A domestic dimension of South African Public Diplomacy of Ubuntu: the effects of Ubuntu Magazine

Abstract

This dissertation assesses the effects of a domestic dimension of South African public diplomacy of Ubuntu by examining the impact of Ubuntu Magazine on its domestic readers. Ubuntu Magazine is a quarterly magazine and is part of public diplomacy initiatives by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCo). This study specifically explores the effectiveness of conveying the DIRCo’s public diplomacy messages through the magazine domestically. In order to evaluate the domestic impact of the magazine, a survey method was employed in which a questionnaire was administered to a sample of email-subscribed domestic informants. The study furthermore used semi-structured interviews to solicit information from the publisher of Ubuntu Magazine. The study argues that the magazine could be used both as information and relational communication framework of domestic public diplomacy initiative in addressing domestic audiences as opposed to being only an information framework. It also advocates that the magazine could be an effective domestic public diplomacy tool if relational and information communication frameworks are used in a complimentary manner for effective domestic public diplomacy.