The PD Blogger Interview series periodically features a blogger included on the Blogroll. The interviews provide insight as to the motivations, ideas and personalities of these international individuals who are speaking, thinking, and writing about Public Diplomacy.

René Söderman has a unique practitioner’s perspective on public diplomacy as the Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Finland in Los Angeles where his mission has included the promotion of Finland and its culture on the West Coast. He has extensive experience in media relations and previously held the position of Press Secretary at Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland.

In early 2008, Deputy Consul Söderman began blogging at his current site, Julkisuusdiplomatia subtitled "Ajankohtaisia ajatuksia julkisuusdiplomatiasta", which means "Current thoughts on public diplomacy".

CPD Contributing researcher Rima Tatevossian asked Deputy Consul Soderman about the nature of his unique blog, and the state of public diplomacy as understood and practiced by the Finns:

Since most of our readers are not Finnish speakers, could you give us an overview of the general issues that catch your eye and provoke your "current thoughts on public diplomacy"? Do you primarily focus on the Finnish-American relationship in your blog?

My first blog ventilated the use of popular music in public diplomacy and actually covered Ozomatli, a band from LA that had been hired by the US State Department to tour in the Middle East. I thought this was very interesting, because the band is known for being critical of the current government in Washington. So that's how it all started in the blog called "Media and Diplomacy".

My aim has been to feed my Finnish readers with -- hopefully interesting - thoughts in the field of public diplomacy in the US and especially on the west coast. After all - the Center on Public Diplomacy at USC is a fascinating place and a great source of inspiration for me when writing my current blog called bluntly "Public Diplomacy"

Is 'public diplomacy' a well-known concept in Finland? And if so, how is it generally understood and labeled?

The word "public diplomacy" has found its way into the official vocabulary only recently - the Finnish translation "julkisuusdiplomatia" has been around for less than ten years. PD is generally understood as a set of tools for communicating with a foreign public through traditional press relations, cultural diplomacy and people exchange. According to the Finnish foreign ministry, the aim of public diplomacy is to "increase the awareness, acceptance and appeal of Finland among non-governmental target groups, in order to achieve long term goals" When Finns have a hard time understanding what public diplomacy stands for, I usually say: think of communications.

There is a perception that politicians (MPs, diplomats, government officials...) are relatively accessible to, and interactive with, citizens in Scandinavian political culture. How do you think this tradition impacts Scandinavian public diplomacy?

Finland is quite informal when it comes to getting in touch with authorities and elected officials. You may get hold of a Member of Parliament by phone, and if you're lucky you may even catch the Prime Minister before he goes home. Email is used and especially the MPs seem to like to keep in touch with their constituencies by email. Politicians and others are relatively accessible also in the other Nordic/Scandinavian countries. There is a tradition of transparency that has in my view converted to a fairly non-corrupted society.

There is a willingness to be open in the Nordic countries, but the challenge is really to get the attention of a foreign public. You may ask yourself: when do you see the US in the headlines of a non-US newspaper? Practically everyday. Then ask: when do you see Finland or another Nordic country in the headlines of - let's say - a German, British or a US newspaper? Not often. It is usually Nokia (named after a town in Finland) that gets the attention abroad, either when it hits the Top 10 most valued brands worldwide or when it shuts up a factory in Germany. Scandinavia consisting of five small countries has to focus on small things that matter.

During your tenure at the Consulate-General of Finland in Los Angeles thus far, what types of public diplomacy initiatives have you been engaged in? What do you consider to be Finland's greatest public diplomacy challenge?

Finland is a country with only 5 million people and thus our resources are scarce. Our focus is really to target small but influential groups of people in Los Angeles, mostly in media, entertainment and technology.

It was a great opportunity for the Consulate-General to be a part of awarding the world's biggest technology prize - the Millennium Technology Prize of Finland - to Professor Shuji Nakamura at UC Santa Barbara two years ago. Finnish popular music has been up and coming for some years now and the Consulate-General has opened doors for Finnish music professionals in Los Angeles. These are a few things we have been doing.

The greatest public diplomacy challenge for Finland, as for any other small country, is to continuously decide on what is important in "managing the international environment". In other words, one must lay out the railroad tracks for one's foreign policy. When that is done, then it is easy to drive the train (public diplomacy) along the tracks.