“Presentable” is a common word used by the glamorous élite in both Western and Eastern societies, in fact all around the world, to compliment a government representative or diplomat nominated for a mission abroad.
Frequently, members of this élite tend to use this qualification for those persons, holders of prestigious functions and either men or women, who meet certain criteria, such as their dress code, their ability to hold salty fireside chats, or their skill at delivering a speech around the dinner table.
My argument here is quite provocative since it raises a number of questions that are pivotal for any objective brainstorming. What would be an appropriate definition for someone who is a “presentable representative of the state”? Who would be the “perfect match” to assume the mission of the national and/or international representation of a country, especially at the delicate time the world is presently going through?
Pushing the argument further, should governments reconsider the selection criteria of front-line personnel in the light of global digital transformations and the instrumentalisation of culture in international strategy? Would “multiple generational casting” be beneficial? Should governments better train and follow up the development of this front-line personnel, with each member of it being considered as the “special envoy” of his or her country?
At the turn of the millennium, a new generation was born, one which came into the world after the year 2000 when it was going through very fast, complex, and unprecedented changes. Baptised “Generation Z” by many demographic researchers, this generation grew up in the age of the iPhone and faced a global atmosphere full of unprecedented challenges.
There were “no taboos,” and it had “no fear,” it announced, minimising the weight of what had been lived through before and what we used to call “history.” It put aside notions like “tradition,” “cultural heritage,” “identity,” or “authenticity” that sounded obsolete to it, even though such concepts had still been meaningful to members of the previous generation, the co-called “Generation Y” or “millennials” who were born between 1980 and 1996 and have been described as the first global generation and the first to grow up in the Internet age.
There is also “Generation X,” whose members, born between 1965 and 1980, sometimes still loudly insist on values and traditions even though these may have been “lost in translation” and are not wholly part of the global digital transformation that has transformed their lives.
The notion of a “presentable representative” is today often reduced to how a person is dressed and perhaps also to his or her ability to seduce the public, both of which are no doubt important and valid considerations when selecting an official representative, front-line diplomat, or high-ranking employee. However, these considerations are no longer sufficient for a successful mission today.
In the light of the unprecedent challenges the world is facing, the question of presentability should be reconsidered.
TIME TO GET SMART: Smart power in the 21st century is not about maximising state power or trying to preserve hegemony over neighbours, but is about finding innovative ways to combine various resources and articulate them into successful strategies within a new context characterised by the spread of information and the rise of new actors.
No matter where a country lies on the international map, and no matter how its political and economic power is ranked, the selection of its front-line officials should be based on new criteria and on a range of skills and qualities that include basic education, university degrees, and the ability to speak more languages to ease interactions on a regional and international level.
Being verbally fluent and concise in persuasion and debating skills as well as having the ability to listen and to compromise are nowadays considered to be a must and are no longer simply additional features of a successful high-ranking official.
On many occasions, the famous US diplomat George Shultz underlined the fact that listening is an underrated way of acquiring knowledge, and he insisted on the importance of being animated by a passion for the art and craft of diplomacy. There was a need to have an abiding interest in international relations, he said, in which every detail about the world would receive attention.
An awareness of cultural differences and similarities is a crucial component of success in the new world context, especially for those in charge of representing societies having significant cultural diversity. Studying history and appreciating the stories behind cultural heritage sites and traditions are important tools for the new diplomacy.
“A knowledge of history does illuminate choices and raise central questions of policy formulation and implementation,” says Ernest May, a leading US historian of international relations, echoing the views of US political scientist Richard Neustadt.
In the third decade of the third millennium, the world is characterised by new forms of powers and by revolutionary tools that can create new paths across the globe that are additional to traditional ones, with these including developments in digital technology and artificial intelligence.
The international arena has become larger, more difficult, and more complex than it was during the last century. Hard power, exercised through military actions and armed responses, was very aggressive, even if it could be immediately effective when imposed by one political actor upon another. But today, hard power is ineffective when there is a deadlock between two nations, or a diplomatic rupture, especially if both have equal status on the world political map.
Soft power could be much more efficient in these circumstances, and in fact the subtle art of influencing people throughout cultural events, art exhibitions, music festivals, podcasts by influential storytellers, glamorous films and new social media apps, among other things, has become a fundamental part of international strategies to influence the populations of other nations using persuasion and attraction rather than coercion or force.
Studying history and raising the awareness of school pupils about the meaning and importance of soft power, which basically relies on history, civilisation, culture, art, and heritage, among other things, is crucial for the future and should be part of the checklist for selecting future front-line officials.
The representatives of a country would then be “presentable” owing to their substance, experience, and knowledge as much as for meeting any other criteria.
The writer is member of the House of Representatives, Foreign Relations Committee, and researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research Sorbonne University.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 22 June, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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