Study of Public Diplomacy in Imam Khomeini's Thought and Comparison with Traditional and Public Diplomacy

The present study aims to study popular diplomacy in Imam Khomeini's thought and to explain its commonalities and differences with traditional and public diplomacy. In this study, the commonalities and differences of these concepts are explained and adhering to the nature of the supernatural and the miraculous (two-nature theory) and the approach to transcendence, has been the main source of differences and the main framework of comparison. The research was descriptive-analytical and the results showed that popular diplomacy compared to other types of diplomacy, its resources are the interests of the nation and it has extra care for this world and the hereafter world (true perfection) and it differs from the traditional and public diplomacy whose resources are the national interests, its agents are governments and their audiences are governments and public opinion. The defining characteristic of transcendent popular diplomacy is to become the head of the intellect at the various levels of brokers and audiences and the rest be at its service. The two main axes of popular diplomacy are: Positive and Negative activities. The first one is based on the supernatural nature and in defense of the intellect as the head of the forces and the second one is based on the miraculous nature which rejects the centrality of illusion, anger and lust as well as the use of reason for these purposes. Another difference between the transcendent diplomacy and the conventional model is their attention to the world and the hereafter.