PROCESS TRACING OF POP CULTURE, PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, AND SOFT POWER A comparative study between Korea and Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to test under what conditions pop culture can be used for soft power creation. The scientific background to this research problem is rooted in that the evidence from previous research is inconsistent, since some results point out that governmental efforts could do more harm than good for a country’s pop cultural soft power generation, while some results instead support state-led pop cultural promoting efforts. This is problematic since it can make it complicated for states to shape efficient public diplomacy efforts. While current theoretical framework and previous research highlights the importance of several factors in soft power generation and public diplomacy efforts aimed at foreign publics, such as voluntary actions, attraction, dialogue-styled communication efforts, sincere messages, and an active civil society, it is difficult to see how these different mechanisms could lead to pop cultural soft power generation, and under which conditions these mechanisms have a positive effect on pop culture soft power. Therefore, this study combines the insights from previous research with current theoretical framework to create a new analytical framework. The framework is aimed at testing under what conditions three public diplomacy mechanisms; contents and messages, civic virtue and civil society, and financial investments and supportive policies, can increase pop cultural soft power generation. By comparing the cases of Korea and Japan, the results from this investigation suggest that the conditions under which the three public diplomacy mechanisms function are important for pop culture soft power generation.