Leveraging stakeholder interests in public diplomacy: The case of the Hague Peace and Justice Project

In 2012 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and the Municipality of The Hague initiated Hague Peace and Justice Project. In retrospect, this project can be characterised as what Zaharna (Relational, Networked and Collaborative Approaches to Public Diplomacy, 2013) identifies as collaborative public diplomacy. In this article, we will assess and make sense of the project developments using Fisher’s building blocks of collaborative public diplomacy: (1) the relationships through which information flows, (2) key coordination points where communities interact, and (3) the sources and diffusion of innovation. We will discuss the role of the state in collaborative public diplomacy and the balance between the state as initiator and sponsor at the one hand and as stakeholder in the project on the other. We analyse stakeholder interests in participating in Hague Project; leveraging these interests in the project’s activities is key to its operations and success. In our conclusion, we identify two elements that stand out in building a robust collaborative public diplomacy project: (1) securing shared purpose, aim and narratives among stakeholder groups and (2) positioning the project coordinator embedded within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with access to the global network of diplomatic missions and at the same time guarantee that the coordinator can move freely and independently between stakeholder groups. This calls for leadership within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an eye for building long-term societal relationships.