the study points to both gender gaps and gender as a strong predictor of user negativity, as female users – while constituting a minority of participants in both countries – tend to be significantly less negative in their comments towards the home party. Overall, the comparative study reveals both similarities and differences in the way Czech and Polish parties' utilize Facebook as campaign platform, as well as in their respective Internet users' engagement with parties messages.