The public as a problem: protest, public diplomacy and the pandemic

With the coronavirus pandemic deepening pre-existing social issues, protests have re-emerged around the world. It is, however, noteworthy that debates in public diplomacy and place branding have remained largely silent about these episodes. This contribution argues that protests should be taken into account within the field. They not only stress the contested nature of nationhood, but crucially, they also shed light on the troubled relationship that practitioners and scholars have with the ‘public’, which is usually approached as a mere problem or a resource to be exploited in order to benefit those in power.