October 28, 2008
Intended for teachers of public diplomacy and related courses, here is
an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions
for future updates are welcome.
Bruce Gregory
Adjunct Assistant Professor of
Media and Public Affairs
George Washington University
(202) 994-0389
BGregory@gwu.edu
Andrew F. Cooper, Brian Hocking, and William Maley, eds., Global
Governance and Diplomacy: Worlds Apart? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
Cooper (The Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada),
Hocking (Loughborough University, UK), and Maley (Australian National
University) combine essays by scholars and practitioners in a volume
that examines the relationship between global governance and diplomatic
practice. The authors look at gaps and evolving connections between
the two through theoretical frameworks and case studies. The book is
published in the Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations
Series edited by Donna Lee (University of Birmingham) and Paul Sharp
(University of Minnesota, Duluth).
Cooper, Hocking, and Maley, "Introduction: Diplomacy and Global Governance: Locating Patterns of (Dis)Connection"
Iver B. Neuman (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), "Globalisation and Diplomacy"
Christer Jonsson (Lund University), "Global Governance: Challenges to Diplomatic Communication, Representation, and Recognition"
Jan Aart Scholte (University of Warwick), "From Government to Governance: Transition to a New Diplomacy"
David Spence (European Commission Delegation to the United Nations),
"EU Governance and Global Governance: New Roles for EU Diplomats"
Raymond Saner and Lichia Yiu (Centre for Socio-economic Development,
Geneva), "Business - Government - NGO Relations: Their Impact on Global
Economic Governance"
Ivan Cook and Martine Letts (Lowy Institute for International Policy,
Australia), "A Twilight Zone? Diplomacy and the International Committee
of the Red Cross"
Shankari Sundararaman (Jawaharlal Nehru University), "Research Institutes as Diplomatic Actors"
Shaun Riordan (British Diplomatic Service, retired), "The New International Security Agenda and the Practice of Diplomacy"
Franklyn Lisk (University of Warwick), "Toward a New Architecture of Global Governance for Responding to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic"
Rorden Wilkinson (University of Manchester), "Family Dramas: Politics, Diplomacy, and Governance in the WTO"
Jovan Kurbalija (DiploFoundtion), "The World Summit on Information Society and the Development of Internet Diplomacy"
Megan Davis (University of New South Wales), "'At Home at the United Nations': Indigenous Peoples and International Advocacy"
Samina Yasmeen (University of Western Australia), "Interfaith Dialogue, Diplomacy, and the Cartoon Controversy"
Bruce Gregory (George Washington University), "Public Diplomacy and Governance: Challenges for Scholars and Practitioners"
Andrew F. Cooper (The Centre for International Governance Innovation), "Stretching the Model of 'Coalitions of the Willing'"
Jorge Heine (Former Ambassador of Chile to India and South Africa;
Executive Committee, International Political Science Association), "On
the Manner of Practising the New Diplomacy"
Ramesh Thakur (University of Waterloo), "Conclusion: National Diplomacy and Global Governance"
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=300183
Steven R. Corman and Angela Trethewey, “State Dept. Blogging One Year
Later (Part 1): Success Despite Challenges,†COMOPS Journal, Posted
October 9, 2008; Edward T. Palazzolo and Dawn Gilpin, “State Dept.
Blogging One Year Later (Part 2): Themes and Categories, COMOPS
Journal, Posted October 25, 2008. The authors assess posts and
reader's comments on the Department of State's blog Dipnote during its
first year online and discuss their interviews with Heath Kern and Luke
Forgerson, Dipnote's editors. Corman and Trethewey discuss challenges
common to all blogging and constraints unique to the Department's
government role. Their conclusion: “Dipnote has had a very good
first year.†Palazzolo and Gilpin offer findings and recommendations
based on their content analysis of the blog. COMOPS is a journal of
the Consortium for Strategic Communication at Arizona State University.
http://comops.org/journal/2008/10/09/state-dept-blogging-one-year-later-part-1-success-despite-challenges/
http://comops.org/journal/2008/10/25/state-dept-blogging-one-year-later-part-2-themes-and-categories/
James Fallows, "Their Own Worst Enemy," The Atlantic, November 2008,
72-77. Drawing on his two years of living in and reporting on China,
Atlantic national correspondent Fallows asks "How can official China do
such a clumsy and self-defeating job of presenting itself to the
world?" China is a "better country than its leaders make it seem,"
Fallows argues. Those leaders do a better job of listening at home but
have "surprisingly little idea of how the world sees it." American
leaders may be no better at understanding foreign sensitivities and
effectively phrasing their arguments to the world effectively, but on
balance he concludes the U.S. does no have quite the tin ear that China
has and may be in a position to help.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/chinese-progress
A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future: Fixing the Crisis in
Diplomatic Readiness, Report of the American Academy of Diplomacy and
the Stimson Center, October 2008. This 75-page report, a collaborative
effort of 48 retired ambassadors and other foreign affairs experts,
concludes that the U.S. faces critical foreign challenges with
inadequate staff and resources as well as "authority shortfalls"
relating to some economic and security assistance programs. The study
reviews four categories of activity: core diplomacy, public diplomacy,
economic assistance, and reconstruction/stabilization. It devotes 13
pages to public diplomacy activities, which it limits narrowly to
exchanges, international information programs, and field operations
carried out by the Department of State. For these activities, the
report recommends increasing U.S. direct-hire staff by 487, locally
employed staff by 369, and overall staff and program funding increases
totaling $610.4 million by Fiscal Year 2014. In an Appendix, the
report devotes a page to international broadcasting and two pages to a
skeptical look at public diplomacy activities of the Department of
Defense. The report is signed by Ambassadors Ronald Neumann, Thomas
Pickering, and Thomas Boyatt and by Ellen Laipson, President of the
Stimson Center.
http://www.stimson.org/budgeting/Publications/Long_Final_1001_covers.pdf
James K. Glassman, "The New Age of Public Diplomacy," Transcript of
remarks at Chatham House, United Kingdom, September 11, 2008. The
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs offers
his definition of public diplomacy and views on its key goals, which he
identifies as diminishing "the threat to Americans and the rest of the
world from violent extremism and weapons of mass destruction and to
help people around the world achieve freedom." Glassman outlines four
parts of U.S. public diplomacy: education and cultural affairs,
international information programs, U.S. international broadcasting,
and "ideological engagement." He devotes most of his remarks to his
top priority -- public diplomacy as winning an ideological "war of
ideas" focused on counter-terrorism.
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/12130_110908glassman.pdf <
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William J. Hybl, "Answers to FAQs about Getting the People Part Right:
A Report on the Human Resources Dimension of U.S. Public Diplomacy,
U.S. Department of State Website, Posted September 24, 2008. The
Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy answers
questions relating to the recruitment, training, assignments, and
evaluation of public diplomacy officers in the Department of State.
Includes his discussion of the need for a critical look at the
position of public affairs officers in U.S. missions, the role of
public diplomacy in policy formation, and the structure of the
Department's regional bureaus.
http://www.state.gov/r/adcompd/rls/110243.htm
Roumeen Islam, ed., Information and Public Choice: From Media Markets
to Policy Making, (The World Bank, 2008). Roumeen Islam (World Bank
Institute) has compiled essays by 17 scholars, journalists, and
professional economists that examine the role of media coverage in
shaping economic and political choices -- and market constraints that
influence news content. The essays look at a range of countries and
issues such as the effect of media reporting on policy outcomes,
objectives of government regulation of the media, sources and impact of
bias on reporting, and the effects of market and non market factors on
news and policies. Includes essays by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz
(Columbia University), "Fostering an Independent Media with a Diversity
of Views," which looks at media information as a factor in public
policy and the functioning and failure of markets, and by David
Stromberg (University of Stockholm) and James M. Snyder, Jr.,
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology), "The Media's Influence on
Public Policy Decisions." (Courtesy of Belinda Yong)
Sherry L. Mueller and Mark Overmann, Working World: Careers in
International Education, Exchange, and Development, (Georgetown
University Press, 2008). In this guide for job seekers in
international affairs, Mueller (National Council for International
Visitors) and Overmann (Georgetown University) offer informed thoughts
on career planning, networking, interviews, the value of mentors,
career development, risking taking, job goals, internships, resources,
and profiles of accomplished professionals. Includes information on a
broad spectrum of nonprofit, corporate, research, government, and
multilateral organizations. Written for students and young
professionals, Working World contains useful advice for anyone
considering career choices.
<
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George Packer, "Drowning: Can the Burmese People Rescue Themselves,"
The New Yorker, August 25, 2008. In his "Letter from Rangoon,"
journalist George Packer examines life, repression, political activism,
and intellectual currents in Burma. Contains several paragraphs on a
"gated compound that is known as the American Center—a cultural
outpost of the State Department." Among Packer's observations: "The
James Baldwin Library and the Ella Fitzgerald Auditorium are open to
any Burmese citizen willing to brave the police spies who haunt the
area." "When I visited the Baldwin Library, which has twenty-two
thousand members and thirteen thousand volumes, young Burmese were
sitting on every available piece of furniture. For all their isolation
and lack of analytical training, the citizens of Burma are stupendous
readers. The bulletin board at the American Center library was covered
with notes requesting books: biographies of Churchill, Margaret
Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,†Naomi Klein’s “The Shock
Doctrine.†"Political activists attended seminars on human rights
and on strategic communications." "In a country where the law forbids
unauthorized meetings of more than five people, none of this could have
happened anywhere outside the gates of the Center. (Courtesy of Dick
Virden) <
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http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/25/080825fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all
Joseph W. Polisi, "The Arts in Global Society," Fletcher Forum, Vol.
32:2, Summer 2008, pp. 161-169. Forum editors Catherine Pfaffenroth
and Erik Iverson interview Polisi (The Julliard School) on the arts in
American society, cultural diplomacy via the arts, and the role of
artists in society and international discourse. Polisi discusses the
New York Philharmonic's trip to North Korea, the Julliard Orchestra's
visit to China, limited government support for the arts, the need for a
focused program of cultural diplomacy, and greater attention by the
Department of State to the arts in citizen diplomacy.
Sherry Ricchiardi, "Offscreen," American Journalism Review,
October/November 2008, 16-23. AJR's senior contributing writer
documents the decline in news coverage of the war in Afghanistan.
Ricchiardi discusses challenges in covering the war. She concludes
the news media's interest has lagged far behind the importance of the
story and that reports continue to show Afghanistan as a success story
when conditions are worsening.
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4602
Philip Seib, The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are
Reshaping World Politics, (Potomac Books, Inc., 2008). Using "the Al
Jazeera effect" as a paradigm for the influence of new media, Seib
(University of Southern California), looks at the global impact of
satellite television and the Internet on the politics of conflict and
collaboration. His book looks at global information flows, the
influence and diversity of multiple channels, media and virtual states,
terrorism, the "cyber-struggle for democracy," and the media's role in
transforming the Middle East. Contains a few pages on U.S. Arabic
language television and radio broadcasting networks Al Hurra and Radio
Sawa.
“A Reliance on Smart Power - Reforming the Public Diplomacy
Bureaucracy,†Hearing before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the
District of Columbia, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, September 23, 2008.
Opening statement, Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/AkakaStatementfortheRecord092308.pdf
Opening statement, Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH)
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/VoinovichStatementfortheRecord092308.pdf
Testimony of Christopher Midura, Acting Director, Office of Policy,
Planning and Resources, U/S for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs,
Department of State
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/MiduraTestimony092308.pdf
Testimony of Douglas Bereuter, President and CEO, The Asia Foundation
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/BereuterTestimony092308.pdf
Testimony of Elizabeth F. Bagley, Vice Chairman, U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy
http://www.state.gov/r/adcompd/rls/110153.htm
[Link to the Commission's 2008 report, Getting the People Part Right: A Report on the Human Dimension of U.S. Public Diplomacy]
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/BagleyTestimonyReport092308.pdf
Testimony of Stephen Chaplin, Senior Advisor to the Stimson Center and American Academy of Diplomacy
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/ChaplinTestimony092308.pdf
Testimony of Ronna A. Freiberg, Former Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Information Agency
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/FreibergTestimony092308.pdf
Testimony of Jill A. Shuker, Fellow, Center for Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/SchukerTestimony092308REVISED.pdf
Link to Subcommittee's website and hearing webcast
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail <
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=be7d1e94-9621-40bf-93ca-fa9910fafd78> &HearingID=be7d1e94-9621-40bf-93ca-fa9910fafd78
Technorati, State of the Blogosphere 2008. Technorati, a leading search
engine and authority on blogs, has issued its latest annual report on
trends and themes in the "Active Blogosphere," which it defines as "the
ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers and readers at the
convergence of journalism and conversation." Technorati tracks blogs
in 81 languages. The report, based in part on a survey of bloggers in
66 countries, has five parts: "Who Are the Bloggers," "The What and
Why of Blogging," "The How of Blogging," "Blogging for Profit," and
"Brands Enter the Blogosphere." Among the conclusions in a report that
contains a wide range of analytical findings and current data:
"Bloggers have been at it an average of three years and are
collectively creating close to one million posts every day. Blogs have
representation in top-10 web site lists across all key categories, and
have become integral to the media ecosystem." (Courtesy of Charles
Maher)
http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/
Three Views on Web 2.0 and the "Wisdom of Crowds"
-- Exuberance
Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, Wikinomics: How Mass
Collaboration Changes Everything, (Portfolio, Penguin Books, Inc.,
2006, 2008). Tapscott and Williams (New Paradigm, an international
think tank) explore how "new competitive principles such as openness,
peering, sharing, and acting globally" are creating deep changes in the
structure and operations of corporations. Although their focus is on
the economic implications of Web 2.0 technologies, they argue
throughout the compelling virtues of mass collaboration for the arts,
culture, science, education, and governance. Tapscott and Williams
acknowledge that hierarchies are not vanishing. This study by two
"digital natives" is written for "digital immigrants" in a variety of
endeavors, including public diplomacy, who are seeking to leverage
collaboration and self-organization strategies.
-- Pessimism
Andrew Keen, The Cult of the Amateur: How Blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and
the Rest of Today's User-generated Media are Destroying our Economy,
Our Culture, and Our Values, (Doubleday, 2007, 2008). Keen, a
self-described polemicist and "pioneer in the first Internet gold
rush," makes the skeptics case: user-generated free content is too
narcissistic, too uninformed, too unfiltered, and too destructive of
economic and political information and values grounded in expertise.
He argues a moral responsibility to protect mainstream media -- "with
its rich ecosystem of writers, editors, agents, talent scouts,
journalists, publishers, musicians, reporters, and actors" -- against
the avalanche of amateur content and the democratized chaos of Web 2.0.
-- A measured look
Cass R. Sunstein, Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge, (Oxford
University Press, 2006, paperback edition, 2007). Sunstein (Harvard
University) provides a sweeping examination of the strengths and
limitations of deliberation and Internet-based methods for aggregating
information. Grounded in the work of thinkers as diverse as Jurgen
Habermas (rational discourse), Friedrich Hayek (price system), and
Lawrence Lessig (innovation and openness), Sunstein offers a range of
ideas on wikis, blogs, open source software, prediction markets,
amplification of errors, cascade effects, hidden profiles, group
polarization, information cocoons, echo chambers, mob psychology, group
think, and collective wisdom. Although he provides many reasons for
pessimism, Sunstein concludes that "it makes sense to bet on optimism"
in weighing promise and risk in the information society.
Gem from the <
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Charles Frankel, The Neglected Aspect of Foreign Affairs, American
Educational and Cultural Policy Abroad, (The Brookings Institution,
1965). Frankel, a professor of philosophy at Columbia University,
wrote this study for Brookings before his appointment as Assistant
Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs in 1965.
Frankel's study is an inquiry into the controlling principles of
American educational and cultural affairs and what those principles
mean in practice. The book examines the role of Cultural Affairs
Officers, conceptual issues in the conduct of educational and cultural
relations, and proposals for reform.
For previous compilations of Public Diplomacy: Books, Articles,
Websites, visit a wiki kindly maintained by the University of Southern
California's Center on Public Diplomacy.
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http://publicdiplomacy.wikia.com/wiki/Bruce_Gregory's_Reading_List <
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