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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.

WHY IT’S HARDER FOR GOVERNMENTS
OCT 15, 2008 - 10:39AM PDT
Posted by John Worne
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In today's 24/7 news environment, governments have it hard. In my experience, working at the centre of UK government in the Cabinet Office, I found that government has to know its position on everything and be able to articulate it in a sound bite. You have to be either 'for' or 'against' any proposition, policy proposal or idea. You cannot be equivocal; you cannot have a nuanced view. If it's a significant policy or issue, then you have to be crystal clear. When government isn't clear, the media pursue, challenge and provoke you in 24 hour news cycles until you... FULL TEXT
 
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PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN ACTION AT WILTON PARK
OCT 9, 2008 - 11:46AM PDT
Posted by Nicholas J. Cull
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Today was the final day of the third Wilton Park conference on public diplomacy in the UK. Those in attendance included a mix of practitioners and academics from large and small nations, including several people associated with the CPD blog – Ashraf Haidari (who spoke brilliantly for Afghanistan), Ali Fisher, Simon Anholt, and myself. Countries represented included Romania, Mozambique, Vietnam, British Virgin Islands, Liechenstein, and Mexico. Nations with teams present included Canada, Denmark, and the USA.

The conference - artfully managed by Julia Purcell - succeeded in palpably moving the PD ball forward, with much discussion of new technology and... FULL TEXT
 
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LISTENING TO PAKISTAN: THE WEST’S PREMIER PD CHALLENGE
OCT 1, 2008 - 1:51PM PDT
Posted by Rob Asghar
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My brother and I, accompanied by his brother-in-law, were driving to the posh and overpriced Dynasty Chinese restaurant in Islamabad’s Marriott hotel recently. Yet the tightwad in me convinced them that we could enjoy ourselves just as much by going to one of the many cheaper Chinese local restaurants. Soon after we heard the Marriott explosion a few miles away, it became clear we had saved more than money.

According to some reports, the 1,500 lbs. or more in explosives may have been retrieved from mines left behind by the Soviets when American-funded jihadists drove them from Afghanistan.

If they... FULL TEXT
 
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TAKING TURNER TO CHINA
OCT 1, 2008 - 1:38PM PDT
Posted by John Worne
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It's been great to get such thoughtful comments on our International Relations Spectrum. One way for me to understand other perspectives would be to take a piece of our work at the British Council and look at how we could frame it. Here's a case study to take views on what it could be for – in terms of intentions - and how we could/should describe it and deliver it to maximize its impact.

I'll deliberately exaggerate for effect, but let's imagine you can take a J.M.W. Turner exhibition to China in three different guises:

A cultural diplomacy (CD) guise;... FULL TEXT
 
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THE SPECTRUM OF SPECTRUMS: A REVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS POSITIONING SPECTRUM
SEP 26, 2008 - 10:34AM PDT
Posted by Ali Fisher
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John Worne’s International Relations Positioning Spectrum (IRPS), and Nick Cull’s response provide interesting perspectives on the Cultural Relations / Public Diplomacy ‘divide’ and how work in the field is to be articulated. The IRPS appears a useful tool at the national level to help mediate in interdepartmental turf wars. However, the IRPS contains national peculiarities, specifically the difficulty the British Council faces in articulating its position, making it unlikely to become transferable internationally. This is best divided into two sections, first discussing the spectrum itself and second how this reflects the difficulty of articulating the position of the British Council.... FULL TEXT
 
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