U S Public Diplomacy

Presenting the latest historical research on public diplomacy, this book highlights the fact that the United States has not only been an important sponsor of public diplomacy, it also has been a frequent target of public diplomacy initiatives sponsored by others.

There is much discussion these days about public diplomacy—communicating directly with the people of other countries rather than through their diplomats—but little information about what it actually entails. This book does exactly that by detailing the doings of a US Foreign Service cultural officer in five hot spots of the Cold War - Germany, Laos, Poland, Austria, and the Soviet Union - as well as service in Washington DC with the State Department, the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Part history, part memoir, it takes readers into the trenches of the Cold War and demonstrates what public diplomacy can do. It also provides examples of what could be done today in countries where anti-Americanism runs high.

"Communicating with the World" defines and examines public diplomacy in the context of a government's conduct of foreign affairs and identifies its rationale as an outgrowth of the worldwide communications revolution, ideological conflicts, and the interdependency of nations. The book explains the evolution of U.S. public diplomacy since World War II in terms of enabling legislation, the actions of successive directors of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA). In particular, it concentrates on the specific ways in which the U.S. government practices public diplomacy through its diplomatic missions abroad, noting the role of the ambassador and the "country team" and the importance of dialogue-- the two-way learning experience of public diplomacy. Several chapters analyze the methods and media employed in conducting public diplomacy, such as press, publications, libraries, lectures, exhibitions, and educational and cultural exchange programs. Separate chapters discuss the uses of radio (the Voice of America) and television. The book details how public affairs officers and their staffs at U.S. diplomatic missions select the audiences for each of these approaches and identify and present specific issues in terms of specific target groups. The author demonstrates the responsibility of public diplomats to advise Washington and its ambassadors in the field on the intercultural implications of U.S. foreign policies and actions and their effect on foreign public opinion. He offers a critique of current U.S. public diplomacy practices and four detailed case histories, drawn from his thirty-five years' experience in the Foreign Service. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Proponents of American public diplomacy sometimes find it difficult to be taken seriously. Everyone says nice things about relying less on military force and more on soft power. But it has been hard to break away from the longtime conventional wisdom that America owes its place in the world primarily to its muscle. Today, however, policy makers are recognizing that merely being a "superpower" - whatever that means now - does not ensure security or prosperity in a globalized society. Toward a New Public Diplomacy explains public diplomacy and makes the case for why it will be the crucial element in the much-needed reinvention of American foreign policy.

Public diplomacy describes a government¿s efforts to conduct foreign policy and promote national interests through direct outreach and commun. with the population of a foreign country. Activities include providing info. to foreign publics through broadcast and Internet media and at libraries and other outreach facilities in foreign countries; conducting cultural diplomacy, such as art exhibits and music performances; and admin. internat. educational and professional exchange programs. This report discusses the issues concerning U.S. public diplomacy. Determining levels of public diplomacy funding. Establishing capabilities to improve monitoring and assessment of public diplomacy activities. Charts and tables.

This book presents a comprehensive framework, six pathways of connection, which explains the impact of public diplomacy on achieving foreign policy goals. The comparative study of three important public diplomacy practitioners with distinctive challenges and approaches shows the necessity to move beyond soft power to appreciate the role of public diplomacy in global politics. Through theoretical discussions and case studies, six pathways of connection is presented as a framework to design new public diplomacy projects and measure their impact on foreign policy.

Public diplomacy - the uncertain art of winning public support abroad for one's government and its foreign policies - constitutes a critical instrument of U.S. policy in the wake of the Bush administration's recent military interventions and its renunciation of widely accepted international accords. Wilson Dizard Jr. offers the first comprehensive account of public diplomacy's evolution within the U.S. foreign policy establishment, ranging from World War II to the present. Dizard focuses on the U.S. Information Agency and its precursor, the Office of War Information. Tracing the political ups and downs determining the agency's trajectory, he highlights its instrumental role in creating the policy and programs underpinning today's public diplomacy, as well as the people involved. The USIA was shut down in 1999, but it left an important legacy of what works and what doesn't in presenting U.S. policies and values to the rest of the world. Inventing Public Diplomacy is an unparalleled history of U.S. efforts at organized international propaganda.

Empire of Ideas examines the origins of the U. S. government's programs in public diplomacy and how the nation's image in the world became an essential component of U. S. foreign policy.