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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 3, January 16-January 29, 2009

Public Diplomacy at a Crossroad

Speaking at The George Washington University, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman outlined his vision for the future of US public diplomacy. Glassman argued that future public diplomacy should have four main pillars.

Firstly, traditional public diplomacy that puts Americans "face to face with foreigners" though exchange programs, educational scholarships and English-language teaching, is still relevant. Glassman conceded that the cutbacks of "the early 2000s have hurt us badly."

Secondly, a shift toward global strategic engagement (GSE) or a "battle of ideas," needs to continue. Thirdly, Glassman highlighted the importance of improving "cooperation and synchronization within the interagency –that is, government-wide."

Lastly, Public Diplomacy 2.0 helps the US create a conversation in which it acts as "facilitator and convener." Importantly, Glassman sees PD 2.0 as the death knell of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. "This new virtual world is democratic. It is an agora. It is not a place for a death cult that counts on keeping its ideology sealed off from criticism."

Glassman concludes that the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy should be involved, "on the takeoffs, not just the crash landings," and that the position is a national security job, not a public relations job. Glassman's views coincide with the General Accountability Office (GAO), which has listed public diplomacy and strategic communication as the fifth most important issue for the Obama administration, according to the Washington Post.

The GAO report notes that "in today's highly volatile global environment, it is more critical than ever that the United States effectively coordinate, manage and implement its public diplomacy and strategic communications activities to affect foreign public opinion."

In the Los Angeles Times, Joseph Nye echoes the GAO's findings. Nye argues that 'smart power', the combination of hard and soft power, should lead the US to export optimism and hope, not fear. Nye notes that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates agrees with his smart power formulation. "I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use soft power and for better integrating it with hard power."

For Nye, the US can use smart power by reinvesting in global public goods such as development, public health and climate change.

Jack Leslie, writing in Brand Republic, claims that the US needs to "reframe and renew what America stands for." Through harnessing new technologies, Leslie argues that the US needs "a strong message communicated in an inspirational and disciplined way." To do so, the US needs to spend more on soft power according to Leslie, who complains that the US currently spends $350 million annually on public diplomacy, "the equivalent of what the Pentagon spends about every six hours."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also utilized Nye's smart power formulation. John Worne at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy highlights Clinton's support of smart power. According to Clinton, "the full range of tools at our disposal," ranges from "diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural."

While Worne argues for the importance of cultural relations, he acknowledges that "the words culture and power – however smart – sit uneasily together," particularly as cultural diplomacy, "framed to exert power, risks feeling like cultural imperialism – or aggressive boasting." Thus, Worne emphasizes cultural relations based on "sharing" and "genuine people-to-people engagement."

Also at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, Nicholas Cull suggests that the US appoint a "cultural tsar." Cull explains that "arts can help transcend international barriers as well as domestic barriers of race, class and gender." Indeed, "cultural relations are not about business, not about governments, not about institutions, they're about people," says Martin Davidson of the British Council on Kim Andrew Elliott's blog.