This volume outlines two decades of reforms at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) British
Council and BBC World Service - the so-called Public Diplomacy Partners. Between 1995 and 2015
the FCO and its partner organisations in promoting British influence abroad have introduced
major changes to how where and with whom diplomacy is conducted. This unique study links major
organisational reforms to the changing political technological and intellectual contexts of
the day. Through detailed case studies over a 20-year period this study demonstrates how and
why British diplomacy evolved from a secretive institution to one understanding its purpose as
a global thought leader through concepts such as public diplomacy digital diplomacy and soft
power. It is rich with unpublished documents and case studies and is the most detailed study
of the FCO and British Council in the contemporary period. From Cool Britannia to the recent
GREAT campaign via the 2012 Olympics and diplomats on Twitter this book charts the theory and
practice behind a 21st century revolution in British diplomacy. This work will be of much
interest to policymakers and advisors students and researchers and foreign policy and
communication specialists.From the heady past of Cool Britannia to the present days of the
Great Campaign by way of the Royal Wedding London Olympics and multiple other gambits in
Britain's evolving attempt to connect to foreign publics this book is the essential account of
the inner workings of a vital aspect of contemporary British foreign policy: public diplomacy.
James Pamment is an astute succinct and engaging Dante bringing his readers on journey
through the policy processes behind the scenes. We see the public diplomacy equivalents of
paradise purgatory and the inferno though Pamment leaves us to decide which is which.Nicholas
J. Cull author of 'The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American
Public Diplomacy 1989-2001'.A gift to practitioners who want to do the job better: required
reading for anyone going into a senior job at the British Council the UK Foreign &
Commonwealth Office and enlightened thinkers at 10 Downing Street HM Treasury and Ministries
of Foreign Affairs worldwide. Authoritative scholarly and accurate Pamment strikes a great
balance between the salient details and the overarching picture. He also does a major service
to those of us who lived it our toils make more sense for what he has done - placing them in a
historical and conceptual context.John Worne Director of Strategy & External Relations
British Council 2007-2015
