MIT 398 Public Diplomacy 

Public Diplomacy as a course helped me better understand key elements such as soft, hard, and smart power. Understanding these concepts helped me understand what it means to be a good diplomat and how different countries operate to achieve their national goals, especially in strategic communication. Public diplomacy is a relatively new term for some countries however, it is essential because it helps achieve mutual understanding and shared interests between countries. This course helped me build better and stronger relationships.

I learned this by understanding each country's brand image. For example, the country I chose for this class was Russia, and we had to do weekly media reports on what was happening in the selected country. What I took away from this assignment was how Russia strategically uses these assets to reach specific goals.

Russia’s soft power includes famous ballet performances, museums, and jewelry. What intrigued me the most about this class was the importance of listening in public diplomacy and how to actively listen to gather information from foreign publics. I learned that to listen correctly, one has to understand different cognitive and social biases and separate pre-existing beliefs from the information you are trying to gather and assess. 

To conclude, this course taught me how countries operate by using different elements and strategies to achieve their goals whilst remaining diplomatic and appeasing other countries to have strong ties that will assist them in the future.