Professional practice of public diplomacy; tradecraft as opposed to academic study
Disclaimer: This article is excerpted and adapted from a longer thesis paper completed during the author’s participation in the 2019-2020 Kathryn Davis PD Fellowship. The opinions expressed in this article belong to the author only and do not represent the views or policies of the U.S. government. As this paper went to press, Americans…
1.TEACHING ABOUT PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND POWER: The bipartisan U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) is continuing to do productive work to improve the public diplomacy functions vested in U.S. Government entities. Its latest product, Teaching Public Diplomacy and the Information Instruments of Power in a Complex Information Environment, is an 88-page special report intended for…
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…
Interested in citizen diplomacy? Due to globalization, the internet, and long-term democratization trends, citizen diplomacy is likely to grow in the future, becoming a more important part of public diplomacy and international affairs. Citizen diplomacy entails citizen-to-citizen communication and collaboration across borders for political, economic, religious, cultural, educational, or other public purposes. Government funding and…
“One of the great American fallacies is the notion, prevalent among people in all walks of life, that all we need to do is to explain ourselves, our policies, and our way of life to foreign peoples and they will love us — or at least will understand and sympathize with our point of view.” …
A capacity crowd welcomed Croatia’s Ambassador to the United States Pjer Simunovic at a presentation on the value of cultural and educational exchanges for both the United States and partnering nations worldwide. He was joined by a panel of experts gathered for a First Monday Forum event March 2 at the George Washington University School…
That pithy reminder popped out near the conclusion of a January 23 public hearing as the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) issued its 70th annual report on the fine art many P.D. specialists spend their lives fostering —effective international dialogues and exchanges here and abroad: genuine two-way communication in many forums. Three members…
Public Diplomacy Council member David I. Hitchcock, a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Information Agency for 35 years, wrote a short and clear description of how the Public Affairs Section in Tokyo in the 1980s developed a “plan of action” to advance a U.S. foreign policy goal. Since that time, U.S. Public Diplomacy has…
The disinformation, propaganda, and malign narratives that now trouble international relations reach beyond the traditional Public Diplomacy frames of “mutual understanding,” “winning hearts and minds” and “soft power.” They are tools of “sharp power,” defined by the National Endowment for Democracy as “authoritarian influence efforts” that “pierce,…
In June 1970, the Marine Corps Gazette published the text of a talk, “Effective Press Relations,” given to students at the Command and Staff College earlier that year by legendary USIA officer Barry Zorthian. As Public Affairs Officer at the American Embassy in Saigon from 1964 to 1968, he set up the Joint United States…