Broadcasting Democracy? Matching Foreign Policy Goals and Messages

In: The Fletcher forum of world affairs, Band 32, Heft 3, S. 63-73

Abstract

Two recent international dilemmas have led to growing calls for renewed & revamped public diplomacy. The first: the deteriorating international opinion of the United States since September 11, 2001, as demonstrated in a wide array of public opinion polls, has made the American public increasingly aware of the divide between the U.S. & foreign populations. The second: America's standing in the so-called war of ideas has framed this divide in terms of the familiar "war" theme -- for example, the "war on drugs" -- reminding the American public that there is a negative force to defeat. The hope is that by revitalizing public diplomacy, both crises will be remedied, first by winning the "war of ideas" & thereby improving international public opinion. If nothing else, these problems have lit a fire under those interested in public diplomacy. The Cold War's end initiated a sleepy time for public diplomacy -- concerns about international influence subsided & the United States Information Agency (USIA) went limp inside the larger bureaucracy of the U.S. Department of State. A 2006 study by Foreign Policy & the Center for American Progress of more than 100 U.S. foreign policy experts, including former Secretaries of State & retired military & intelligence officers, rated U.S. efforts at public diplomacy lowest of all policy initiatives since September 11, 2001.1 Public diplomacy is now viewed as the stepchild of American policymaking tools. Putting the pieces of public diplomacy back together will be both an important & challenging initiative for a new generation of diplomats, bureaucrats, scholars, & business leaders. Adapted from the source document.