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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.

FROM THE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY TO THE FUNDACION AMISTAD: A USEFUL HISTORICAL REMINDER FOR OBAMA
JUN 25, 2009 - 7:57AM PDT
Posted by Andrew Wulf
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Cultural historians mostly discourage making cross-history comparisons of important events, since they take place in fundamentally different contexts and the parallels that are drawn are rarely meaningful or useful. With that caveat, I will argue how President Obama's administration might best utilize the soft power of cultural diplomacy by recalling a similarly pivotal moment from March 4, 1933.

Upon being sworn in as president that day, Franklin D. Roosevelt briefly enunciated his administration's foreign policy goals toward Latin America and the Caribbean. This statement marked the end of a series of military interventions by the U.S. government in the region.... FULL TEXT
 
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MAY BAD-MOUTHING CONTINUE: IRAN AND THE VOICE OF AMERICA
JUN 23, 2009 - 11:13AM PDT
Posted by Alvin Snyder
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Each time the Iranian Islamic dictatorship condemns the Voice of America by name for broadcasting news of anti-government demonstrations into that country, it can only mean more dollars for the VOA's Persian News Network — and VOA in general — at budget time on Capitol Hill.

The case can be credibly made that the VOA is a healthy return on investment for U.S. taxpayers when Iran's Foreign Ministry rails that such Western TV channels as the BBC and VOA "are the mouthpiece of their government’s public diplomacy." And it's helpful too that the VOA is mentioned in the same breath... FULL TEXT
 
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WHEN SILENCE IS GOLDEN IN PD
JUN 22, 2009 - 2:32PM PDT
Posted by Rob Asghar
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An unyielding belief in strength over suppleness — constantly deploying the full force of both the sword and the mouth — may lie at the core of that old warrior Sen. John McCain's criticism that President Obama has been too passive in reacting to Iranian protests against that country's controversial elections.

Critics of McCain, including a number of conservative commentators, questioned the notion that the United States should engage more aggressively in the Iranian melee — even if just at the rhetorical level. Columnist Peggy Noonan wrote that McCain and other colleagues "went quite crazy insisting President Obama declare whose... FULL TEXT
 
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PUBLIC DIPLOMACY’S GLASS CEILINGS
JUN 17, 2009 - 1:44PM PDT
Posted by Alvin Snyder
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Women in public diplomacy have long been confronted with a glass ceiling in Washington. It seems that their male counterparts in PD now see such a ceiling as well.

What caught my eye was a comment last weekend by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. At her 50th class reunion at Wellesley College, Dr. Albright remarked to Boston Globe correspondent Ben Terris that women probably make better diplomats than men.

"In a lot of ways we do have advantages," she said. "Diplomacy is about being able to put yourself into someone else's shoes, to be able to empathize, figure... FULL TEXT
 
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PD’S MOST FORMIDABLE ADVERSARY: THE SAY-DO GAP
JUN 16, 2009 - 9:08AM PDT
Posted by Daryl Copeland
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Notwithstanding its many virtues, there are all kinds of possible pitfalls associated with public diplomacy.

For starters, PD is done mainly, though not exclusively, by diplomats. Diplomats work for states. States have interests. So when your friendly emissary wants to enjoin you in conversation, it is more likely to be directed rather than free-form. It is almost certain that he or she will be looking for something — a pearl of insight, a gem of intelligence, support for a policy or politician ... something. And that is just one of the many paradoxes which separate the theory of public diplomacy,... FULL TEXT
 
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