Rethinking Communication in Country Reputation Management, was the title under which this piece was first published in the Club of Venice’s magazine Convergences, Number 14, Autumn 2019 .The Club of Venice is the informal gathering of communication tsars of the EU Member States and the EU Institutions.

The way in which “we” are perceived by “the average foreigner” is usually based on clichés and stereotypes. Sometimes perceptions can also become distorted by major recent events or...