THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Abstract

One of the most important paradigm shifts in the 21st century is undoubtedly the globalization process. Radical changes occurred in many political, social and economic fields, new ways and methods were discovered, and old methods were rebuilt by this process; as a result, we faced a brand new approach. The relations between states and societies have changed with the effect of globalization in international relations, and public diplomacy has emerged as a new mechanism in foreign policy in addition to traditional diplomacy. Nowadays, public diplomacy is an interdisciplinary field where diplomats, journalists, experts in international relations theory and marketers work leading to a wide range of views and approaches. However, it is possible to distinguish two general perspectives that reveal the essence of this phenomenon. Some people observe public diplomacy as a more active and skillful use of modern public relations mechanisms and support and promote the objectives of public policy. Others believe that the task of public diplomacy is not to serve to the state, but to establish direct links with the civil society of other countries to strengthen mutual understanding between nations. Non-governmental organizations are one of the key elements of public diplomacy and have a great importance in foreign policy. With the recent social changes, the phenomenon of civil society has started to have a wide spreading area from economy to politics, culture to social life. Therefore, it is known that countries carry out public diplomacy activities by using non-governmental organizations in their foreign policy. Turkey also recently began to be very active in this area. For example, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), the Turks Abroad and Relative Communities Presidency (YTB), the Disaster and Emergency Presidency (AFAD) and other institutions play an active role in Turkey's foreign policy. Besides, Turkey International Student Association Federation (UDEF), which carries out activities for international students studying in Turkey also carries out studies in the field of public diplomacy. This study aims to determine whether the educational activities conducted by UDEF for international students in Turkey useful or not in the development of public diplomacy. At the same time, the activities carried out by UDEF will be discussed. The semi-structured interview method was used in the research.