Author: Muharem Rusiti
Photo by Pexels
The gradual emergence of cinema, television, internet, and more recently of social media has brought up a new class of people with great influence over the masses, namely celebrities. Particularly in the last few decades, these individuals have started to more actively use their status and authority in the sphere of diplomacy and international affairs. In many cases, they directly impact and shape world events, agendas and policies.
Over the past years celebrities have increasingly deployed their fame and star power to attract public attention to important international issues such as poverty, peace promotion and conflict prevention, human rights and climate change. Other diplomatic and foreign policy purposes have also been highlighted by celebrities, earning them meritoriously in many occasions the title of celebrity diplomats.
Actors, singers, professional athletes, digital influencers of any kind, and even businesspersons have progressively taken on new roles on the world stage. They have created a new kind of diplomacy by altering the course of international affairs from being traditionally state-centric to incorporating new more innovative elements that come from outside the governmental realm.
One of the major characteristics of this novel phenomenon called celebrity diplomacy is its capacity to generate wide press and media coverage, attract transnational audiences and induce curiosity even amongst people that are not always interested in global matters. They have effectively raised awareness and heightened focus of societal attention on diverse issues whilst simultaneously giving audiences privileged and direct access to international stages and leaders. This unique combination has made it much easier for them to influence not only public opinion and ordinary citizens but also high-level political and government officials, policymakers and rulers.
Over the years we have thus seen famous figures not only endorse causes but also get personally involved in authentic diplomatic activities, and oftentimes walk in no-go areas for traditional representatives. For instance, former boxing champion Muhammad Ali directly contributed to the successful liberation of US prisoners during the Gulf War in Iraq. Thanks to their role as officially appointed UN Goodwill Ambassadors and Messengers of Peace and favored access to the White House and Downing Street, George Clooney and Angelina Jolie are raising awareness on various humanitarian crises around the world and pressuring State and institutional actors to take action and intervene. Similarly, singer Dua Lipa continuously advocates for Kosovo’s independence and full integration in the international community. Tennis player Roger Federer alongside Robert DeNiro both promoted the image of Switzerland in what could be labeled not only as a tourism but also as a public diplomacy ad; while former NBA star Dennis Rodman prepared the playground for a direct leader-to-leader encounter between then-US President Trump and his North Korean counterpart. Leonardo DiCaprio has championed environmental and climate change issues, and many other more or less famous personalities and influencers getting involved in different issues of international interest.
These cases illustrate that celebrity diplomacy is not a mere fad and that over the course of the years, celebrity diplomacy has become an important part of international affairs. At times this is conducted through complementing policy whilst in other cases it may even result in competing with traditional forms of statecraft.
We predict this trend will continue to develop even further – as we have seen with the more recent evolution of digital influencers – and impact international affairs for many years to come. Therefore policymakers are encouraged to take the activism of celebrities into consideration when dealing with global issues.
The right celebrity, engaged in the right cause and at the right moment can have a tremendous impact in spreading messages, raising awareness and offering some prospect of hope. Concerns that have been neglected for far too long may be brought to light through celebrity activism that may help in advancing different agendas, promoting specific interests, shaping policies, and even unraveling cases of diplomatic impasse.
Of course, there is no substitute for professional and state-centric diplomatic activities. On the other hand, it must be recognized that celebrities can bring a huge added value to the repertoire of diplomacy and international affairs. Especially due to their ability to operate beyond intergovernmental and interorganizational processes, they can be of vital importance to simply shine a light where it is most needed. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge its value as an additional diplomatic tool and exploit its potential whenever the case requires it.
It should be also mentioned that notable personalities could unfortunately in some cases also damage the missions they are engaged in, due to possible negligent behaviors or personal integrity issues. Or, even worse, they could potentially act or be misused, inadvertently or consciously, for manipulative purposes and as a means for the legitimation of unjust and doubtful causes, entities or leaders.
As a result, it is essential that public audiences as well as institutional actors are made attentive of this concern and consequently enhance their mindfulness in this regard and carefully evaluate the engagement of celebrities in diplomatic affairs. And celebrities too, obviously, on their side should assess hypothetical risks and be cautious before getting involved in the performance of any diplomatic role. Due to the increasing domination of celebrity diplomacy in the sphere of policy development, a framework that facilitates a bilateral relationship between policymakers and celebrity activists is a necessary component in current and future public policy development.
Comentários