Public diplomacy management and enhancement of foreign policy, a case of ministry of foreign affairs of South Sudan

Abstract

This study sought to assess South Sudan’s foreign policy and Public diplomacy in the current political state where lack of peace and political instability has taken center stage. This was achieved by three specific objectives, which included; to examine how the application of public diplomacy by various actors affect foreign policy in the Republic of South Sudan, to establish the importance/opportunities of the application of public diplomacy in advancing foreign policy in Republic of South Sudan., and to determine the challenges in the application of public diplomacy in the advancing foreign policy in the Republic of South Sudan. Political realism Theory by Richard Ned Lebow (1951) guided the study and mixed methods approaches were used. Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional and narrative designs were used on a sample of 103 respondents. Survey questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect data from the respondents. Findings revealed that effectiveness of foreign policy in South Sudan is low, but not forgetting that despite the low average means, South Sudan was highly effective in implementing the two indicators of foreign policy, Low or limited efforts were being made towards peace building in the republic of South Sudan, despite the sole effort by the church to promote peace building in the country, and foreign policy in South Sudan has a positive and significant effect on the peace building in South Sudan. The study recommends that South Sudan government should improve their effectiveness in foreign policy; efforts should be made towards improving equity and social cohesion within the country and a coordinated improvement by the government of South Sudan