Positive public opinion is important for states to realise foreign policy objectives and ambitions. Therefore, they strive to communicate foreign policy strategically. However, governments cannot control how publics, that is, members of the transnational civil society who engage in foreign policy discourse, view their foreign policy. By asking how meaning of foreign policy is co-produced by the government, public diplomacy practitioners, and publics, Karlsson explores how we can understand strategic communication of foreign policy as a dynamic process.
The thesis builds on empirical material from the context of Sweden's feminist foreign policy, which was in place from 2014 to 2022. Karlsson collected her material in interviews with public diplomacy practitioners, in policy documents and statements of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and from debates on Reddit.
By illustrating how publics debate Sweden's feminist foreign policy and how their (imagined) opinion guides public diplomacy practitioners in downplaying its disruptive potential, the thesis shows that meaning in foreign policy is ongoingly constructed, negotiated and changing over time.
The four papers that compile the thesis focus on how governments legitimate their policy, how public diplomacy practitioners construct meaning of ambiguous foreign policy, how unintended publics form in the digital sphere, and how practitioners and governments negotiate foreign policy change discursively.
"The topic is truly engaging,” said the external reviewer Nancy Snow, Professor of Communications Emerita at California State University. Professor Snow pointed out that the idea of dynamism, as used in the thesis, is essential to communication. She found that Karlsson advanced our understanding of foreign policy in the Swedish context by using a strategic communication lens. After reading the thesis, Snow was intrigued to hear more. Concluding her examination of Karlsson's thesis, she praised Karlsson for her communication perspective on foreign policy and international relations.
After the examination committee had asked their questions, they retreated to an isolated room and debated Karlsson's thesis and responses. When they reemerged, Professor Jesper Falkheimer spoke on their behalf.
"We want to communicate to Isabelle that you, without any doubt, have passed. You are now a PhD."
Isabelle Karlsson is the first doctoral student to defend her thesis at Lund University's Department of Communication, established on January 1, 2025, through the merger of the Department of Strategic Communication and the Department of Communication and Media.
Read and download Isabelle Karlsson's thesis in the Lund University Research Portal.