Category: Bruce Gregory’s Resource List

Simon Anholt and Jeremy Hildreth. Brand America: The Mother of All Brands, Cyan Books, 2004. The authors define brand as image, reputation, or “the good name of something that’s on offer to the public.” They trace the concept of America as a brand from colonial times to the present, discuss the impact of today’s anti-Americanism, and offer recommendations (many drawn from recent reports on public diplomacy) for rejuvenating an American “brand in trouble.”

Anne Applebaum. “In Search of Pro Americanism,” Foreign Policy, July/August, 2005, pp. 32-40. Washington Post columnist Applebaum finds “not everyone has chosen to get on the anti-American bandwagon.” She suggests adding new stereotypes — the “Indian stockbroker, the South Korean investment banker, and the Philippine manufacturer” and their equivalents in other countries — to the Arab radical and the French farmer. “They may not be a majority . . . but neither are they insignificant.” Applebaum concludes “their numbers can rise or fall, depending on US policies.” “Their opinions will change according to how often the U.S. Secretary of State visits their cities, and according to how their media report on American affairs.” Includes a sidebar piece by Steven Kull, “It’s Lonely at the Top.” Check Foreign Policy’s website for future posting.

Ralph Begleiter. “Of Battlegrounds and Blogs: U.S. Media and the World,” The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Winter/Spring, 2005, pp. 213-222. University of Delaware journalist-in-residence and former CNN world affairs correspondent Begleiter responds to questions on global news, his law suit seeking access to images of caskets of U.S. soldiers returned from Iraq, how U.S. media and American soft power influence foreign media and attitudes toward the U.S., and the impact of web-based news.

Craig Charney and Nicole Yakatan. A New Beginning: Strategies for a More Fruitful Dialogue with the Muslim World, Council on Foreign Relations, CSR No. 7, May 2005. Drawing on focus group research in Morocco, Egypt, and Indonesia, Charney and Yakatan conclude that “the right efforts to communicate” can produce significant shifts in negative Muslim attitudes toward America characterized by anger, ambiguity, and ambivalence. The authors urge more listening, “a humbler tone,” emphasis on bilateral aid and partnership, toleration for disagreement on policy issues, and significant resources over time.

Cold War Broadcasting Impact, Report on a conference sponsored by the Hoover Institution and the Cold War International History Project, Stanford University, October 13-16, 2004. Includes rapporteur Gregory Mitrovich’s summary of seven panel discussions and a subsequent analysis prepared by A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta, “Cold War International Broadcasting: Lessons Learned.” Panelists included experts from Western and former Communist countries. Useful especially for insights drawn from recently available materials from East European, Baltic, and Russian archives and sections on “lessons learned.” (Courtesy of Barry Fulton)

John F. Harris. The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House, Random House, 2005. Washington Post reporter John Harris’ account of the Clinton years treads lightly on foreign policy and very lightly on public diplomacy. Media, image, and communication issues are discussed in paragraphs on the exit from Somalia and on Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, terrorism, Iraq, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, White House spokesman Mike McCurry, and the President’s trips to Africa (a full chapter), East Asia, and South Asia.

Christopher Henzel. “The Origins of JahresendSEO’s Ideology: Implications for US Strategy,” Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 69-80. Henzel, a foreign service officer and 2004 National War College graduate, argues the United States, Arab regimes, and traditional Sunni clerics share an interest in avoiding instability and revolution. American strategy should understand and exploit the divide between mainstream Sunnis and revolutionary Salafists.

Lawrence J. Korb and Robert O. Boorstin. Integrated Power: A National Security Strategy for the 21st Century, Center for American Progress, June 2005. Korb, Boorstin and the Center’s national security team call for a strategy that links and goes beyond “hard” and “soft” power concepts, leverages alliances and unifying forces of globalization, integrates public diplomacy into all components of national security, and integrates defense, homeland security, diplomatic, energy, and development assistance policies. The Center’s four public diplomacy recommendations (p. 19) include: support for new schools and textbooks as alternatives to extremist madrassas, reexamination of US visa policies, increased funding for exchanges with Muslim majority countries, and partnerships with private media to develop programs about American life and culture.

Steven Kull. The American Public on the Islamic World, Comments By Steven Kull at the Conference on US-Islamic World Relations, Co-Sponsored by the Qatar Foreign Ministry and the Saban Center of the Brookings Institution Doha, Qatar, April 11, 2005. Kull discusses contrasting American views on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the Iraq war, US military presence in the Middle East, tensions between Muslim and Western cultures, and related issues.

James McGann and Mary Johnstone. “Power Shift and the NGO Credibility Crisis,” The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Winter/Spring, 2005, pp. 159-172. The authors contend that terrorist use of NGOs as fronts and some highly publicized cases of abuse call for a critical look at the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of NGOs beginning with “systematic international dialogue” within the NGO community. Their generalized call for agreed upon standards and best practices raise more questions than answers. Contains a useful three-page bibliography.

David Rothkopf. Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power. Public Affairs, 2005. Rothkopf’s readable account of the origins and role of the NSC is based on 130 high level interviews and is useful to those interested in personalities; interagency process; and the political, intelligence, and military instruments of power. Despite the author’s assumptions about the importance of Presidential communication and flagging “decent respect for the opinions of mankind,” the book contains only fleeting references to public diplomacy, psychological warfare, and Truman’s Psychological Strategy Board, There is no discussion of the NSC’s public diplomacy decision directives and coordinating committees in the Reagan and Clinton administrations.

Stacy Schiff. A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, Henry Holt and Company, 2005. Pulitzer prize winner Schiff’s witty and penetrating account is one of the most useful of many recent Franklin biographies for those interested in public diplomacy. Schiff focuses on Franklin in Paris — diplomat, public diplomat, cultural diplomat, media strategist, negotiator, and master of political intrigue. A compelling portrait of America’s first and greatest PAO.

S. Abdalla Schleifer. The Impact of Arab Satellite Television on the Prospects for Democracy in the Arab World, E-notes, Foreign Policy Research Institute, May 12, 2005. Schleifer, director of the Adham Center at the American University of Cairo and publisher of the e-journal Transnational Broadcasting Studies, discusses the positive impact of Arab satellite television on the prospects for democracy in the Arab world. The author cites satellite links and uncensorable transmission technology, lively political program formats, extension of televised political dialogue in cafes and phone conversations in the Arab public sphere, and the side effect of protracted education in the democratic process due to coverage by Al Jazeera’s and Al Arabiya’s London bureaus of political life and parliamentary debates on the Iraq war in the United Kingdom.

Mark Sidel. Fallout from the War on Terror — Part I: Antiterrorism Policy Has Taken its Toll on Foreign Enrollment in US Universities, YaleGlobal Online, June 14, 2005. University of Iowa professor Sidel looks at adverse effects on American campuses deriving from US visa policies, new rules for classification of government documents, and restrictions on controversial speech.

J. Alexander Thier. Fallout from the War on Terror — Part II: A Pattern of Human Rights Violations and Prisoner Abuse Risks Hurting US Credibility in the Muslim World, YaleGlobal Online, June 16, 2005. Thier, a fellow at Stanford’s Center on Democracy Development and Rule of Law and a former legal advisor in Afghanistan, examines distrust stemming from perceptions of double standards between America’s rhetoric of democracy and human rights and a recent pattern of tolerance for human rights violations and prisoner abuse.

Southeast European Times (aka Balkan Times) Web Site. US European Command, Department of Defense. Self-described as “a central source of news and information about Southeastern Europe in nine languages: Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, English, Greek, Macedonian, Romanian, Serbian Latin, Serbian Cyrillic and Turkish,” the Southeast European Times is sponsored by the US military command responsible for operations in Southeast Europe. The website offers “accurate, balanced and forward-looking coverage of developments in Southeast Europe.” US government sponsorship is identified on the drop down “Disclaimer” and “About Us” pages, not on the homepage.

Mona Yacoubian. Promoting Middle East Democracy II: Arab Initiatives, U.S. Institute of Peace, Special Report 136, May 2005. USIP special advisor Yacoubian finds that although the Arab world has been remarkably closed to democratic transformation, recent efforts by the Arab League, governments, and NGOs are producing “an unprecedented dialogue on reform.” The report examines the elements of reform as proposed by indigenous voices and offers recommendations for U.S. policymakers. Flagging U.S. credibility in the region requires quiet, consistent, and indirect engagement through cooperation with European allies and establishing a quasi-public Middle East foundation.

Mariah Blake. “From All Sides,” Columbia Journalism Review, January/February, 2005. The author examines challenges to first hand reporting in Iraq by Al Jazeera, Al Arabyia and other Arab media. Includes views of raqi officials, the U.S. military, the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ Norman Pattiz, and Williams College Arab media expert Marc Lynch.

Nick Crossley and John Michael Roberts, eds. After Habermas: New Perspectives on the Public Sphere, Blackwell Publishing, 2004. These essays continue debate on theoretical and practical implications of Jurgen Habermas’ seminal study, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. An extended introduction provides a useful summary of Habermas’s ideas and the thinking of his critics for the non-specialist (useful for undergraduates studying public diplomacy). Also useful is James Bohman’s essay, “Expanding Dialogue: The Internet, the Public Sphere, and Prospects for Transnational Democracy.”

Paula J. Dobriansky. “Advancing Democracy,” National Interest (subscription required), Fall, 2004, pp. 71-78. The Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs and former member of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy makes a moral and interest-based case for expanding democracy. Her essay discusses a range of U.S. and multilateral initiatives.

Melinda GedlerMeeting the Enemy, Becoming a Friend. This book discusses methods of diplomacy through a personal narrative. Focusing on Citizen Diplomacy, Track Two Diplomacy, and Public Diplomacy, Dr. Gelder uses her own experiences working with the U.S. military in Japan to elucidate how diplomacy can be achieved.

Roxanne L. Euben. Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limits of Modern Rationalism, Princeton University Press, 1999. Wellesley College professor Euben examines Islamic fundamentalist beliefs and activism in terms of their intrinsic meaning and as responses to rationalist discourse and postmodern political theories. Useful for its rich cross-cultural theoretical analysis and practical relevance to public diplomacy in a world where fundamentalist activism grounded in metaphysical beliefs increasingly challenges political knowledge and behavior grounded in language, history, and interests. (Courtesy of Donna Oglesby)

Jurgen Habermas. Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, (published 1996, MIT paperback edition, 1998), 631 pages. In his sweeping account of the rule of law and deliberative democracy, Habermas advances thinking in his The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962) and Theory of Communicative Action (1981). Perhaps the most influential defender of the Enlightenment in the post-modern era, his chapters on civil society, public opinion, communicative power, and the political public sphere are useful for students interested in engaging theoretical issues in public diplomacy.

Karen Hughes. Ten Minutes from Normal, Viking, 2004. Hughes’ memoir on her career and role as a counselor to President Bush contains a chapter on her White House activities following 9/11 and the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan. Chapter 10 (pp. 273 – 288) contains brief accounts of Alastair Campbell’s (Tony Blair’s then communications advisor) influence on her thinking; her role in establishing the Coalition Information Centers in London, Islamabad, and Washington; her views on communication strategies with the Arab and Muslim world; and her efforts to focus on the plight of Afghan women. (Recently available in paperback, Penguin)

Interagency Working Group on U.S. Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training. IAWG is a clearing house for 25 federal agencies engaged in U.S. government-sponsored international exchanges and training programs. Contains links to reports, archives, information resources, non-government partners, and planning and measurement activities.

Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale. “New Leadership, New Hope for Public Diplomacy,” WebMemo #688, The Heritage Foundation, March 15, 2005. Johnson and Dale discuss the nomination of Karen Hughes to be Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Recommendations focus on strengthening the role of the Under Secretary, a commitment to building long-term relationships, and a willingness to coordinate other government agencies.

Kishore Mahbubani. Beyond The Age Of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust between America and the World, Lecture at the Foreign Policy Association, February 28, 2005. The Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and Singapore’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, contends America may be reaching a tipping point where its reservoirs of good will in the world may be off set by reservoirs of ill will. Mahbubani examines sources of both and summarizes arguments in his new book by the same title (Perseus Books, 2005).

Walter Russell Mead. Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at Risk, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Mead, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, provides a searching analysis of strengths and limitations in US grand strategy. Highly critical of the Bush administration’s “disastrous performance” on public diplomacy (pp. 147-151), his recommendations emphasize the importance of world public opinion and finding new concepts to debate strategic goals. He agrees with Paul Berman (Terror and Liberalism) on the totalitarian nature of radical Islam. Like Berman, Mead urges an energized non-government role in the struggle of ideas. “Much of this will not come from government, but from the independent, unguided, and uncontrolled efforts of private citizens, religious groups, foundations, universities, and other institutions.” (p. 178)

Hugh Miles. Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West, Grove Press, 2005. Miles, a journalist and business consultant, provides a comprehensive look at Al Jazeera’s origins, history, programming, and impact.

National Intelligence Council. “Mapping the Global Future.” Report of the National Intelligence Council’s 2020 Project, March 2005. The NIC’s third report looks at global trends drawing on conferences with nongovernmental experts from around the world and focuses on possible scenarios. The report features an interactive web site to facilitate ongoing discussion. Useful are sections on challenges to democratization, new forms of identity politics, universalization of the Internet, projections in growth of religious adherents, estimated ratios of Muslims to ethnic Europeans, and a pervasive sense of insecurity, “which may be as much based on psychological perceptions as physical threats.”

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. “Marketing America,” March 16, 2005. The NewsHour’s Terrence Smith discusses the nomination of Karen Hughes to be Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs with Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Shibley Telhami, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, Harold Pachios, a four-term member and former chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

Kenneth Payne. “The Media as an Instrument of War,” Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93. Payne discusses U.S. media-military relations in post-Cold War conflicts, gaps between practice and international law, embedding, public affairs as an information operation, and strategic communication.

Thomas Pickering. “Diplomacy: The Future,” The Fletcher Forum, Winter 2005. In an artice adapted from his September 2004 convocation speech at The Fletcher School, Ambassador Pickering addresses challenges facing the profession of diplomacy. He defends his support for integrating USIA into the State Department, advocates continued responsibility for public diplomacy by “The Secretary of State and the leadership team in the State Department,” and suggests a number ways to strengthen public diplomacy “fallen on hard times.”

Shaun Riordan. Dialogue-based Public Diplomacy: A New Foreign Policy Paradigm, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, November 2004. Riordan, also author of The New Diplomacy (2003), makes a compelling case for the centrality of public diplomacy to new thinking about terrorism and a broad range of other global issues. Needed are credible non-government agents; engaging Muslims at home as well as abroad; a rich mix of tools including web-based dialogue and an array of civil society initiatives; diplomats more willing to listen, network, debate and “go off-message;” and a “revolution in diplomatic affairs.” (Courtesy of John Brown)

David J. Rothkopf. “Inside the Committee that Rules the World,” Foreign Policy, March/April, 2005, pp. 30-40. Rothkopf looks at the National Security Council, rivalries between transformative (Bush 42) and traditional (Bush 41) forces, and implications of Condoleeza Rice’s move to the Department of State. A useful overview for advocates of new roles for the NSC in public diplomacy and other fields. Rothkopf’s new book Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power, (Public Affairs) will be published in May 2005.

Jesse Sunenblick. “Into the Great Wide Open,” Columbia Journalism Review, January/February, 2005. Sunenblick looks at expansion of “spread spectrum,” a broadcasting technology in which “a transmission is disassembled and sent out over a variety of frequencies, without causing interference to whatever else might be operating within those frequencies, and is reassembled on the other end by a ‘smart’ receiver.” The author discusses regulatory issues and the transforming potential of more powerful Wi-Fi, “frequency hopping,” low cost Internet access, “frequency agile radios,” and increasing miniaturization for journalists, diplomats, soldiers, bloggers, media and citizen activists, and cross-cultural education.

Douglas Thomas and [[Joshua Fouts]]. “New Technology and Public Diplomacy: ‘Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds’,” USC Center for Public Diplomacy. Thomas and Fouts are principal investigators in a cutting edge research project that is looking at the potential role of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) in public diplomacy. Their inquiries seek to understand the opportunities and potential role of virtual worlds in fostering intercultural dialogue and perceptions of values and ideals.

U.S. Department of Defense. Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, Joint Publication 1-02, (April 12, 2001, as amended through November 30, 2004). The Pentagon’s comprehensive online dictionary recently and for the first time has included a definition of public diplomacy: “Those overt international public information activities of the United States Government designed to promote United States foreign policy objectives by seeking to understand, inform, and influence foreign audiences and opinion makers, and by broadening the dialogue between American citizens and institutions and their counterparts abroad.” (Courtesy of Dan Kuehl)

U.S. Department of State. Virtual Presence Posts. State continues to expand the number of virtual posts in its engagement strategy to promote contact and interaction between the citizens of a foreign city or region and citizens of the United States. Virtual posts added in March: Canada, “North of 60,” and Colon, Panama.

Bill Berkeley and Nahid Simadoust. “The Hostage-Takers’ Second Act.” Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 2004, pp. 42-50. Columbia University scholar Berkeley and Time magazine reporter Simadoust interview former young radicals who took over the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and discuss how some have evolved into journalists and political reformers with influence today in Iran’s public sphere.

Mariah Blake. “Targeting Tehran,” Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 2004, pp. 51-54. CJR assistant editor Blake looks at how expatriate Iranian dissidents are using 26 satellite television and 12 radio stations to broadcast to influence public opinion in Iran. Programs include entertainment and span a range of political and social issues.

Thomas Carothers. “Democracy’s Sobering State,” Current History, December 2004. The Director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project finds the state of democracy in the world is becoming more complex and demanding due to a confluence of factors: (1) persistence and rejuvenation of authoritarian forces, (2) economic performance problems in pluralistic systems, (3) economic success in authoritarian systems, and (4) US war on terrorism policies — counterterrorism cooperation with authoritarian governments, tolerance of democratic backsliding, weakened American credibility, and diminished status as a role model.

Defense Science Board Summer Study, 2004. Transition to and From Hostilities, December 2004. This 199-page report of a DSB Summer Study co-chaired by Craig Fields and Philip Odeen examines planning, management, and capability challenges in future stabilization and reconstruction efforts. The report recommends employing capabilities not traditional to U.S. armed forces including a revolution in US strategic communication, substantially increased knowledge of cultures and languages, and making stabilization and reconstruction a core competency of the Departments of State and Defense. The DSB’s Task Force report on Strategic Communication, published in September 2004, was a part of this larger DSB Summer Study.

John Lewis Gaddis. “Grand Strategy in the Second Term,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2005, pp. 2-15. Yale historian Gaddis calls for mid-course corrections in US grand strategy centered on gaining multi-lateral support for pre-emptive use of US military power. Gaddis urges “better manners,” correcting failures in “language” (explaining the purposes of US power rather than flaunting power with a mixture of “arrogance and vagueness”), and making its case in terms of a compelling vision.

Paul Heyer. Harold Innis, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 132 pages. Professor Heyer’s intellectual biography examines Innis’s (1894-1952) evolution as a thinker from respected early works on political economy to his extraordinary influence on current media studies and communications history. Chapters on “The ‘History of Communications’ Project,” “Time, Space, and the Oral Tradition,” “Monopolies of Knowledge and the Critique of Culture,” and “An Enduring Legacy” are especially rewarding.

The Heritage Foundation. “Utilizing Public Diplomacy for Security and Prosperity,” Mandate for Leadership, 2004. The Foundation’s latest Mandate calls for the US to establish “a public diplomacy doctrine,” operating guidelines and principles, independent reporting and budget authority, and new authorities to include “a Public Diplomacy Coordinator for the National Security Council, a strengthened Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy in the Department of State,” and changes in “the outdated Smith-Mundt Act of 1948.”

Russell D. Howard and Reid L. Sawyer, eds. Terrorism and Counterterrorism, (McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2004), 544 pages. Howard and Sawyer, professors in West Point’s Department of Social Sciences, have compiled 33 essays by a range of authors in this updated edition of their 2002 publication. Contributions by Martha Crenshaw, Louise E. Richardson, David Ronfeldt, John Arquilla, Madeleine Gruen, David Rothkopf, and others explore political and religious roots of terrorist activities; network theory, propaganda, and uses of the Internet; and a range of terrorism and counterterrorism strategies.

Mahmood Mamdani. “Whither Political Islam: Understanding the Modern Jihad,“ Foreign Affairs, January/February 2005, pp. 148-155. Columbia University professor Mamdani reviews Gilles Kepel’s The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West (2004) and Olivier Roy’s Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (2004). Mamdani finds the “singular merit” of both is that they take debate on Islam beyond “culture talk” and religious origins to a more nuanced understanding of political and strategic issues. Their “common failing,” he argues, is lack of inquiry into encounters between non-Muslims and Muslims, the importance of the Afghan jihad, and the Western influences that shaped it.

Jared Manasek. “Letter From Belgrade: The Paradox of Pink,” Columbia Journalism Review, January/February, 2005, pp. 36-42. Manasek examines today’s Serbian media environment. He focuses on B92 and its evolution from a student led revolutionary force to operations that now include radio, TV, online, music promotion, and book publishing. And on TV Pink, a media empire with roots in Milosovic’s information ministry. TV Pink has evolved into a powerful commercial broadcasting organization that offers sensationalist news, American movies and Serbian pop music. B92, largely weaned from dependence on foreign aid, faces commercial challenges to its public service approach to broadcasting.

James Norton, “The Defense Science Board Report,” Flakmagazine, December 2, 2004. Jim Lobe, “US Has Zero Credibility Among Muslims — Pentagon Panel,”LewRockwell.com, December 6, 2004. Harlan Ullman, “We’re Losing the War of Ideas,” Baltimore Sun, December 21, 2004. Three of many blogs and opinion columns that looked in depth at the DSB’s report on Strategic Communication.

Olivier Roy. Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, (Columbia University Press, 2004), 349 pages. Professor Roy examines the “the way in which the relationship of Muslims to Islam is reshaped by globalization, westernization and the impact of living as a minority.” Roy analyzes peaceful and violent transnational movements beyond traditional borders and contends Islamic fundamentalism “is not a single-note reaction against westernization but a product and an agent of the complex forces of globalization.” He concludes with a discussion of dialogue, values, and the concept of the “clash of civilizations.”

William A. Rugh, ed. Engaging the Arab & Islamic Worlds through Public Diplomacy: A Report and Action Recommendations, (Public Diplomacy Council, 2004). 174 pages. Eleven scholars and public diplomacy practitioners look at public opinion in the Arab and Muslim worlds and tools of public diplomacy. Contributors include William A. Rugh, Shipley Telhami, Kenton W. Keith, Barry Fulton, James L. Bullock, Alan L. Heil, Jr., Norman J. Pattiz, Marc Lynch, Barry Ballow, Cresencio Arcos, and Howard Cincotta.

Richard Virden. “World Perspective Essay, December 2004,” Benedictine Center for Lifelong Learning, College of St. Benedict/Saint John’s University. Retired diplomat Dick Virden reflects on a Foreign Service career, much of it in public diplomacy — on pro-American perspectives encountered during assignments in Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Thailand, and on growing anti-Americanism in Brazil prompted by the US war in Iraq, which he experienced during his last assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission in Brasilia.

Sheldon Wolin. Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought, (Princeton University Press, 2004), 761 pages. This significantly expanded version of Wolin’s classic 1960 study of political theory includes new material on John Dewey’s “idea of a public;” postmodern concepts of power including the generation, storage, control, and instantaneous transmission of information; the rise of interconnected networks; and ways these concepts decades later challenge the role of the state and political concepts in Wolin’s first edition.

Gordon S. Wood. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, (The Penguin Press, 2004), 299 pages. Those interested in the growing literature on Franklin and in his public diplomacy achievements will find Brown University historian Wood’s Pulitzer Prize winning book a masterful reappraisal. Wood’s selective psychological study includes lengthy assessments of Franklin’s views on the British Empire and influence as a diplomat in France. He reveals a Franklin quite different from the images and myths of the American folk hero developed in two centuries of historical interpretation.

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.

Kenneth Bacon. “Hiding Death in Darfur: Why the Press Was So Late,” Columbia Journalism Review, September/October, 2004. The President of Refugees International and former Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon analyzes Sudan President Omar al Bashir’s media strategy and delays in press coverage of genocide in Dafur.

Benjamin Barber. Fear’s Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy, W.W. Norton, 2003. The author of Jihad and McWorld challenges core assumptions of current strategic doctrine, military force as an instrument of democratization, and policies that confuse the spread of McWorld with the spread of democracy. Barber urges a strategy of “preventive democracy” — an America that promotes “cooperation, multilateralism, international law, and pooled sovereignty.”

John Brown. Changing Minds, Winning Peace: Reconsidering the Djerejian Report. The creator and editor of Public Diplomacy Press Review offers a critique of the report by the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World a year after its release. Brown finds seven serious drawbacks in the report and provides four recommendations to improve America’s cultural and informational programs.

Thomas Carothers. Critical Mission: Essays on Democracy Promotion. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2004. A collection of Corothers’ best essays organized around four themes: democracy promotion in US foreign policy, democracy assistance, the state of democracy in the world, and US efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East. The director of Carnegie’s Democracy and Rule of Law project also includes a comprehensive general bibliography on democratization with separate sections on civil military relations, civil society, decentralization, elections, legislatures, media, the Middle East, political parties, rule of law, and trade unions.

Center for Arts and Culture, Cultural Diplomacy: Recommendations and Research, July 2004. The Center’s 32-page report examines general principles of cultural diplomacy and makes recommendations on government policies, the need to increase federal funding and strengthen existing programs, and best practices in cultural diplomacy. The report summarizes five research papers previously published by the Center and contains a timeline of public and cultural diplomacy events.

The Fog of War. Errol Morris’s Academy Award winning documentary film on former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s reflections on his life and work is available in DVD. A Teachers Guide with eight lesson plans and links to primary sources are available online.

Google’s Public Diplomacy Images. Google’s image website contains approximately 500 .jpg and .gif images linked to the term public diplomacy. The site includes images of several Public Diplomacy Council members.

Gary Hart. A Grand Strategy for the United States in the Twenty-first Century, Oxford University Press, 2004. The former Senator and co-chair of the Hart-Rudman Commission advances a strategy based on democratic principles to replace containment. Hart contends America’s purposes are best achieved through principles and persuasion — “America’s fourth power” — including representative government, Constitutional liberties, press freedom, new collective security structures, and forms of collaborative sovereignty.

House International Relations Committee. Chairman Hyde addresses specific legislative provisions outlined by the 9-11 Commission. The following relate to the State Department’s conduct of public diplomacy:

— Require State to develop an annual public diplomacy strategy in coordination with appropriate agencies.
— Enhance public diplomacy recruitment and training.
— Require a public diplomacy assignment as a condition for promotion to Senior Foreign Service.
— Provide grants to American-sponsored schools in Arab and other predominantly Muslim countries.
— Include promotion of press freedom and professional journalism in the US public diplomacy strategy.
— Increase exchanges in Muslim countries (sense of Congress).

Chairman Hyde’s proposals are included in H.R. 10, 9/11 Implementations Act, Sections 4021 – 4024.

Thomas Kean and Jamie Gorelick. Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations (Rep. Christopher Shays, Chair), August 23, 2004. Two 9/11 Commission members focus on the Commission’s findings relating to public diplomacy as a neglected element of national power and its recommendations on “the struggle of ideas.”

The Shays Subcommittee also heard from Patricia Harrison, Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs; Kenneth Tomlinson, Chair, Broadcasting Board of Governors; Charlotte Beers, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs; Haves Al-Mirazi, Washington Bureau Chief, Al Jazeera; Tre Evers, member, US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy; R.S. Zaharna, American University; and Jess T. Ford, Director, International Affairs and Trade, US General Accountability Office. Each of their prepared statements is available.

Gilles Kepel. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West, Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2004. Kepel examines the impact of global terrorism, the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the “neoconservative revolution in Washington,” military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and radical Islamist doctrines of Bin Laden and Zawahiri. He concludes the most important battle in the war for Muslim minds during the next decade will be fought not in Palestine or Iraq but among second-generation Muslim immigrants in London, Paris, and other European cities who have experienced personal freedom, liberal education, and economic opportunity in democratic societies.

Michael Liedtke. “Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship,” AP, September 25, 2004. AP business writer Liedtke reports that Google’s recently launched Chinese language news service does not display information from websites blocked by Chinese authorities, including such websites as VOANews.com. Google acknowledges and defends its decision. [Courtesy of US Institute of Peace Virtual Diplomacy listserv]

J.D. Lasica. “Transparency Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere,” USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review, Posted August 12, 2004. The author discusses niche expertise, transparency in motives and process, adjacent posting of corrected information and other reasons why many find Weblogs more credible than traditional media.

Jarol B. Manheim. Biz-War and the Out-of-Power Elite, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Inc., 2004. George Washington University’s media and strategic communications professor examines the emergence of a new American “Progressive Movement” founded on a network of foundations and advocacy groups. Chapter 9. “From Networks to Netwar” is a useful overview of power in the information age and tactical uses of networking.

{Manheim’s 1994 book, Strategic Public Diplomacy and American Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press) remains useful for teachers, especially its case studies on public diplomacy strategies of other countries.}

Colin Powell. “The Craft of Diplomacy,'” The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2004, pp. 60-67. The Secretary of State provides a thoughtful assessment of diplomacy as a craft (not a science or an art) based on three core principles: “persuasion in the shadow of power,” coalitions as diplomacy multipliers, and allowing adversaries honorable means of retreat. The Secretary’s article makes no reference to public diplomacy.

Sherri Riccardi. “Missed Signals,” American Journalism Review, August/September. Riccardi examines failures in news gathering, the “administration’s skill at information management, and other reasons for the media’s delay in reporting on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse story.

The article has a link to AJR’s Abu Ghraib Time Line.

Lori Robertson. “Images of War,” American Journalism Review, August/September 2004. AJR’s managing editor examines news organization standards and issues relating to cultural sensitivities in the use of graphic images.

US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. 2004 Report, September 28, 2004. The Commission’s readable and well-designed 40-page report reinforces broad themes central to its reporting for decades and makes numerous tactical recommendations in areas it defines as “short term communication,” “long term communication,” and “broadcasting.” The Commission does not adequately address strategic issues: whether and how public diplomacy can be effective when global attitudes toward US policies are overwhelmingly negative; leveraging private sector skills and imagination; estimates of funding requirements and program priorities; and achieving strong public diplomacy leadership, direction, tasking, and evaluation.

US General Accountability Office. State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors Expand Post-9/11 Efforts, Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, August 23, 2004. GAO’s 16-page statement summarizes its previous studies of State Department public diplomacy and the BBG’s Middle East and Central Asian broadcasting services in the context of the 9/11 Commission’s report. GAO finds “there is no interagency strategy to guide State’s. BBG’s, and other federal agencies communication efforts. The absence of such a strategy complicates the task of conveying consistent messages to overseas audiences.”

{GAO is currently working on a report on developing an interagency strategy for public diplomacy expected in February 2005.}

YaleGlobalOnLine. “Bush Administration Launches Latin Outreach Program,” September 28, 2004. YaleGlobal posts Pablo Bachelet’s 9/28 Miami Herald article on State Department efforts to brief Central American community organizations in the United States on US policies toward their home countries in an effort to address negative views of the United States. YaleGlobal puts the effort in a domestic political campaign context, stating that “In addition to warming the voters to the current presidency, government officials say this project is at heart a ‘public diplomacy strategy to improve the image of the United States.'”

R.S. Zarhana. Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, August 23, 2004. American University communications scholar Zarhana argues the US is pursuing an inappropriate, rather than nonexistent, public diplomacy strategy. America needs to switch strategies from fighting an information battle to building communication bridges.

Zogby International. Impressions of America 2004: How Arabs View America; How Arabs Learn About America, July 2004. In this second six nation study, Zogby measures changes in attitudes since a previous study in 2002. Favorable ratings toward the US have declined sharply. Attitudes toward US policy are extremely low. Attitudes toward American “science and technology,” “freedom and democracy” “movies and TV,” “products,” and “education” remain higher.