Public Engagement with Foreign Policy Using “Diplotainment”: A Conceptual Exploration and Illustrative Analysis

Abstract This article advances the debate on the democratising effects of digitalisation on diplomatic contents by examining a newly emergent pathway to public engagement with foreign policy. Our analysis explores the liminal spaces in the conduct of foreign policy, focusing on the digitalisation of the statecraft practice of public diplomacy and transnational activism of late night talk-show hosts, particularly in contesting a norm-breaking turn in a state's foreign policy. The relational dynamic between public diplomacy and transnational activism serves as a backdrop to our conceptualisation of diplotainment, a hybrid memetic genre and participatory strategy that blends diplomatic officialdom with entertainment broadcasting, producing affective memetic YouTube videos that satirise a state's foreign policy across national media landscapes. As an illustration of the rise and use of diplotainment in the transnational activism of entertainment broadcasters, we explore Every Second Counts, an innovative connective action inspired by the Dutch late night talk-show, Zondag Met Lubach, opposing Donald Trump's America First foreign policy. We then employ a mixed-methods approach to analyse the potential of diplotainment in fostering public engagement with foreign policy through the opportunistic use of YouTube, and the appropriation of soft power resources into a humorous and subversive memetic content. Overall, this study demonstrates that transnational activism by entertainment broadcasters can drive public engagement with foreign policy, and shape the patterns of that engagement among social media users.