Political public relations within foreign affairs: Ireland’s public diplomacy campaign for a security council seat

Abstract

This study investigates the storytelling discourse in Ireland’s public diplomacy campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council. It dissects public relations materials to ascertain what system, identity, and issue narratives constructed the narrative component of Ireland’s UNSC campaign. Results of a strategic narrative analysis suggest Ireland built the campaign around themes of Empathy, Partnership, and Independence. System narratives featured Ireland as a revisionist actor seeking to rebalance the UN toward more equal and participatory representation. Identity narratives emphasized Ireland as a small island-state whose past of economic hardship and struggle for independence drives its desire to help those in need globally. Issues narratives highlighted Ireland’s commitment to global peacekeeping, fighting climate change, and promoting humanitarian aid through gender equality, food security, and refugee assistance. Findings elucidate the strategic storytelling role of public relations and public diplomacy communications within foreign affairs.

Keywords

Public diplomacy political public relations United Nations political communication political campaigns international communication international relations foreign policy strategic narratives storytelling

Introduction

Public diplomacy is an established area of research informed by the fields of public relations, political marketing, international relations, diplomatic and peace studies, and law, among others (Cull, 2019; Golan et al., 2019). Chief among public diplomacy’s many functions is understanding how nation-states leverage communications to influence foreign audiences to perceive, think, or behave in ways that benefit their foreign policy interests (Surowiec and Miles, 2020). A key way states develop messages that seek such influence is through effective storytelling, or the art of relaying tales and anecdotes through theatrics and imagery. Using storytelling strategies, referred to hence forward as strategic narratives (Miskimmon et al., 2013, 2017), states seek to engage foreign publics and stakeholders.

Public diplomacy scholarship has grown substantively since the beginning of the 21^st century, in such areas as international exchanges (Hayden, 2009), nation branding (Buhmann et al., 2019), and digital diplomacy (Manor, 2019). Under the premise of new public diplomacy, which stresses two-way, mutually beneficial communication between an expanded range of actors, publics, and stakeholders (Fitzpatrick, 2007; Melissen, 2005), scholarship on foreign public engagement by non-state actors such cities (Amiri and Sevin, 2020), NGOs (Pamment, 2013), corporations (Kochhar, 2018), think tanks (Li et al., 2019), and diasporas (Brinkerhoff, 2019) has also grown. An area, however, that is lacking in this expanded scholarship is public diplomacy efforts by states within international organizations. This research begins filling in such a gap by studying a state-sponsored public diplomacy campaign within the United Nations (UN).

The UN is the most well-known international organization, or governing body existing above nation-states. While the UN is comprised of multiple levels of governance and oversight, the most powerful is the Security Council, a 15-member committee maintaining, to all extent possible, international peace and security. Between 2018 and 2020, the Republic of Ireland campaigned against Norway and Canada to be elected to a 2-year seat on the council (Murphy, 2020). Utilizing various communication platforms, the campaign applied key foreign policy narratives to promote Ireland’s election. The target public of the campaign was foreign diplomats with voting rights within the UN General Assembly, as opposed to more traditional foreign citizen populations. Under both public relations and public diplomacy lenses, however, this still provides a prime case for study as UN diplomats constitute a key stakeholder group with the capacity to benefit Ireland’s foreign policy interests.

This study expands public relations and public diplomacy scholarship via the context of a massive and complex participatory international organization. Additionally, it merges the concept of strategic narratives within a core-communication conceptual perspective, as opposed to Miskimmon et al.’s (2013, 2017) work in international relations scholarship. Lastly, from a state-level, the study analyzes Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Mission to the UN as its core focus, a subject receiving little attention in the literature. In so doing, this research advances scholarship through contributing to gaps in the areas of public relations and diplomacy within international organizations, strategic narratives as tools for storytelling efforts, and political public relations efforts by the Republic of Ireland.

Literature review

A central function of political governance is managing public image, reputation, and expectations; as such, the function of public relations to governance is tantamount. Political public relations is the extent to which political actors use conventional image, reputation, and expectation management strategies to engage strategic publics and stakeholders in ways that bring about desired outcomes in either political, legal, or policy contexts (Strömbäck and Kiousis, 2019). Both public relations, and as an extension political public relations, are professionalized endeavors built upon the intent to influence through persuasion (Bernays, 1952; Morris and Goldworthy, 2008; Strömbäck and Kiousis, 2019; Tucker, 2018). Where public relations is traditionally understood from a corporate perspective (Botan and Hazelton, 2006; Broom and Sha, 2013; L’Etang, 2008), political public relations involves managing image, reputation, and expectations by a various actors ranging from politicians, to campaigns, diplomats, political parties, private interest and lobbying groups, governmental agencies, departments, ministries, and nation-states themselves.

When states engage in political public relations abroad—communicating with foreign publics and stakeholders to advance foreign policy interests—they are practicing public diplomacy (Albishri et al., 2019; Ayhan, 2019; Golan et al., 2018). Public diplomacy is apt for study through a public relations lens, as both involve the use of purposefully crafted messages to create mutually beneficial relationships and build or maintain good will, trust, and favorability, while advancing the multilateral goals and interests of involved participants (Khalitova et al., 2020; White, 2015).

Through emphasis on attractive or desirable traits, states generate affinity abroad which is reappropriated as a kind of social capital to support foreign policy interests—the core function of public diplomacy (Cull, 2019). Seeking to craft attractive and desirable self-reflective images abroad, states concentrate time and resources on nation-branding (Dolea, 2018). Specifically, this involves key marketing strategies to drive and promote a state (Buhmann et al., 2019). To that end, nation branding is a core marketing strategy while public diplomacy falls within public relations of international relations (Ingenhoff and Klein, 2018); as such, this study rests more succinctly within a core public diplomacy perspective.

As communication acts, public diplomacy messages are crafted through the art of narrative storytelling (Hayden, 2013; Hedling, 2019; Pamment, 2014). Publics are comprised of homo-narrans, or story-loving animals (Kent, 2015; Vasquez and Taylor, 2001), and understanding this, practitioners design message strategies built upon effective storytelling (Gooch, 2018; Kent, 2015), lending to increased cognitive, attitudinal, and at times even behavioral influence (Simmons, 2019). But how do communication professionals develop stories to populate their messages? A concept which attempts to explain how messages are created through stories is articulated in strategic narratives.

Strategic narratives

While the notion of narrative persuasion, that is, seeking influence through strategic, purposeful storytelling is not new to the study of public relations (Gooch, 2018; Kent, 2015; Vasquez and Taylor, 2001), it is increasingly recognized in a diverse range of fields. International relations scholars Miskimmon et al. (2013, 2017) coined strategic narrative to refer to macro-level storytelling means through which state actors advance their interests at the international level through effectively managing public image, reputation, and expectations. As strategic communication designed to benefit the foreign policy interests of a nation-state, strategic narratives fit aptly into both the study of political public relations (Strömbäck and Kiousis, 2019) and public diplomacy (Cull, 2019; Golan et al., 2019).

There are three types of strategic narratives identified by Miskimmon et al. (2013, 2017); the first, system narratives, address the structure of the international system and the either static or mobile place of nations within the system. Examples include the Cold War, the Liberal World Order, Brexit, Russian disinformation, and China’s peaceful rise. More specifically, the notion of the BRICS states—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (Bremmer, 2017)—is a system narrative articulating how, since 2010, each country has achieved substantial economic growth, positioning themselves in the international arena to sit at decision-making tables of power alongside the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, South Korea, and Japan (Van Noort, 2019).

Identity narratives craft, position, and broadcast the cultural, political, and aspirational psyche of a state to the rest of the world. Such identity narratives play a dual domestic-international function, instilling acceptance of a collective identity to a domestic citizenry while also branding the values and goals of that collective abroad (Roselle, 2017). An example is the European Union, and how an “EU identity” encourages acceptance across EU-member states, that is, we are European rather than German, or Hungarian, or Swedish, etc. (Ham, 2013). This also positions the supra-national political body to the rest of the world as the model of post-national democratic governance (Van Ham, 2013). Likewise, Pope Francis has played his role as the leader of the Catholic Church in stressing identity narratives of universal Catholic values, shared responsibility, and calls to action in a time where the Church is plagued by scandal and losses of public trust and credibility (Golan et al., 2018).

Lastly, issue narratives frame political behavior within a context of application. That is, issue narratives explain, “who the important actors are, what the conflict or issue is, and how a particular course of action will resolve the underlying issue” (Miskimmon et al., 2017: p. 8). Such narratives are critical in the proposal, formation, adoption, and acceptance of public policy. In creating narratives with networks of co-occurring issues, policy development is possible.

An example is present in the larger system narrative of the United States’ War on Terror. Through linking domestic security and counterterrorism with foreign policy and energy interests in the Middle East, the Bush Administration crafted issue narratives necessitating U.S. military deployment to the Middle East to minimize threats posed by Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, however realistic or narratively constructed those threats were. Further examples include U.S. intervention in Libya and sanctions against Russia (Roselle, 2017).

While strategic narrative scholarship is growing, it is centered on nation-states and actors in unilateral, and uni-beneficial, contexts (Ba, 2019; Hellman and Wagnsson, 2013; Szostek, 2017). Other research addresses mutually beneficial bilateral relationships between two states (Barthwal-Datta and Chacko, 2020; Roselle, 2017). Outside observations on the European Union (Miskimmon et al., 2017), research applying strategic narrative lenses to multilateral international relations contexts—international organizations such as the UN—could not be located. As the UN is meant to be a place where nation-states come together to communicate, engage, and find ways to work in mutually beneficial relationships, strategic narratives within the UN pose ideal for study.

Global Ireland and the Security Council

This research investigates the role Ireland played in campaigning for a rotating seat on the Security Council. Of the 15 council members, 5 have permanent representation: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. The remaining 10 serve 2-year terms secured through popular election in the General Assembly—approximately 193 countries. Thus, states lobby for their interests in securing a seat. Through an extensive 2-year effort, Ireland’s DFA and UN Mission campaigned to secure the necessary votes for election. In July of 2018, Ireland’s then-Taoiseach (prime minister), Leo Varadkar, launched the campaign (Carswell, 2018). Ireland’s main competitors were Norway and Canada.

It is important to understand that Ireland’s UNSC campaign was not an independent venture. It was one piece of the larger Global Ireland campaign, looking to “double the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint” (This is Ireland, 2018, para 1). As a means to advance an Irish global footprint, securing a UNSC seat was a natural route to pursue. Indeed, the preamble of the Global Ireland campaign leads with statements of (1) Ireland as a small island, but one at the center of world, (2) reinforcing Irish identity at home and abroad, (3) moving the EU forward into the post-Brexit world, and (4) building or strengthening partnerships in Asia and the Global South (Government of Ireland, 2018).

As a specific effort within the Global Ireland initiative, the UNSC campaign is worthy of study because public relations scholarship on both UN and Irish public diplomacy is lacking. Additionally, Ireland secured the electoral victory at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. Ireland’s 2-year campaign cost $850,000 compared to Canada’s $1.74 million and Norway’s $2.8 million (Murphy, 2020). That is, Ireland’s return on investment was substantively high, stressing concepts of campaign effectiveness through measurement and evaluation.

Ireland, Norway, and Canada also engaged in other lobbying behaviors, including gifting badges, greeting cards, chocolates, and branded COVID-19 facemasks (Murphy, 2020), but image, reputation, and expectation management efforts did not stop there. Both Ireland and Canada gave UN diplomats free tickets to music concerts; Ireland’s tickets to see Irish rock band U2 while Canada’s tickets were to see Canadian artist Celine Dion (Reuters, 2020). While gift giving is common in lobbying and campaigning (Rodd, 2017), this study focuses on the narrative storytelling employed throughout the public relations campaign. That is, this research tries to determine and understand (1) what system, identity, and issue narratives were employed in Ireland’s public relations campaign, and (2) how such narratives fit into the Global Ireland campaign.

Methodology

The study employs a strategic narrative analysis (SNA) to identify the system, identity, and issue narratives employed in Ireland’s UNSC election campaign. This approach is common for identifying, cataloging, and mapping strategic narratives (Chaban, Miskimmon, and O’Loughlin, 2017; Cooley et al., 2020; Irvin-Erickson, 2017; Roselle, 2017; Van Noort, 2019). Such an approach offers an exploratory look at the storytelling components of Ireland’s discursive strategy in crafting public relations materials throughout the campaign.

Applying a qualitative method is ideal as it offers an inductive lens for identifying the narrative themes and patterns woven throughout Ireland’s discursive approach (Golan et al., 2018). Since strategic narratives are fluid constructs using explicit and implicit communication devices in overlapping system, identity, and issue narratives (Miskimmon et al., 2013, 2017), they are highly complex and, at times, elusive phenomenon to grasp. Opting for a qualitative approach, such as SNA, allows for greater and more nuanced understanding of Ireland’s narratives (Lin, 2012). Further, specific to public diplomacy and international communication, using an inductive approach provides a more receptive methodology for the nuances of cross-cultural understanding (Golan et al., 2018).

Qualitative approaches, like SNA, offer a means for, “the interpretation of a reality in a message” (Bier et al., 2018: pg. 160). The goal of public diplomacy is to offer a pre-scripted interpretation of reality to foreign publics that generate positive public light, affinity, or affection. Understanding strategic narratives are means through which such realities are sculpted provides a basis for conceptual depth into the discursive narratives used to build mediated realities (Chandra and Shang, 2019), in this case, those portrayed in Ireland’s UNSC campaign.

Data were collected from This is Ireland (ireland.ie) which is managed and curated by Ireland’s DFA, and the DFA’s own web site (dfa.ie). As delegates in the UN General Assembly are the only eligible voters for Security Council seats, they were viewed as the target audience of the campaign. Using formal Irish speeches within the UN, that is, provided directly by Irish dignitaries to UN delegates was viewed as the most direct route for Ireland to manage its image, reputation, and expectations in terms of the UNSC election. All the analyzed data were delivered in the UN by Ireland to voting-eligible delegates.

Other forms of paid, earned, or shared media, such as social media content, TV appearances, and special events like the concerts Ireland and Canada hosted, were markedly more public facing, making no guarantee of how much exposure they offered to UN delegates. Further, there is less consistency in the way other forms of paid, earned, or shared exposure are recorded and documented; using both This is Ireland (ireland.ie) and the DFA’s web site (dfa.ie) ensured consistent, core content that was directly produced by Ireland’s formal communications team. Additionally, such a model for data collection has been applied in similar research (Golan et al., 2018; Miskimmon and O’Loughlin, 2017; Van Noort, 2019).

The time lapse for collection was from 3 July 2018—the launch of the campaign—to the date of the election, 26 June 2020. Materials include Irish speeches and comments to the UN Security Council, Irish speeches and comments in the General Assembly relating to issues of the Security Council, President Michael Higgins’ General Assembly opening speech, two promotional videos produced for the campaign, and Ireland’s introductory brochure to its candidature for the seat. The unit of analysis was each individually collected document. All analysis addressed textual documents; two promotional videos were transcribed using Rev (www.rev.com), that is, no visuals or aesthetic symbolism was considered in the coding and analysis process. In all, 40 items were analyzed. There was an average 1005 words per text, ranging from 177 to 5469, with a sum of 40,201 words being analyzed. A list of the collected data is presented in Appendix.

SNA is a novel methodology from the field of international relations. It allows for an inductive evaluation process that integrates the formation, projection, and reception of stories, allowing researchers to trace and evaluate manifest patterns and themes embedded within communication texts (Chaban et al., 2017). Such a method is ideal compared to framing, for example, which applies a more laser-like, tunnel-vision lens to identify specific patterns and themes while ignoring others (Golan et al., 2018). SNA allows for a broader, more nuanced and, ultimately, rich and meaningful understanding of both individual narratives and the interaction of various narratives within Ireland’s strategic communications.

The campaign’s founding document (An Introduction to Ireland’s Candidature for the United Nations Security Council) provided Empathy, Partnership, and Independence as the key thematic pillars on with the Irish UNSC campaign was built. The identification of these three themes was not based on either the subjective or latent interpretations of the researcher. Using these three as a template, the coding process looked for any of these three manifest themes and, once identified, began a process of open coding to catalog the narratives used to show either Empathy, Partnership, or Independence.

When one of the three themes was identified within a text, content was coded for the presence of story arcs addressing one of three types of narratives. This included narratives on (A) structure and behavior within international affairs (system narratives), (B) why nation-states act in the ways they do, based on perceived values (identity narratives), and (C) how nation-states create or act on policies to solve their problems (issue narratives) (Roselle, 2017). This allowed for a preliminary understanding of the collected data field. For example, the more repetitive and/or consistent an identified narrative was, the more likely it was to be identified as an intentional strategic narrative (Bier et al., 2018; Bjola, 2015; Johnson and Sink, 2013).

While the insights of this study are based on the individual perspective and worldview of a single researcher, issues in reliability were addressed through applying continuous and repetitive comparison throughout multiple rounds of the coding and analysis process. A staple of qualitative research, the Constant Comparative Method (CCM) allows for knowledge generation during the research process. This facilitates and informs an ever growing and evolving approach, and contextual understanding of the data throughout the research process (Belgrave and Seide, 2018; Bryman, 2012; Knotten et al., 2017; Kolb, 2012).

Every time a text was analyzed, the specific narratives identified were compared and contextualized within the researcher’s continuously evolving knowledge of the dataset. This allows new knowledge to inform the research process during the analysis process. Multiple rounds of open coding were conducted until saturation was reached (Kuchartz, 2019). CCM stresses the inductive nature of a qualitative approach, necessary for discovering the fluid and artistic nature of storytelling, by constantly checking data in its relation to itself. Based in the CCM, qualitative methods such as SNA allow for fluidity within the process of research, that is, growing and changing in the course of the research process unlike other quantitative approaches (Bryman, 2012; Charmaz, 2006).

Results

Ireland’s DFA built its UNSC campaign around three themes: (1) Empathy, (2) Partnership, and (3) Independence (Item 1, pgs. 4–9). These themes were selected and overtly presented by the Irish DFA across the analyzed data; the themes were not subjectively or latently determined by the researcher. While themes are important, they alone do not offer deep or significant insight into strategic narratives. The following sections break down each theme to understand the specific system, identity, and issue narratives used to create the perception of Ireland as personifying overarching characteristics of Empathy, Partnership, and Independence.

Empathy

Ireland’s UNSC campaign developed a theme of Empathy primarily through identity narratives. Campaign materials used a modern Irish identity, built upon the country’s past and its peoples’ lived memory, to show empathy for countries around the world in need. This takes place through two characteristics: country size and hardship.

Country size was regularly mentioned, namely, Ireland being a small island nation. The consistent emphasis on size illustrates Ireland’s world view on the international stage—looking upwards as a small nation-state rather than perceiving itself as an influential island-based power like Great Britain or Japan. This narrative repeatedly suggests Ireland, if elected, would be an advocate for the needs and interests of smaller states who vie for attention within the UN. Ireland supported the position of expanding the Security Council from 15 to 26 members, as it would increase the voice and influence of similar small nation-states, such as many African nations who earned independence through decolonization following the founding of the UN.

Such an enlarged Council would allow us to correct the severe and damaging underrepresentation of certain regions. It would allow us in particular to meet the demands of the African group to correct the historic injustice which has deprived that region of its appropriate level of representation. It would also ensure that smaller states could continue to serve at reasonable intervals on the Council, and help make the Council reflective of the world as it is today. (Item 12, para 5)

Identity narratives about size, despite Ireland’s substantive international influence, blend in the above with system narratives on the balance, or lack thereof, of power in the international area—great power states who have monopolized power and influence within the UN. It also presents issue narratives of shared governance and the struggle for equal representation in the UN.

The second characteristic was hardship. Ireland’s dark financial, developmental, agricultural, and political history were highlighted, alongside its current status. This illustrates how Ireland persevered, offering a roadmap for other countries around the world. It also articulates that, through remembering such events, Ireland wants to help others where it itself received little help. One narrative highlights the Irish potato famine and Ireland’s financial struggles.

Our own famine might’ve been 173 years ago, but it’s still very much in our memory. Ireland was a very poor country, so I think we know the difference support can make. (Item 2, para 7)

With both financial stability and food security today, Ireland recognizes the fundamental humanitarian value to providing aid to those in need. Adding Ireland’s long fight for independence and continued conflict through the Good Friday Agreement, it blends size and hardship as an identity narrative to set a tone of empathy.

We are a small nation that knows what it is to live without peace. That experience lends us an empathy towards countries experiencing violence and injustice, but it also gives us valuable lessons to share … I believe Ireland as a small nation can be a shining light in a very dark world. (Item 2, para 14 and 20)

While identity narratives can be both numerous and diverse, identity is a singular concept necessitating individual narratives merge to tell a broader, more emotionally compelling story.

Partnership

Ireland’s UNSC campaign developed a theme of Partnership, both within Europe and through its desire to build or strengthen mutually beneficial partnerships in Africa and Asia. The campaign highlighted footage of Nelson Mandela thanking Ireland for supporting South Africa’s fight against apartheid, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, of Ghana, noting Ireland’s commitment to aid after the public attention has waned (Item 2). Both illustrate Irish commitment to partnership, particularly outside Europe.

The key characteristic conveying Partnership was Ireland’s commitment to multilateralism. Based primarily in issue narratives of key challenges facing the country, Ireland supplemented identity narratives as a small island nation to emphasize countries must work together to solve global problems. Addressing the issue narrative of climate change, for example, Irish president Michael Higgins acknowledged that island nations from Europe, to Africa and Asia, and spanning the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, have the most to fear from a continuation of climate change.

Acknowledging a lack of carbon emission reduction by the United States, China, and Russia, Higgins asserts it is the smallest countries who will pay the most in curbing climate change, and that multilateral cooperation among mid- to small-sized countries is necessary to balance the inaction of dominant world powers.

The debate on climate not only provides hope for those of us who place our faith in the multilateral system. It has been revelatory in demonstrating how global issues can be inclusive, how the voices of the small and less powerful can hold sway and can provide such a powerful lead. In this regard, the role being played by Small Island Developing States is exemplary. Drawing on their expertise and their stark experience, they have led the debate on climate change. I say as President of Ireland to the representatives of Small Island Developing States that your challenging the status quo with very good reason; your cultures and your very existence are at risk. You have a unique moral authority to speak out; for you are paying an immediate, unbearable, price for a problem you did not create. (Item 21, paras 28–29)

This highlights small island states challenging the international status quo (system narrative), Ireland as a small island state with a community of other small partner states (identity narrative), the need for multilateral cooperation to curb the devastating effects of climate change (issue narrative).

Independence

Lastly, Ireland’s UNSC campaign fostered themes of Independence. Mention was made of Ireland as a free and independent republic, noting its British occupation and long fight to earn independence. The theme of Independence, however, is primarily illustrated in Ireland’s independent thinking, voice, and behavior in the international system, that is, system narratives. As a Western democracy closely allied today with Great Britain, Canada, Australia, the United States, France, and Germany, Ireland emphasized a unique identity in thinking and articulating for itself. Through this connection with influential democratic states, Ireland positions itself as a natural mediator or go-between—bridge-builders—between decision makers in the Security Council and other smaller, less influential countries in the General Assembly struggling to have their voices heard.

We are by nature bridge-builders. We listen to all sides and work to build collective solutions to our global challenges … The common thread through these processes is Ireland’s commitment to hearing and heeding the voices of all, to forge consensus and common purpose. As an elected member, … We pledge to work with all Member States, not only those on the Council. It is our natural way of doing business … Our path is our own … We speak up. We are committed to working for the necessary reforms and changes on the Security Council, now long-overdue. We want to improve the representativeness and accountability of the Security Council so that it can properly fulfil the expectations of all UN members. (Item 1, pg. 9)

This illustrates challenging the status quo within the UN (system narrative), being cooperative bridge-builders (identity narrative), and commitment to sustainability, humanitarian aid, gender empowerment (issue narrative), and creating the theme of Independence.

As an independent state, Ireland is willing to be a neutral mediator between the great powers and other UN members, but it is also willing to highlight inequalities and double standards within a system meant to be an equalizer. Ireland consistently emphasized commitment to UN peacekeeping efforts. As a part of such efforts, and based on their own history for independence, Ireland advocated disarmament initiatives based on human rights and humanitarian law. Using identity and issue narratives as a basis, Ireland’s UNSC campaign positioned its unique independence and a stage to call out great powers who call for peace while advancing arms races on the back of technological advancement.

One of the greatest challenges facing today is how to anticipate and deal with complex risks, such as new weapon technologies. While advances in science and technology are progressing rapidly, with countless potential benefits to society, the international community must recognise and respond to the risks and threats posed by these new and emerging technologies into weapons. It is difficult to reconcile the rhetoric for peace I hear from countries who accompany it with ever-increasing efforts at acquiring increased shares in global armament sales. Ireland is deeply concerned about the devastating impact of conflict on civilians. The protection of civilians and compliance with international humanitarian law face new and greater challenges as warfare moves from open battlefields to urban settings. Ireland is proud to lead efforts to agree a political declaration among states, setting out how we can ensure compliance with international humanitarian law. I look forward to inviting states to Ireland to agree a political declaration focusing on the protection of civilians from explosive weapons in urban warfare. (Item 21, para 56–59)

This example illustrates how Ireland’s UNSC campaign interwove levels of narratives to create an engaging story. This includes great powers advocating for peace while driving a global arms race (system narrative), Ireland as leader and bridge-builder based on the lessons of its own bloody history (identity narrative), and commitment to peacekeeping, disarmament, and humanitarian rights (issue narrative). Blended together, these narratives create a more engaging narrative discourse than if they existed on their own.

Support of the Global Ireland Campaign

While #IrleandUNSC aimed to place Ireland on the Security Council, it was one part of the Global Ireland campaign. Themes of Empathy, Partnership, and Independence, as well as the strategic narratives used to contrast the themes, were compared to the principle outcomes sought by the Global Ireland campaign. A breakdown of the comparison is presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

Comparing strategic narratives of Ireland’s UNSC campaign to principles of global Ireland.

Global Ireland principles	UNSC campaign system narratives	UNSC campaign identity narratives	UNSC campaign issue narratives
Expanding and strengthening Irish diplomatic and enterprise agency presence across Europe	A place at the center for the world	Small island state	Climate change and sustainability
		Bridge-builders	Peacekeeping and disarmament
		Culturally rich and unique	Humanitarian aid
Promoting Irish arts, heritage and culture across the world	A familiar voice in the United Nations	Small island state	-
		Poor and famine-filled past
		A former colony
Raising awareness and enhancing Ireland’s reputation	A friend of influence to smaller states	Bridge-builders	Climate change and sustainability
	A challenger to great power dominance	Culturally rich and unique	Peacekeeping and disarmament
			Feminine empowerment
			Humanitarian aid
			Technological regulation
Reaffirming Irish commitment to development assistance	A friend of influence to smaller states	Bridge-builders	Humanitarian aid
		Small island state	Climate change and sustainability
		Poor and famine-filled past	Peacekeeping and disarmament
Promoting Irish values of peace, humanity, equality and justice	A familiar voice in the United Nations	Bridge-builders	Peacekeeping and disarmament
			Feminine empowerment
			Humanitarian aid
Strengthening our presence in the United States	-	-	Peacekeeping and disarmament
Strengthening our presence in the United States	-	-	Technological regulation
Expanding Irish presence in the Asia-Pacific region	A friend of influence to smaller states	Small island state	Humanitarian aid
	A challenger to great power dominance	Poor and famine-filled past	Technological regulation
	A challenger to great power dominance	A former colony	Technological regulation
Strengthening Irish presence in North and West Africa	A friend of influence to smaller states	Small island state	Peacekeeping and disarmament
	A challenger to great power dominance	Poor and famine-filled past	Feminine empowerment
	A challenger to great power dominance	A former colony	Humanitarian aid
Strengthening Irish presence in the Middle East and Gulf region	A friend of influence to smaller states	Small island state	Two-state solution in the West Bank
	A challenger to great power dominance	Poor and famine-filled past
	A challenger to great power dominance	A former colony

Of the nine Global Ireland principles, the UNSC campaign addressed eight in detail. System, identity, and issue narratives were interwoven to emphasize Ireland: (1) as a diplomatic mediator and leader within the UN, (2) as committed to developmental and humanitarian aid, (3) as advancing peace and justice while advocating for equal distribution of power within the international system, as committed to developing or strengthening relationships in (4) Asia, (5) Africa, and (6) the Middle East, and (7) strengthening its overall reputation and national brand among the international community.

There were only two principal outcomes of Global Ireland that lacked complete strategic narrative support. The first weakness was a lack of issue narratives to advance arts, heritage, and culture across the world. The second primary principle of Global Ireland that was largely unaddressed by the Irish UNSC campaign was an Irish presence in, and relationship with, the United States. In the analyzed data, the United States was mentioned minimally, in most cases associated with its contributions to either peace-seeking or peacekeeping. Such a lack of emphasis suggests that the relationship with the United States was not a core component of the UNSC campaign.

Discussion

This study sheds light on political public relations (Strömbäck and Kiousis, 2019) within the UN, specifically the context of Ireland as a public diplomacy actor. Using Ireland’s campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council, a SNA dissects what system, identity, and issue narratives were employed in Ireland’s UNSC campaign. As Ireland won the popular vote with a significantly smaller expenditure compared to its competitors (Murphy, 2020), the Irish DFA and Mission to the UN saw a higher return on their country’s investment than did Norway and Canada.

The focus is situated on the assumptions that Ireland’s UNSC campaign, from a public relations standpoint, used better narrative storytelling than the Norwegian and Canadian campaigns. That is, Ireland better engaged and influenced UN diplomats of the merits and benefits of voting for it to serve on the council. Needing to understand Ireland’s storytelling approach, the conceptual framework of strategic narratives (Miskimmon et al., 2013, 2017) dissects the system, identity, and issue narratives employed across the campaign.

Ireland’s UNSC campaign was not a stand-alone effort, rather, one part of the larger Global Ireland campaign, aiming to improve the country’s image and extend its influence in the international arena (Government of Ireland, 2018). Namely, the campaign sought to reassert Irish commitment to peacekeeping and humanitarian aid while also building strategic partnerships in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States. Campaigning for a Security Council seat through an extensive public relations campaign poses a strategic opportunity for the DFA to advance Irish foreign policy interests, in line with the broader goals of the Global Ireland campaign.

Crafting a public diplomacy campaign, that is, political public relations at the international level, Ireland’s DFA leveraged strategic communications to advance its country’s political influence and foreign policy interests. This is arguably the most core function of public diplomacy (Albishri et al., 2019; Golan et al., 2018; Ayhan, 2019). As the Irish campaign sought to manage the perception (image, reputation, and expectations) of Ireland among key stakeholders within the UN as a capable and qualified fit for election to the Security Council, it also qualifies as a prime case for study through a public relations lens (Khalitova et al., 2020; White, 2015).

Insights

Ireland’s UNSC campaign established three key themes: Empathy, Partnership, and Independence. Regarding Empathy, Ireland used primarily identity narratives of its size as a small island nation and its extensive past of hardships to articulate Irish caring, understanding, and willingness to help suffering and struggling nations as Ireland itself once suffered and struggled. As Bono suggested, the Irish people have a shared memory of their nation’s past that is still very much lived today, inspiring the Irish desire to be a force for good and justice in the world.

This emphasizes what Sinek’s theory of value proposition, that audiences and stakeholders are not influenced by stories of what an actor does, they are influenced by why an actor does what they do (Chaffey, 2021). As identity narratives are designed to illustrate why nation-states act the way they do based on perceived values, this lends to Ireland’s ability to show why it was an ideal candidate for the Security Council, rather than that it was an ideal candidate. This also aligns with the Show, Don’t Tell technique common in strategic writing (Noble, 2013). This suggests a strategic blending of both art and science in the discursive strategies of Ireland’s UNSC campaign. As narrative types are seldom found in a vacuum, Ireland’s identity narratives were often linked to system narratives of Ireland as a “middle of the pack” nation within the international order and issue narratives as dedicated to ending conflict, fighting hunger, reducing sexual exploitation, and facilitating environmental stability.

Regarding Partnership, Ireland’s UNSC campaign used primarily issue narratives to articulate its belief in multilateralism. Ireland recognizes that as a small island state—an identity narrative—other smaller and less influential countries must cooperate to make their unique concerns and needs heard in a UN dominated by great power states—a system narrative of revisionist interests in the international arena. Ireland also pushed for global multilateral cooperation to tackle issues that cannot be addressed by a single states or group of states, such as climate change via environmental stability—an issue narrative.

Emphasizing multilateral partnership strategically aligns Ireland as a figurehead within the liberal world order, one built on cooperation rather than competition. Narratives of multilateralism also position Ireland favorably within the UN, an international legal system founded upon representative, democratic principles that requires political relationships to advance and achieve policy goals or outcomes. Whether it is counteracting rising sea levels from climate change, housing global refugees, defending the weakest and poorest citizens of the world through peacekeeping, or feeding mouths suffering from starvation, Ireland’s storytelling showed how it hopes to deal with global issues through fundamentally democratic principles and values of equality, cooperation, and justice. Where other Western states may say they export democracy around the world, Ireland showed how it lives the democratic principles it professes in a positive-sum game of multilateral partnership and cooperation.

Ireland’s UNSC campaign also emphasized Independence, primarily through stressing system narratives of Ireland as a bridge-builder. While this was accompanied by identity narratives of Ireland’s centuries-long struggle to win and defend its independence, Ireland asserted its role as a neutral arbitrator in the international system—a kind of power broker—willing to work with both great powers and less influential states as a neutral mediator. This system narrative positions Ireland as a challenger to great powers in the UN, even modern-day allies like the United States and Great Britain. The primary issue narrative used to promote the theme of Independence was pushing for shared and representative governance within the UN. This entailed restructuring UN organs like the Security Council to better weight the needs and concerns of smaller states to the realty of their numbers, as compared to the substantially smaller number of great power states.

Similar to Ireland stressing democratic principles through an emphasis on multilateralism, its further emphasized its belief in representative democracy through its use of system narratives to challenge the balance of power within the UN. Democracies are built upon representation, with majority consensus, or concerns, taking center stage. Despite the UN Charter being significantly crafted by democratic powers, the distribution of power within the UN is one sided, following a hierarchical model. The 15-member Security Council often outweighs the 194-member General Assembly, and the five permanent members of the Security Council often outweigh the 10 rotating members. By establishing itself as an independent go-between, Ireland painted itself as a way for less powerful states in the UN to have a voice at the bargaining stable.

Lastly, in comparing the UNSC campaign to the Global Ireland campaign, there are signs of strategic coordination. The UNSC campaign stressed (1) Irish diplomatic ties around the globe and in the UN, especially emphasizing Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, (2) Ireland’s commitment to developmental and humanitarian aid, (3) Irish involvement in peacekeeping and disarmament, (4) Ireland as an advocate for equal power distribution within the international system, and overall, (5) strengthening Ireland’s reputation and national brand. This constitutes the majority of Global Ireland’s principal outcomes. Two Global Ireland outcomes, however, were largely absent in the UNSC campaign: emphasis on Irish art, heritage and culture, and Ireland’s relationship with the United States.

As the Security Council is a venue to tackling hard-hitting issues of peace and conflict, it would make sense, to a certain extent, that there would be a lack of substantive security issues that Ireland could use to campaign for the expansion of Irish art, culture, and heritage. To that extent, there was a strong presence of system, identity, and issue narratives used to promote Irish values of peace, humanity, equality, and justice. It can be argued that such values are natural byproducts of Ireland’s culture and heritage, suggesting potential issue coverage in relation to the Global Ireland campaign.

This lack of salience on Ireland’s relationship with the United States does, however, support the overarching system narrative of Ireland as a challenger to great power influence and the status quo distribution of power within both the UN and Security Council. Crafting an image of Ireland as an advocate for the interests and needs of smaller countries, as a direct challenger to the permanent Security Council members, that is, the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China, highlighting its history of partnership with the United States would weaken the authenticity of Ireland’s claim to being an independent and free-thinking state seeking a redistribution of power in the UN to favor the traditionally marginalized. The purposeful exclusion of such a link was, therefore, a strategically calculated move on the part of the Irish government.

Contributions to scholarship

This study contributes to scholarship by offering insight into three gaps in scholarship. First, it elucidates the practice of political public relations within the UN, a vast and complex arena for foreign political maneuvering. Traditional public diplomacy scholarship largely addresses foreign stakeholder engagement by states in unilateral or comparative contexts (Albishri, et al., 2019; Golan et al., 2018, 2019; Gershman and Zaharna, 2005; Hayden, 2013; Surowiec and Miles, 2020). To the contrary, new public diplomacy scholarship increasingly addresses the role of non-state actors in foreign stakeholder engagement on behalf, or in spite of, nation-states (Amiri and Sevin, 2020; Brinkerhoff, 2019; Kochhar, 2018; Li et al., 2019 Pamment, 2013).

This study blends both perspectives, rather, by emphasizing state behavior within international, that is, supranational, organizations. Where often ideologically homogenous, Western democratic states tend to enjoy political and discursive synergy in the general international arena; this study highlights a case where a stable, functioning democracy engaged in direct political competition two of its own democratic allies, Norway and Canada. Understanding how states engage in frame competition within microcosmic, legislative environments in the international arena offers a unique lens into the joint study of political public relations and public diplomacy.

Second, it situates Ireland as a central political public relations and public diplomacy actor. From the political public relations perspective (Strömbäck and Kiousis, 2019), research tends to be either theoretical or contextualized on specific countries, ranging from the United States (Avery and Graham, 2013; Kiousis et al., 2014; Trammell, 2006), to the United Kingdom (McNair, 2007; Rice and Somerville, 2013), Germany (Froehlich and Rüdiger, 2006), Turkey (Sancar, 2013), Pakistan (Khan and Shami, 2019), Ghana (Krishna et al., 2020), Nigeria (Nwanmuoh et al., 2021), or New Zealand (Proverbs et al., 2021). No scholarly work could be located which directly studied the application of image, reputation, and expectation management strategies by the Republic of Ireland in support of its political mission and goals.

Additionally, from a public diplomacy perspective, while Ireland as an organized actor is prominent in nation branding and tourism research, that is, marketing-focused (Clancy, 2011; Gienow-Hecht, 2020; Koquani et al., 2016), little work situates a traditional public diplomacy focus on central Irish governmental actors responsible for foreign stakeholder engagement, that is, public relations-focused. More specifically, little insight is offered on the advancement of Irish foreign policy interests as a centralized function of the DFA, as is the case, for example, with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Pamment, 2016), U.S. Department of State and Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) (Golan et al., 2019), Chinese MFA (Huang and Wang, 2021), Korean MFA (Ayhan, 2017), Saudi MFA (Albishri et al., 2019), or Israeli MFA, (Manor and Crilley, 2018). Emphasizing the scholarly study of Ireland through both political public relations and public diplomacy helps to close respective gaps in existing literature.

Third, this study applies strategic narratives (Miskimmon et al., 2013, 2017) to understand a fundamental communication phenomenon: the art of storytelling. Though the social sciences and liberal arts are unique fields, there is mutual ground for interdisciplinary study. This study champions a better understanding of the science of public relations through better understanding the art of storytelling. This is inline with what Farwell (2012) refers to in Persuasion and Power: The Art of Strategic Communication.

While insight has been made in international relations literature (Barthwal-Datta and Chacko, 2020; Chaban et al., 2017; Cooley et al., 2020; Irvin-Erickson, 2017; Pamment, 2014; Roselle, 2017; Szostek, 2017; Van Noort, 2019), little research investigates this conceptual framework through public relations (Golan et al., 2018) or mass communication (Hellman and Wagnsson, 2013) lens.

As Kent (2015) and Vasquez and Taylor (2001) suggest, humans are story-loving creatures or homo-narrans. Indeed, storytelling is fundamental means for people to both learn and make sense of the social and physical worlds around them (Ciszek, 2020; Ferguson, 2018; Lawler, 2002). As such, the professionalization of communication in politics and surrounding public policy necessitates practitioners with strong storytelling capabilities (Kantola, 2016; Kent, 2015). By applying the concept toward building mutually beneficial relationships that manage the image, reputation, and expectation of the Irish government, this study contributes to resituating strategic narratives as a fundamentally micro-communication phenomenon that, in this case, takes places in a macro-international relation setting.

Practical contributions

Public diplomacy is an expensive investment for states, as the United States, for example, spent $2.19 billion on public diplomacy in 2018 (Walker and Baxter, 2019). What is more, the United States has little to show for its investment. Indeed, U.S. public diplomacy has waned in effectiveness (Gershman and Zaharna, 2005; Kessler, 2004; Kolakowski, 2018; Krause and Van Evera, 2009; Sonenshine, 2017), with significant and sustained decline in the country’s national brand since 2000 (Wike, 2020). This suggests U.S. foreign communications offer little return on the federal government’s investment of its citizens’ money.

Ireland’s UNSC campaign not only advanced Irish foreign policy interests, the Global Irish campaign, and Irish image and reputation abroad, it did so with a fraction of the fiscal expenditure of its competitors, Norway and Canada. This suggests a substantive return on the Irish government’s investment of its citizen’s money. Through research that breaks down the themes and strategic narratives of successful public diplomacy efforts, insights are drawn about the construction of effective storytelling arcs. With this knowledge, public relations and public diplomacy practitioners can better approach intertwining system, identity, and issue narratives to produce tangible outputs optimized for persuasive effect and, as such, the strongest return on investment possible.

Limitations and suggestions for future research

While this study offers insights into Irish public diplomacy, findings must be weighted on the limitations of the study. First, the methodology is fundamentally subjective to the interpretations of the author. Despite efforts to be objective and informed on the subject matter, without a collaborative effort the findings are relative to the author’s own interpretation. A suggestion for future research would be to apply a more rigorous and systemic empirical methodology, such as a quantitative analysis, where message narratives are determined by a negotiated interpretation across individuals, or inter-coder reliability. Further, a quantitative method would allow the data to be analyzed through statistical means, allowing for greater empirical rigor as well as generalizability to a broader range of cases.

Second, a fundamental assumption of this study is that Ireland’s UNSC campaign was more effective than the Norwegian and Canadian campaigns, that is, had a larger return on investment based on a more effective message strategy. This is an ontological assumption informing the basis of the study. A further assumption is that Ireland’s superior message strategy was more persuasive than its competitors, convincing UN delegates to vote for Ireland than Norway or Canada. Such a claim cannot be tested by either a SNA or a content analysis. A suggestion for future research would be use an experimental design, informed by cognitive psychology, to systemically measure and evaluate the persuasive capacity of Ireland’s strategic narratives against those employed by Norway and Canada.

A third limitation of this study involves the purview of data collection. The study focused analysis on communications delivered directly to UN delegates both in the Security Council and General Assembly. This ignores, however, any public-facing efforts to drive Ireland’s candidature for the Security Council, ranging from television appearances, social media content, and other forms of event programming on the part of Ireland’s DFA and its Mission to the UN. A recommendation for future research would be to broaden the context for data collection and analysis to include a larger variety of communication materials, spanning paid, earned, owned, and shared media exposure.

Fourth, data analysis was based on discerning what narratives were used to create the campaign’s meta themes of Empathy, Partnership, and Independence. As such, all insights are direct products of the manifest stories Ireland strategically employed. Essentially, study insights reflect a reality the Irish campaign intentionally sought to create. This disregards other latent or secondary themes that may have been present. For example, in creating overarching themes of Empathy, Partnership, and Independence, Ireland’s system, identity, and issue narratives consistently highlighted stories of injustice, ranging from political, social, environmental, and economic turmoil in Ireland’s own past, to those of South Africa, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Liberia, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, Venezuela, Colombia, Maldives, and Kiribati. While present and interwoven through all three types of narratives injustice, for example, was not acknowledged. A suggestion for future research would be to do a comparative analysis of the intended themes (Empathy, Partnership, and Independence) as opposed to other themes of Ireland’s storytelling.

Conclusion

This study investigates the storytelling discourse in Ireland’s UN Security Council public diplomacy campaign. Using a SNA, the study dissects public relations materials by the Irish DFA and Mission to the UN to ascertain what system, identity, and issue narratives were employed. Results suggest Ireland emphasized themes of Empathy, Partnership, and Independence. First, system narratives stressed Ireland as a revisionist actor seeking to rebalance the UN toward more equal representation. Second, identity narratives highlighted Ireland as a small island-country whose past of hardship drives its desire to help those in need. Third, issues narratives highlighted Ireland’s commitment to global peacekeeping, fighting climate change, and promoting humanitarian. Such findings contribute to scholarship on public diplomacy, strategic narratives, and political public relations more broadly.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Phillip Arceneaux

Appendix

ID	Title/ Topic	Date	Location	Word count
1	An Introduction to Ireland’s Candidature for the United Nations Security Council	July 2018	https://merrionstreet.ie/MerrionStreet/en/ImageLibrary/20180702.pdf	1542
2	Ireland’s Campaign for a Seat on the United Nations Security Council	2 July 2018	https://youtu.be/8tPL6RjghGs	630
3	Tánaiste’s remarks at UN Security Council campaign launch	3 July 2018	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2018/-tanaistes-remarks-at-un-security-council-campaign-launch.php	601
4	Speech by Tánaiste Simon Coveney to the General Assembly of the United Nations	28 September 2018	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2018/-speech-by-tanaiste-simon-coveney-to-the-general-assembly-of-the-united-nations.php	2987
5	Statement at the Security Council Chamber Open Debate on Promoting the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Sustaining Peace through Women’s Political and Economic Empowerment	25 October 2018	https://www.dfa.ie/media/missions/pmunnewyork/Ireland-statement-to-SECCO-WPS-Open-Debate.pdf	908
6	Statement introducing UNGA Resolution on ‘Comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East’	6 December 2018	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2018/statement-introducing-unga-resolution-on-comprehensive-just-and-lasting-peace-in-the-middle-east.php	266
7	Statement by Ireland at UN Security Council Open Debate, 12 December 2018	12 December 2018	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2018/statement-by-ireland-at-un-security-council-open-debate-12-december-2018.php	691
8	Statement at the Arria meeting on accountability for conflict-related sexual violence	7 February 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-arria-meeting-on-accountability-for-conflict-related-sexual-violence.php	856
9	Address by H.E. Ambassador Byrne Nason to the Opening Session Commission on the Status of Women	11 March 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/address-by-he-ambassador-byrne-nason-to-the-opening-session-commission-on-the-status-of-women.php	1379
10	Statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Silencing the Guns in Africa	27 February 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-un-security-council-open-debate-on-silencing-the-guns-in-africa.php	677
11	Remarks by H.E. Amb. Geraldine Byrne Nason at International Women’s Day Commemoration	9 March 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/remarks-by-he-amb-geraldine-byrne-nason-at-international-womens-day-commenoration.php	1165
12	Remarks at Intergovernmental Negotiations on UNSC equitable representation and membership increase	4 April 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/remarks-at-intergovernmental-negotiations-on-unsc-equitable-representation-and-membership-increase.php	771
13	Statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict	23 April 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-un-security-council-open-debate-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict.php	970
14	Statement on the occasion of the International Day of Multilateralism for Diplomacy and Peace	24 April 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-on-the-occasion-of-the-international-day-of-multilateralism-for-diplomacy-and-peace.php	606
15	Statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Training and Capacity Building in Peacekeeping	7 May 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-un-security-council-open-debate-on-training-and-capacity-building-in-peacekeeping.php	728
16	Statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Protection of Civilians in Conflict	23 May 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-un-security-council-open-debate-on-protection-of-civilians-in-conflict.php	694
17	Statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Threats to International Peace and Security	9 July 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-un-security-council-open-debate-on-threats-to-international-peace-and-security.php	610
18	Statement by Ireland at UNSC Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict	3 August 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-by-ireland-at-unsc-open-debate-on-children-and-armed-conflict.php	773
19	Statement by Ireland at the GA debate on the Annual report of the Security Council for 2018	12 September 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-by-ireland-at-the-ga-debate-on-the-annual-report-of-the-security-council-for-2018.php	633
20	KWON-GESH Climate Pledge	12 September 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/kwon-gesh-climate-pledge.php	147
21	Address by President Michael D Higgins to the UN General Assembly	26 September 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/address-by-president-michael-d-higgins-to-the-un-general-assembly.php	4186
22	Statement at the Peacebuilding Commission Ambassadorial Meeting on Women, Peace and Security	21 October 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-at-the-peacebuilding-commission-ambassadorial-meeting-on-women-peace-and-security.php	1291
23	UN Security Council Annual Open Debate on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda	29 October 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/un-security-council-annual-open-debate-on-the-women-peace-and-security-agenda.php	745
24	Statement: Ten Year Anniversary of the Establishment of the Mandate on Sexual Violence in Conflict Statement	30 October 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-ten-year-anniversary-of-the-establishment-of-the-mandate-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict--.php	546
25	Statement by Ambassador Byrne Nason at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Reconciliation	19 November 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/statement-by-amb-byrne-nason-at-the-un-security-council-open-debate-on-reconciliation.php	660
26	GA Plenary session on the situation in the Middle East	3 December 2019	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2019/ga-plenary-session-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east.php	563
27	UN Security Council Open Debate on the UN Charter	9 January 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/un-security-council-open-debate-on-the-un-charter.php	792
28	UN Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East	22 January 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/un-security-council-open-debate-on-the-middle-east.php	793
29	Sustainable Development Goals and Common Values – a Vital Framework for Humanitarian Action	15 April 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/sustainable-development-goals-and-common-values--a-vital-framework-for-humanitarian-action.php	5469
30	UN Security Council Debate on the Middle East	23 April 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/un-security-council-debate-on-the-middle-east.php	630
31	Ireland Statement to UNSC on Youth, Peace and Security	27 April 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/ireland-statement-to-unsc-on-youth-peace--security.php	910
32	Statement by Tánaiste Simon Coveney to the UNSC Meeting on Lessons For Peace	8 May 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/statement-by-tanaiste-simon-coveney-to-the-unsc-meeting-on-lessons-for-peace.php	598
33	UN Security Council Open Debate on Protection of Civilians	27 May 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/un-security-council-open-debate-on-protection-of-civilians.php	1189
34	High Level Financing for Development in the Era of Covid-19 and Beyond	28 May 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/high-level-financing-for-development-in-the-era-of-covid-19-and-beyond.php	613
35	Ireland Opening Statement at WFUNA Debate	29 May 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/ireland-opening-statement-at-wfuna-debate.php	857
36	Joint Statement on the Impact of COVID-19 on Migrants	4 June 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/joint-statement-on-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-migrants.php	1191
37	Minister Cannon’s Statement to UN ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment	8 June 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/minister-cannons-statement-to-un-ecosoc-humanitarian-affairs-segment.php	737
38	Ireland’s Campaign for a Seat on the United Nations Security Council	11 June 2020	https://youtu.be/lBX9E01YCv4	271
39	Statement on Mali and MINUSMA by An Tánaiste Simon Coveney	11 June 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/statement-on-minusma-by-an-tanaiste-simon-coveney.php	349
40	Elected member of the UN Security Council 2021–2022	26 June 2020	https://www.dfa.ie/our-role-policies/international-priorities/our-international-partners/united-nations/speeches/2020/elected-member-of-the-un-security-council-2021-2022.php	177

Author biography

Phillip Arceneaux (Ph.D., University of Florida) is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication at Miami University of Ohio. His research focuses on government communication and political public relations, most often centered in U.S. and European contexts. He has published in the Journal of Public Diplomacy, Journal of Public Affairs, Journal of Information Warfare, and Journal of International Communication, as well as through multiple book chapters, policy papers, and thought leadership pieces.

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