The Public Diplomacy Council and its members, events and activities
1. FACTS ABOUT THE “LEAN” PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BUDGET: The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) has released an important report that is essential reading for anyone interested in the state of public diplomacy as practiced today by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Called 2020 Comprehensive Annual Report on Public Diplomacy…
By Sherry Lee Mueller and Olivia Chavez The Advocacy Imperative The Public Diplomacy Council mission is to promote excellence in professional practice, academic study, and advocacy for public diplomacy. The first two endeavors are relatively easy to comprehend. It is the third – advocacy – that is often neglected and misunderstood. Yet we are approaching…
1. “POTUS” VISITS FOGGY BOTTOM: A visit to the State Department by the President of the United States (POTUS) is always a major event. (President Trump only visited the building once in four years — for Secretary Pompeo’s 2018 swearing-in ceremony — and once famously joked that Pompeo was head of the “Deep State Department”.) So…
As the United States welcomes a new administration that will tackle the challenges presented by COVID-19 and seek to bridge the nation’s political divide, I would like to call Public Diplomacy Council (PDC) members and blog readers to reflect on what the last historical year allowed us to learn. Shutdowns around the world presented an…
1. “RESETTING” STATE DEPARTMENT: January 27, 2021 was a historic day for the State Department and all who follow U.S. diplomacy. It was the first full day on the job for the new 71st Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Politics and personality aside, it was a welcome change for many, who have felt demoralized under the…
So far, the top issue for the new Biden Administration combining foreign and domestic policy is climate change. And it’s no wonder. Ice caps encircling the North and South Poles are receding rapidly. Their melting is causing all oceans globally to rise threatening vulnerable cities in all continents with inundation beginning within a decade or…
1. THE WORLD WATCHES HISTORY IN THE MAKING: The smooth January 20, 2021 inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris will surely go down in our political and strategic communications history. Although intended for a domestic audience, the jam-packed schedule of televised events over 24 hours reached many international audiences, and must be counted as…
1. A CHILLING WAKE-UP CALL AND THE “INFORMATION WAR”: As Americans — and people around the world — continue to struggle to understand the stomach-churning January 6, 2021 insurrection in the Capitol and the historic second impeachment of President Trump, one concern is crying out for attention: the intersection between democracy and technology. Policymakers, social media…
January 6, 2021, is a day that will live in infamy, not only in the United States but among tens of millions of friends and allies abroad and millions of Americans here at home. The assault by protestors on the U. S. Capitol is an unprecedented 21st-Century challenge for our nation’s public diplomacy. WHAT WAS…
1. THE WESTERN SAHARA PUBLIC DIPLOMACY CHALLENGES: President Trump’s historic December 10, 2020 proclamation recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has created new U.S. policy — and PD — challenges. That territory has long been controversial, and it is quite an uncharted area for traditional diplomacy. After Spain withdrew from its then-colony in 1975, Morocco…