The role of public diplomacy in statecraft; professional ethics; organizational principles; arguments for using public diplomacy
Today’s news of President Trump’s ‘termination’ of the Fulbright program for China and Hong Kong brought a memory of a different approach to difficult bilateral relations. (See his Executive Order which among other items commits to “take steps to terminate the Fulbright exchange program with regard to China and Hong Kong with respect to future…
This spring, the Public Diplomacy Council welcomed a new category of Rising Professional members into its ranks. Over the next several weeks, PDC blog readers will have the opportunity to get to know some of these new members via my Q&A series. I was inspired by Olivia Chavez’s interview with Dr. Sherry Mueller (“Wanted: Young…
1. ICE CHILLS INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: Surprise July 6 guidance from ICE — the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – modified temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant foreign students taking online courses in U.S. schools this coming fall semester. The stunning, new ruling has caused widespread confusion, uncertainty and concern since…
My late father used to call particularly bad decisions ‘prismatic mistakes’, by which he meant they were wrong from every angle. We can only call DHS’s July 6 decision about foreign students and online coursework a prismatic blunder. It’s hard to see a way in which the U.S. benefits from sending international students home if…
This article appears in the July-August 2020 issue of Foreign Service Journal. Posted here with permission from the Journal, this version includes endnotes. The text was submitted to the editors on April 30 and finalized on June 8; this version also includes notes to sources published through July 9, 2020. By Donald M. Bishop…
Attendees at First Monday Forum got a data-drawn picture of the extent to which the world is being assaulted by disinformation and propaganda, with the United States in the bullseye. What is public diplomacy’s role? “Perception Hacking: How Russia, China, and Iran Use (and Abuse) Western Information Platforms” was the title. Bret Schaefer, Media and Disinformation…
1. STEPS TOWARD LONG-OVERDUE CHANGE: In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, racism continues to grab the attention of much of the country and even the wider world. Let me cite just a few recent media efforts that might be of interest to PD professionals. A little-noticed move that…
Seven Senators wrote to new global media director Michael Pack threatening budget cuts if the United States-supported media are politicized. The group, in an announcement June 2, expressed “deep concern” over what they termed as a purge by the Trump administration of five senior officers of U.S. international multimedia organizations shortly after the resignation of Voice of…
An Intergenerational Dialogue When newly elected PDC President Sherry Lee Mueller and newly hired PDC Fellow Olivia Chavez first met, they both were unsure what their new responsibilities entailed but they knew one thing; they wanted to work together and learn from each other. What follows is an excerpt from our conversation on multigenerational leadership,…
1. CALLING OUT CHINA: In case you haven’t noticed, official statements on U.S policy towards China have recently become much, much tougher. For proof, go no further than the June 24 speech delivered in Phoenix by National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien. It was a stinging critique of the Chinese Communist Party as a threat…