Issue #121

Intended for teachers of diplomacy and related courses, here is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.

Bruce Gregory can be reached at BGregory@gwu.edu  

Bruce Gregory, American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension: Practitioners as Change Agents in Foreign Relations, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). As many readers of this list know, books, articles, and websites are entered alphabetically by the author’s last name. I’m breaking with tradition to call attention to a book that examines how diplomatic practitioners adopted new ideas, tested tools and methods, and transformed American diplomacy. 

I also want to acknowledge the mountain of intellectual debt I owe to so many who have made this list and book possible. The book is about American diplomacy, but it is enabled by the thinking and publications of a global community of scholars and practitioners who believe analysis of diplomatic practice, past and present, helps scholars theorize about diplomacy and diplomats adapt to change.

The book frames US public diplomacy in the broad sweep of American diplomatic practice from the early colonial period to the present. It explores how change agents in rival practitioner communities—foreign service officers, cultural diplomats, broadcasters, citizens, soldiers, covert operatives, democratizers, and presidential aides—revolutionized traditional government-to-government diplomacy and moved diplomacy with publics into the mainstream. It challenges a common narrative that US public diplomacy is a Cold War creation that was folded into the State Department in 1999 and briefly found new life after 9/11. It examines historical turning points, evolving patterns of practice, and societal drivers of an American way of diplomacy: a preference for hard power over soft power, episodic commitment to public diplomacy correlated with war and ambition, an information dominant communication style, and an outsized regard for American exceptionalism. It is an account of American diplomacy’s public dimension, the people who shaped it, and the societization and digitalization that today extends diplomacy well beyond the confines of embassies and foreign ministries.

I am pleased American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension is in the Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy, founded by co-editors Kathy Fitzpatrick (University of South Florida) and Philip Seib (University of Southern California), who was succeeded by Caitlyn Byrne (Griffith University, Australia), and is now helmed by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Vivian Walker (Georgetown University and the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy). The book is available in eBook and print versions here and here.

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Karin Aggestam and Constance Duncombe, eds., “Special Issue: Advancing a New Research Agenda on Digital Disruption in Diplomacy,” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Vol. 19, (2024), Issue 1, Online publication, December 18, 2023. In their introduction to this HJD Special Issue, Aggestam (Lund University) and Duncombe (Copenhagen University) explore concepts and empirical evidence relating to ways information communication technologies manifest “digital disruption” at the micro-level of individual actors and macro-level of diplomacy’s processes and institutions. They begin with a literature review on the digitalization of diplomacy and current research in three areas: technology and diplomatic transformation, diplomatic signaling, and digital transformation. Then they frame a multi-disciplinary research agenda for the study of digital disruptions in diplomacy. Elements include the interplay between actors and systemic factors, how digital disruption reinforces and challenges practices and power structures, varieties of methodologies, and ramifications of big data analysis. They conclude with an overview of the seven articles in this Special Issue that were published online throughout 2023. Four are available through open access. Several were reviewed in earlier editions of this list. These articles are an important resource for scholars and practitioners concerned with the transformative impact of technologies on diplomacy.

“Assistant or Associate Professor (Tenure Track), Grace School of Applied Diplomacy, (24-25),” DePaul University, Chicago, IL. Open date, December 2023. Applications from diplomacy scholars will be accepted until the position is filled. This is a great opportunity for qualified candidates.

Dmitry Chernobrov, Strategic Humor and Post-Truth Public Diplomacy, November 2023, CPD Perspectives, USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Building on research relating to the uses of humor in electoral campaigns and as a tool used in resistance to authoritarian regimes, Chernobrov (University of St. Andrews) makes two arguments. First, he develops “strategic humor” as a concept described as “the use of humor by state and proxy actors to promote narratives that . . . advance state interests, deflect criticism, legitimate policy, and challenge the narratives of others.” Second, he argues an increase in the use of humorous content contributes to a “post-truth public diplomacy, reliant on outreach and popularity mechanisms, fictitious representations, emotive messaging, and exploitation of uncertainty.” His essay analyzes characteristics and advantages of strategic humor through multiple examples of its use by state and non-state actors. He devotes considerable attention to uses of humor by and in response to broadcasts by Russia’s state-funded broadcaster RT. He concludes with a brief discussion of strategic communication as an “appealing” tool of post-truth public diplomacy. Scholars and practitioners will find Chernobrov’s claims instructive, provocative, and well worth reflection and assessment.  

Deborah Cohn, “Crafting the ‘Image of America’: The USIA/University of Pennsylvania Certificate in American Studies (1960-1968,” Diplomatica 3 (2021), 95-115. In this cultural diplomacy case study, Cohn (Indiana University) assesses the history and limitations of a government-sponsored academic certificate in American studies, an initiative developed for use with foreign nationals by the US Information Agency in the 1960s by professor Robert Spiller at the University of Pennsylvania. She discusses collaborative efforts by scholars and practitioners to promote a field of academic study in a cultural diplomacy domain that included the Salzburg Seminar in American Civilization and other activities. Her nuanced analysis places the program in the larger and often problematic context of ways Americans in government and civil society leveraged academic fields in support of the nation’s interests during World War II and the Cold War. She also discusses the program’s shortcomings: its inability to attract candidates; insufficient evaluation of its impact, especially on individuals who failed its exams; tensions between “academic cold warriors” and officials responsible for awarding the certificate; and “key discrepancies between the ‘image of America’ as distinctive, static, and a global leader that scholars and officials alike wanted to project, on the one hand, and what was likely to be most interesting to international audiences during a period of racial strife within the US, the Vietnam War, and decolonization movements.” This excellent, deeply researched article provides insights into US cultural diplomacy’s past with important implications for current practice.

Nicholas J. Cull, Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World, (Polity, 2024). Nick Cull (University of Southern California), one of public diplomacy’s leading historians and conceptualizers, has added a new book to his impressive shelf of publications. It develops his idea that “Reputational Security” is more suitable than soft power as a framing term for today’s era of renewed great power conflict and transformational global challenges. He offers a variety of reasons. It overcomes what he perceives is a mismatch between soft power as understood by public diplomacy practitioners and his understanding of the world, past and present, as a historian. Whereas “soft power” has come to be seen by many as an “optional extra” for the statecraft of top tier countries, “Reputational Security” has value in linking the realms of image and foreign public engagement to statecraft’s highest priority, national defense. It “more explicitly reflects the damage that could come to states whose image has slipped.” Soft power, he argues, has focused on the reputation of single actors. “Reputational Security” is a better fit for an age where the biggest challenges are “fought collectively.” Cull does not intend his concept as a replacement for soft power. Instead, he contends, it is “an alternative way to think” about communication and collective reputation in very different circumstances. His book explores these themes in chapters that discuss why “Reputational Security” is a special concern for diplomatic actors in the 2020s; the reputational challenges of new technologies, disinformation, and counter propaganda; the emergence of diaspora diplomacy; cultural diplomacy and cultural relations; and the war in Ukraine. His book should spark energetic and illuminating debates in academic and practitioner settings on both the practical applications of his concepts and the extent to which “Reputational Security” constitutes a more suitable frame than soft power. See also Cull’s presentation on Reputational Security followed by comments and Q&A moderated by Vivian Walker on the Public Diplomacy Council of America’s First Monday webinar (57 minutes), January 8, 2024.  

Journal of Public Diplomacy, Vol. 3, No. 2, December 2023. Congratulations toJPD, on completing its third year as a peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing theoretical and empirical research and providing a venue for dialogue and debate on public diplomacy. Launched by founding editor-in-chief Kadir Jun Ayhan and published by the Korean Association of Public Diplomacy, its new co-editors-in-chief are Kyung Sun Lee, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates and Zhao Alexandre Huang, Université Paris Nanterre, France. Articles in the current issue, all open access, include:

Weronika Rucka, Rozane De Cock, and Tim Smits (Institute for Media Studies, KU Leuven), “Nation Branding in Times of Refugee Crisis: Digital Media Practices of Belgian and Swedish Governmental Institutions.”

Lisa Gibson (Washington and Jefferson College), “The Impact of Citizen-led Facebook Public Diplomacy: A Case Study of Libyans’ Views of the US.”

Jami Fullerton (Oklahoma State University), John P. Schoeneman, Jr. (Southern Methodist University), and Alice Kendrick (Oklahoma State University), “Nation Branding and International Media Coverage of Domestic Conflict: An Agenda-setting Study.”  

Dongnu Guo, (Griffith University & Center for Australian Studies, China University of Mining and Technology), “How China Constructs Cultural Self-Confidence.”

Alfredo Zeli (Beijing Foreign Studies University), “Book Review Essay.” Paweł Surowiec and Ilan Manor, eds. Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. 

Pablo Sebastian Morales (London School of Economics and Political Science), “Book Review Essay.” Vanessa Bravo and Maria De Moya, eds., Latin American Diasporas in Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

Antonio Alejo (University of Granada), “Book Review Essay.” Alisher Faizullaev, Diplomacy for Professionals and Everyone, Brill, 2022. 

Natalie Grincheva and Elizabeth Stainforth, Geopolitics of Digital Heritage, (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Grincheva (University of the Arts Singapore and University of Melbourne) and Stainforth (University of Leeds) analyze how large-scale data aggregators are transforming the ways cultural heritage is stored and shared by galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and other providers. They explore the geopolitical motives and agendas of digital heritage aggregators at different levels of governance in four case studies: the city-state Singapore Memory Project, the National Library of Australia’s Trove, and the regional and global digital platforms of the European Commission’s Europeana and Google Arts & Culture. Their multidisciplinary approach offers thoughtful ideas on digital geopolitics, soft power, cultural diplomacy, public diplomacy, and the reciprocal effects of what actors do and how production of digital heritage shapes their political agendas. Their book is a critical assessment of the benefits of digital aggregation and the challenges of politically and economically driven projects: politicization, commodification, and sustainability issues resulting from dependence on benefactors’ and stakeholders’ political interests and ambitions.

Kyle A. Long, Global American Higher Education: International Campuses for Competition or Cooperation?  December 2023, CPD Perspectives, USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Long (George Washington University) examines the under-studied role of international campuses of US universities—some branch campuses, some independent, and some micro-campuses in partner institutions. They enroll approximately 720,000 students; a large majority are in China. His study provides historical context and addresses several research questions. What is the scope of America’s higher education institutions outside the United States? How have they evolved, and what are their characteristics? What is their significance for American public diplomacy and soft power? And how can they be strengthened? Long provides an excellent literature review and empirical data set. He addresses interesting conceptual issues, such as whether and how “soft power” should be distinguished from “knowledge diplomacy.” Long concludes that his research provides a baseline for understanding the global landscape of America’s institutions of higher education with a number of important issues still to be addressed.

Francisco Rodríguez-Jiménez, Lorenzo Delgado Gómez-Escalonilla, and Benedetta Calandra, eds., U.S. Public Diplomacy Strategies in Latin America During the Sixties: Time for Persuasion, (Routledge, 2024). Rodríguez-Jiménez (Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Lisbon), Gómez-Escalonilla (National Research Council of Spain), and Calandra (University of Bergamo) have compiled an excellent and needed compendium by accomplished scholars on the “cultural Cold War” in the Western Hemisphere. As Gilbert A. Joseph (Yale University) notes in his Preface, the under-recognized activities of “‘diplomats,’ broadly construed” — government agencies, foundations, scholars and scientists, writers, artists, musicians, and athletes — are a welcome supplement to accounts that focus on military juntas, leftist guerrillas, and CIA-backed coups. Contributors examine varieties of public diplomacy strategies, methods, and initiatives. Some place them in the context of “‘hard’ imperial power and an unbroken, complacent attitude of U.S. exceptionalism.” Chapters include:

Rodríguez-Jiménez, Calandra, and Gómez-Escalonilla, “US Public Diplomacy Strategies in Latin America in Recent Historiographical Debates.”

Gómez-Escalonilla, “Modernizing Latin America! Cuban Revolution, Alliance for Progress, and Development Decade.”

Alan McPherson (Temple University), “US Public Diplomacy Responses to Anti-Americanism in 1960s Latin America.”

Nicholas J. Cull (University of Southern California), “US Public Diplomacy in Latin America: The Regional Quest for Reputational Security, 1917-1968.”

Patrick Iber (University of Wisconsin, Madison), “The Cost of Freedom: The Congress for Cultural Freedom in Latin America.”

Andrés Sánchez-Padilla (Saint Louis University, Madrid), “Development by the Book: US Book Diplomacy and the Latin American Cultural Cold War.”

Fernando Quesada (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo) and Calandra, “Exploring the Liberal Transformation: The Rockefeller Foundation and the Green Revolution in Chile.”

André Gounot (University of Strasbourg), “Sports in the Anti-Cuban Diplomacy of the US: The Example of the Regional Games of San Juan, 1966.”

Victoria Phillips (Wilson Center), “Political Partnering: The Dance of US Diplomacy in Latin America.”

Elizabeth Schwall (University of California Berkeley), “Dancing Across the Sugar Curtain: Choreographing Critiques of the United States in Cuba.”

Símele Soares Rodrigues (University Jean Moulin, Lyon), “American Leads Materially. Why Not Culturally?’: US Fine Arts in Brazil, 1948-78.”

Rodríguez-Jiménez, “Perceptions and Misperceptions in Inter-American Relations.”

A companion book in Spanish is El americano imposible. Estados Unidos y América Latina, entre Modernización y Contrainsurgencia (Sílex Ultramar 2023).

Harilaos Stecopoulos, Telling America’s Story to the World: Literature, Internationalism, Cultural Diplomacy, (Oxford University Press, 2023). In this imaginative and deeply-researched volume, Stecopoulos (University of Iowa) bridges the domains of Cold War studies, American literature, and US cultural diplomacy. His book examines activities of leading writers in state-sponsored overseas visits in the decades after World War II with the primary intent of showing how their cultural diplomacy contributed to the making of US postwar literature. Chapters focus on Archibald MacLeish, Ralph Ellison, Robert Lowell, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many others. These “cultural ambassadors,” sent abroad by the US government to tell “America’s story,” Stecopoulos observes, were often critical of the United States, a consequence seemingly at odds with the interest-based intent of their sponsors. As Louis Menand and others point out, however, critiques of US policies by America’s writers in Cold War cultural diplomacy advanced the goals of discerning US government sponsors who wanted to project the pluralism of American society and show the Soviet Union that dissent was tolerated in the United States. Stecopoulos’s book merits attention for its scholarship and insights into the ways power and culture are intertwined. It also points to the considerable diversity in the multidisciplinary study of diplomacy’s public dimension. (Suggested by Deborah Cohn)

US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Comprehensive Annual Report on Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting: Focus on FY 2022 Budget Data, December 19, 2023. The Commission’s 75th anniversary report, prepared by executive director Vivian Walker and her colleagues with support from staffs at the Department of State and US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), is the premier resource for recommendations and granular budget and program information on US public diplomacy. Readers looking to prioritize the value of this 217-page report should look first to its 25 recommendations to the White House, Congress, State Department, and USAGM at pp.13-16. These brief policy, program, and structural recommendations are at the heart of the Commission’s mandate. They warrant elaboration and follow up by the Commission, assessment by government officials, lawmakers, public diplomacy practitioners, and knowledgeable analysts in civil society. The Commission’s report is a gold mine of current and historical empirical data on US public diplomacy activities carried out by the State Department, USAGM, and US missions abroad. Excellent graphics and formatting enhance the report as a research tool. To celebrate its 75 years as a bipartisan, presidentially appointed advisory panel—with a statutory responsibility to advise the president and State Department and report to Congress and the American people—the Commission invited current and former commissioners, executive directors, practitioners, and partners to reflect on the panel’s past and future. Their comments can be found at pp. iii-xv.

US Government Accountability Office, “Cyber Diplomacy: State’s Efforts Aim to Support U.S. Interests and Elevate Priorities,” GAO-24-105563, January 11, 2024.   In contrast to earlier GAO reports on cyber issues—“Cyber Diplomacy,” GAO-20-607R, September 2020, and “Cyber Diplomacy,” GAO-21-266R, January 2021—this report is more descriptive than prescriptive. It examines activities the State Department is undertaking to advance US interests in cyberspace and the Department’s reports of their impact. It also discusses State’s creation of a new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy in April 2022 and the extent to which this organizational change helped or created challenges in achieving its cyber diplomacy goals. The report is a useful overview of objectives, projects, organizational responsibilities, and operational challenges. It makes a brief reference to a Strategic Planning and Communications Unit responsible for an array of planning, public diplomacy, media, and legislative affairs activities. Challenges include clarification of roles and hiring staff, communication within State on issues relevant to almost all aspects of diplomacy, lack of an agreed definition of cyber diplomacy, and the diverse ways governments, multilateral actors, civil society, and the private sector organize to deal with cyber issues.   

Recent Items of Interest

Matt Armstrong, “Fulbright’s ‘Knee-capping’ of US Global Engagement, Part 2,”  December 13, 2023, Arming for the War We’re In.

J. Brian Atwood, “Military Technology Is Outpacing Our Diplomatic Capacity.”  January 2, 2024, The Hill.

“Professor Robert Banks on the USC Master of Public Diplomacy Program,”  November 7, 2023, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

“Chair Cardin Applauds Passage of State Department Authorization Act and Other Priorities [including US public diplomacy initiatives] in Annual Defense Bill,”  December 13, 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Deborah Cohn, “Transcending Borders With American Studies,”  December 11, 2023, Salzburg Global Seminar; “Fewer U.S. College Students Are Studying a Foreign Language—and That Spells Trouble For National Security,” November 16, 2023, The Conversation.

Robert Darnton, “The Dream of a Universal Library,” December 21, 2023, The New York Review.

Kim Andrew Elliott, “‘Radio Free Everywhere’ Defeats the Purpose of the Voice of America,” January 5, 2024, The Hill.

“The Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation: Fact Sheet,”  January 18, 2024, US Department of State.

Fred P. Hochberg, “America’s Global ‘Soft Power’ Strategy is Aging Poorly—Especially Compared to China’s,”  January 13, 2024, The Hill.

Gordon Humphrey, “Promoting Democracy to a Global Public,” December 27, 2023, Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Fred Kaplan, “Nostalgia for Cold War Diplomacy is a Trap,”  January 5, 2024; “Jazz Played a Unique Role in Cold War Diplomacy. What Can the U.S. Learn From That in 2024,”  December 28, 2023, Slate.

Matthew Lee, “US to Spend $700M on New Embassy in Ireland, Breaks Ground on New Embassy in Saudi Arabia,”  December 12, 2023, AP.

Jim Malone, “A Eulogy for Andre De Nesnera,”  January 2024, Public Diplomacy Council of America; 

C. Raja Mohan, “Is There Such a Thing as a Global South?”  December 9, 2023, Foreign Policy.

Jan-Werner Muller, “The Myth of Social Media and Populism: Why the Moral Panic is Misplaced,”  January 3, 2024, Foreign Policy.

Steven Lee Myers, “State Dept.’s Fight Against Disinformation Comes Under Attack,”  December 14, 2023, The New York Times.

“Senate Approves USAGM Board,”  December 7, 2023, VOA News.

P. W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, “Gaza and the Future of Information Warfare,”  December 5, 2023, Foreign Affairs.

Tara Sonenshine, “More Than 100 Days Later, Where Does the War in Gaza Stand?”  January 18, 2024, The Hill.

Bill Wanlund, “Hearts vs. Minds: Asymmetric Public Diplomacy in Gaza,”  January 4, 2024, Public Diplomacy Council of America; 

Earl Anthony Wayne, “2023: Shaping an Inflection Point or Struggling to Hang On,”  December 14, 2023, Public Diplomacy Council of America.

R. S. Zaharna, “Recognizing 2023 ISA Distinguished Scholars: Eytan Gilboa and Nicholas J. Cull,” CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Philip Zelikow, “The Atrophy of American Statecraft,”  Foreign Affairs, January/February 2024, 56-72.

Gem from the Past

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., The Future of Power, (Public Affairs, 2011). As academics in an emerging discourse look for ways to refashion Joseph Nye’s (Harvard University) ideas about soft power in the context of today’s challenges—while acknowledging their debt to his pioneering scholarship—it is well to keep in mind how relevant his body of work remains. Fourteen years ago, Nye synthesized his thinking in numerous earlier publications on the meaning, types, and uses of power. Hard power and soft power. Their direct and inverse relationships. Resource power and behavioral outcomes. Categories of relational power. Military and economic power. Cyber power. Smart power. And twenty-first century power shifts among states and from states to nonstate actors. The Future of Power was written for the general reader, as were most of his earlier works, but in its extensive, and essential, endnotes he provided “a careful analytical structure” for his theoretical claims and responses to his critics. 

Fast forward to today. Professor Nye has just published A Life in the American Century (Polity, 2024), an account of his journey as a Harvard professor, public intellectual, and practitioner in the State Department, Defense Department and intelligence community. It is the memoir of one of the most influential and accomplished scholars of our generation.  

An archive of Diplomacy’s  Public Dimension: Books, Articles, Websites  (2002-present) is maintained at George Washington University’s Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication.  Current issues are also posted by the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy, and the Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Climate Diplomacy

Iceland’s Ambassador talks about the urgency to take on the challenges of climate change

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC Communications Assistant

At the 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture, Iceland’s Ambassador to the U.S., Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, spoke on Iceland’s position on climate change, especially in the Arctic region.

She discussed the challenges that her country has faced advocating for climate change as the most pressing global issue. The Lecture was attended by an in-person audience at GW’s Lehman Auditorium at the Science and Engineering Hall, and live-streamed.

Photo (L-R): William and Patricia Roberts (representing the Walter Roberts Endowment), Ambassador Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, Frank Sesno, Executive Director of Planet Forward, and William Youmans, Director of IPDGC.


Titled “Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency”, the Lecture featured Ambassador Ellertsdóttir talking about Iceland’s energy development. Being one of the poorest countries in Europe, Iceland began with fossil fuels but started searching for more sustainable energy sources after World War 2. As the world’s largest green energy and electricity producer per capita, Iceland has been using renewable energy for over a century.

“We are powered by 100%. By renewable energy – geothermal and hydro. (It) made perfect economic sense, and…changed our (Icelanders) life drastically,” she said.

Ellertsdóttir noted: “But still, global warming is felt in Iceland, and we can see our glaciers melting. I can see it with my own eyes, I remember the way the glaciers looked when I first traveled. And what they are looking like now is a great difference. (Some) of them have vanished completely.”

The challenge for Iceland is to encourage these efforts on a global scale. Ellertsdóttir explained that the Icelandic government has been working to fulfill the goals of the Paris Agreement, … focusing on local municipalities, private companies, and rallying individuals in a collective effort to reduce emissions. The Icelandic Climate Action Plan calls for the country to be independent from fossil fuels by 2050, and carbon neutral before 2040. Currently, efforts are being made to cut greenhouse gases by 55% by 2030.

While she had hopes that research, innovation, and technology will help along the way, she said that governments must lead by example. In fact, current global conflicts show how important it is to focus on energy security.

In taking questions from the audience, Ellertsdóttir answered an undergraduate student, studying International Climate Policy at GW, who asked about public transportation and reducing private car use. “I’m a public transport person,” Ellertsdóttir admitted but noted “For me, it would have been a no-brainer to have like electric cars, electric buses from many, many years ago. (But) people are so attached to their cars… I mean, people get so angry if someone wants to take away the car.”

At the close of the Lecture, Ambassador Ellertsdóttir reminded all that climate action is a human rights and justice issue and needed to be inclusive – women and girls, indigenous groups, rural and urban communities all need to have a seat at the table. “We need champions for our planet”.

This Walter Roberts Endowment, event is organized by the GW Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication with support from Planet Forward, an initiative to teach environmental storytelling to GW students.

Additional information by Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator.

Supporting Public Diplomacy

December 2023

Dear Friend,
The Walter Roberts Endowment was established by Dr. Walter R. Roberts and his family with the
goal to educate students, recognize leadership, disseminate best practices and to promote appreciation
of the importance of public diplomacy.

Thanks to the generous support of donors like you, the Endowment has supported dozens of students
seeking careers in public diplomacy and has assisted in funding related activities and outreach of the
Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) at the George Washington
University (GW).

Every year, we host the Walter Roberts Annual Lecture featuring renowned leaders in public
diplomacy, global media and communications, and international affairs. Last year, our speaker was
Jodie Ginsberg of the Committee to Protect Journalists speaking on the challenges faced by
international media.

On December 12, 2023, we will have H.E. Ambassador Bergdis Ellertsdottir, Iceland’s Ambassador to the United States who will give this year’s Walter Roberts Annual
Lecture on Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency
.

The Endowment also funds IPDGC’s Award for Congressional Leadership in Public Diplomacy, which
honors members of Congress who have been consistently supportive of public diplomacy in their careers. Last year’s recipient was Sen. James Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In addition to the award, a grant is given to a public diplomacy nonprofit in the recipient’s constituency. Global Ties Idaho was able to create a public diplomacy program to further mutual understanding between Idahoans and international visitors from Latin American countries.

Some new initiatives such as the IPDGC Graduate Fellow and a recent Cultural Diplomacy Workshop, teaching GW students the mechanics of cultural programming, have also received support from the Endowment.

As the year ends, we hope to count on your assistance so that the Endowment and IPDGC can continue with our events, programs and support of undergraduate and graduate students pursuing public diplomacy studies at GW. This was especially important during the pandemic, but moving forward, these funds have also benefited students from diverse socio-economic and international backgrounds.

The success of our work continues with Your Donation Now to the Endowment.

Patricia Kabra
Walter R. Roberts Endowment
Advisory Committee Chair

Dr. William Youmans
Director of IPDGC and Associate Professor, School of Media and Public Affairs

Communicating climate change

Iceland’s ambassador speaks at the 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture

The 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture will feature HE Ambassador Bergdis Ellertsdottir, Iceland’s ambassador to the U.S.

Ambassador Ellertsdottir (left) will speak on the topic of “Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency”.  In this talk, she will discuss the unique position of Iceland in global debates about climate change, particularly the Arctic region. She will discuss the communication challenges and her country’s advocacy on what scientists recognize as the most pressing global issue.

It is no surprise that Arctic affairs are a top priority for the country. Iceland lies completely within the Arctic, with the Arctic Circle passing through its northernmost community, Grimsey Island (circled), 40 kilometers off its north coast. The effects of climate change are very evident in the receding of Iceland’s glaciers and ocean acidification impacting the surrounding marine environment.

Following Amb. Ellertsdottir ‘s lecture, SMPA Professor Frank Sesno will host a conversation and moderate the Q&A session. Sesno is the Founding Director of Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media that teaches environmental storytelling to GW students. The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) and the Walter Roberts Endowment are collaborating with Planet Forward for the Annual Lecture.

Dr. William Youmans, Director of IPDGC, will deliver welcoming remarks at the start of the event.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET(A light reception will be provided at 5:15pm)

Venue: Lehman Auditorium, Science  & Engineering Hall, B1220, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20052

Cybersecuring Democracy

First Monday Forum on election cybersecurity as a PD Focus

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC Communications Assistant

Adam Clayton Powell III and Judy Kang, Executive Director and Program Manager respectively of the USC Initiative on Cybersecurity (pictured with Joel Fischman, PDCA President), spoke on the challenges of election cybersecurity in the digital age. Powell and Kang spoke as a part of November’s First Monday Forum, a recurring collaboration between IPDGC and the Public Diplomacy Council of America (PDCA).

The message was simple: adversaries are attacking democratic elections. Powell explained that non-governmental entities access information such as donor lists and contacts to gain entrance into defense facilities that can disrupt campaign operations. After doing so, these entities, mainly from Russia and China, cause chaos and insecurity in election freedom in democratic nations worldwide.

Powell underscored that “ the reality is that we’re in a race with no finish line,” when it comes to solving cybersecurity challenges for democracies around the world. He expressed concern that the upcoming 2024 election may be more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks than any other election cycle.

The reason, Powell stated, is that there are more common attack vectors worldwide such as weak passwords, multi-factor authentication, social engineering such as phishing, and unprotected data on electronic devices.

The main concern in 2024? Artificial intelligence flooding campaigns and voters with fake videos and misinformation that could falsely sway the electorate.

https://youtu.be/6hZviJy1beQ

The USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative began as a non-partisan project to help educate and protect US campaigns and elections, with support from Google. The initiative expanded in 2022 to include democracies in Europe, Asia, and Africa to exchange best practices in election security.

Bringing the world to Boise

Global Ties Idaho promotes mutual understanding between Idahoans and visitors from across the globe

By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator

In May this year, IPDGC and the Walter Roberts Endowment recognized Idaho Senator James Risch for his contributions to U.S. global engagement. As part of that recognition, nonprofit Global Ties Idaho was awarded a small grant of $5000 to organize public diplomacy programs that serve the Idahoan community.

Recently, Global Ties Idaho participated in the Idaho State Museum Hispanic Heritage Day celebration, ¡Fiesta! The museum event was a celebration of Idaho’s Hispanic heritage and diverse cultures that featured music, art, food, and performances.

Global Ties Idaho organized a booth to introduce participants in a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) who were from Latin America. Maya Duratovic, a member of the board, said that “while Idahoans are familiar with Hispanic Mexican culture, this was an opportunity to meet people from other countries in Latin America – El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Guatemala”.

The IVLP participants were law enforcement professionals visiting the U.S. to learn about  Community Policing and were in Boise for a week.

From left: Jaime Enrique Carballo Castro (El Salvador), Capt. Francisco Perea Fuentes (Panama), Maya Duratovic (Global Ties Idaho), Patricia Fernanda Feijoo Gallo (Ecuador), Ariel Fabrizio Ojeda Aguilera (Paraguay), Carole Schroeder (Global Ties Idaho), Jorge Luis Cartejena Nunez (Honduras)

By creating this opportunity at the museum, over 1000 visitors were able to meet the IVLP participants and learn more about their country’s diverse cultures, people, and histories.

IPDGC has been able to support nonprofits in other states in creating programs for their community; thanks in part to their Congressional representative’s understanding of U.S. public diplomacy and efforts to support that engagement. Read more about past programs supported by these microgrants.