Role of nation brand ambassador/citizen diplomat. Case study of Sweden

Abstract: Everybody is a nation brand ambassador/citizen diplomat of his/her country of citizenship or residence or both. This phenomenon is receiving more presence in modern public diplomacy. Sweden is an epitomized example in this regard as a single state in the world that allowed its citizens to run the official Twitter account of the state. This thesis explores Sweden as a case study to illuminate the cutting-edge phenomenon of the nation brand ambassador/citizen diplomat. It seeks to expand the understanding of the role from a strategic communication lens. For this purpose, the CCO perspective and alignment of strategic communication are used as the theoretical framework. The interviews with the public diplomacy officials and the participants of public diplomacy activities under the auspices of the Swedish Institute were conducted and complemented with the document analysis to comprehensively explore the government and people's perspectives on the role of nation brand ambassador/citizen diplomat. The findings showed that the nation brand ambassadors/citizen diplomats are primary actors in the public diplomacy of Sweden integrated into its brand vision as the country that seeks together with people the solutions to global challenges. In this configuration, the role of nation brand ambassador/citizen diplomat empowers both the state and individuals who perform it. It can be concluded that nation brand ambassadors/citizen diplomats are both the products and producers of the soft power of the state.