Timothy Garten Ash. America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West, Random House, 2004. Addressing the question “what’s to become of what we used to call ‘the free world?'” Oxford University Professor Garton Ash concludes the US cannot rule unilaterally in an interconnected world and the new Europe can succeed only in a larger transatlantic community. Public opinion, soft power, cultural and political values, information technologies, and the diffusion of threats and opportunities are among the topics discussed. He continues the conversation begun in the book with new material and interactive dialogue on the web.
Susan Bensch. “Inciting Genocide,” World Policy Journal, Summer 2004, pp. 62-69. Bensch, a journalist and lawyer with Amnesty International, examines the role of propaganda through mass media and recent changes in international and domestic law on incitement to commit genocide. Drawing on findings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she argues that music and political speech intended to incite others to commit genocide is a crime.
Mark Blaisse and Michael Fuchs. America! The Brand, Rainy Day Publishing, 2004. The authors of this self-described (100 page) “booklet” published in The Netherlands contend America is a brand that continues to flourish. Drawing on interviews with Business for Diplomatic Action, US Congressional staff, marketing professionals, and Public Diplomacy Council members, Blaisse and Fuchs offer optimistic views on US global advertising, public diplomacy, contradictory elements in anti-Americanism, and the continuing “magic of America.”
Elias Canetti. Crowds and Power. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (first published in 1960; English translation, 1962). Nobel Prize winner Canetti’s classic study remains relevant in an age of “smart mobs,” anti-globalization movements, and terrorist networks. Canetti provides insights into theories and types of crowd behavior. His book (495 pages) examines crowd dynamics and the political power of crowds using a wide range of historical examples from Shiite festivals to the English Civil War to 20th century mass movements.
Daniel Pearl Foundation. The Foundation was formed in memory of journalist Daniel Pearl to further the ideals that inspired his life and work. It’s mission is to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications. Events and information can be found on the Foundation’s website and by contacting executive director Marianne Scott, a retired foreign service officer and public diplomacy professional.
Defense Science Board Task Force. Strategic Communication, September 2004. The DSB’s report offers innovative recommendations relating to Presidential leadership in public diplomacy and military information activities, strategic direction by the National Security Council, creation of an independent, non-profit center to leverage private sector knowledge and skills, changes in the roles of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Joint Chiefs of Staff relating to strategic communication. The Task Force, chaired by DSB Vice Chairman Vincent Vitto, includes members from George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Virginia, National Defense University, Mitre Corp., and DMG, Inc. Three participants are members of the Public Diplomacy Council.
Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell. “Web of Influence: How Blogs are Changing the World,” Foreign Policy, November/December 2004, pp. 32-40. The authors examine how weblogs are changing the landscape for journalists and policymakers. Using examples that include Iraq, China, Iran, and North Korea, they discuss strengths and limitations of blogs and conclude their influence will more likely grow than diminish. Additional readings and international affairs blogs “that stand out from the crowd” are listed.
Tariq Ramadan. “Who’s Afraid of Tariq Ramadan?” Foreign Policy, November/December 2004, p. 20. Editors of Foreign Policy interview Ramadan, a Muslim scholar whose visa to teach at Notre Dame was revoked by request of the Department of Homeland Security. FP frames the interview by asking if Ramadan is “an anti-Semite who preaches moderation out of one side of his mouth and hate out of the other . . . [or] the man to reconcile Islam with modernity.” Excerpts in FP’s print edition; the full interview is online.
Amin Maalouf. In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, Arcade Publishing, (Published 1996, English translation 2000.) Lebanese-born novelist Maalouf (living in France since 1976) examines questions of identity and tolerance in historical, religious, and political contexts. His short, well written book seeks to “understand why so many people commit crimes in the name of identity.”
Maria Rosa Menocal. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, Little Brown and Company, 2002. Yale University professor Menocal writes powerfully of an era when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance and extensive cooperation. Her narrative brings to life the nearly 800 years of the “Andalusian enlightenment” where literature, science, and the arts flourished. [Courtesy of Stephanie Kinney]
Stanley Michalak. “Post-Democratic Cosmopolitans: The Second Wave of Liberal Internationalism,” Orbis, Fall 2004, pp. 593-607. Franklin and Marshall College professor Michalak examines characteristics and limitations of “floating coalitions of single-issue NGOs.” For Michalak, problematic aspects of new internationalism include accountability of leaders, legitimacy of norms, and enforceability of supranational covenants.
Marina Ottaway and Thomas Carothers. “Middle East Democracy,” Foreign Policy, November/December 2004, 22-28. Carnegie Endowment democracy and rule of law experts Ottaway and Carothers ask and address central questions in the debate over democratization in the Middle East. “If democracy arrives in the Middle East,” they contend, “it won’t be due to the efforts of liberal activists or their Western supporters but to the very same Islamist parties that many now see as the chief obstacle to change.”
Howard Smith and Peter Fingar. It Doesn’t Matter, Business Processes Do, Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2003. Smith and Fingar provide a critical analysis of Nicholas Carr’s influential and controversial article, “IT Doesn’t Matter,” published in the Harvard Business Review, May 2003. The spirited debate sparked by Carr’s thesis that technology’s strategic potential inexorably diminishes as it becomes widely accessible and affordable has relevance to public diplomacy and IT change issues in the Department of State. {Courtesy of Joe Johnson}
Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson. “The Sources of American Legitimacy,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2004, pp. 18-32. The authors contend that regaining European confidence in the United States and winning Muslim cooperation needed to lessen the appeal of terrorism will not occur “simply by conducting better ‘public diplomacy’ to ‘make the American case’ to the world, for world public opinion already rejects the case that has been made.” To recapture legitimacy, the US must abandon doctrines and practices.
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Community Connections Program Evaluation. 2004. The Community Connections Programbrings entrepreneurs, government officials, and professionals to the US for 3-to-5 five week homestays and internships in American communities and businesses. Evaluations were based on interviews with 5,429 Community Connections alumni from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan who participated in the program since its inception in 1994. Sixteen follow-up focus groups were held in eleven different cities with 128 alumni.
State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs gets high marks from outside observers for the quality of its program evaluations. Summaries of evaluations are online.
Michael Vlahos. Culture’s Mask: War & Change After Iraq, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, September 2004. In this collection of essays, Vlahos contends the Iraq war has clouded America’s purpose while accelerating change in, and deepening America’s relationship with, the Muslim world with consequences far beyond what we now comprehend. His concluding essay, “Exhuming the ‘War of Ideas,'” addresses public diplomacy as an instrument that worked “reasonably well in the months after 9-11.” However, the invasion of Iraq and its subsequent unraveling have “ruined the U.S. message to the Muslim World.” Vlahos can be reached at michael.vlahos@jhuapl.edu.
Tim Weiner. “Pentagon Envisioning a Costly Internet for War,” The New York Times, November 13, 2004. Weiner quotes proponents and skeptics of the Pentagon’s ambitious plan to build its own Internet.