Issue #125

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  and BGregory1@aol.com

Bruce Gregory, American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension: Practitioners as Change Agents in Foreign Relations, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). 

Get the eBook text and paperback here. 

Get Kindle and paperback here.

Sherwood Demitz, “Memories From a Cold War Summit,” American Diplomacy, August 2024. In this vivid personal recollection, retired US Foreign Service officer Sherwood “Woody” Demitz discusses his memories of the historic 1972 Nixon-Brezhnev presidential summit in Moscow. It led to détente and signings of the SALT I Treaty, the ABM Treaty, and the US-USSR Incidents at Sea Treaty. Surrounding the substance were pressures on diplomats of a possible last-minute cancellation (the US had dropped aerial mines in North Vietnam’s Haiphong harbor trapping Soviet cargo ships), massive international media coverage, and a dinner for Brezhnev and the Politburo at Spaso House, the residence of the US ambassador. Demitz’s public diplomacy career combined foreign service postings, audience and media research, and international broadcasting.

Mervyn Frost, “The Global Diplomatic Practice: Constituting an Ethical World Order,” in J.E. Spence, Claire Yorke, and Alister Masser, eds., A New Theory and Practice of Diplomacy: New Perspectives on Diplomacy, (I.B. Taurus, 2021), 15-36 [see book review below]. Frost (Kings College London) makes interesting and debatable claims pertinent to discourse on practice theory, ethics and diplomacy, and public diplomacy. First, in contrast to many scholars who treat practice theory as what practitioners do instrumentally and situationally, Frost analyzes diplomatic practices as constitutive components of “the global society of sovereign states” and “global civil society.” Second, it follows, he argues, that in a world of diverse ethical codes, ethical standards for diplomats cannot be drawn from beyond diplomacy. Rather, they “can only be understood from within the social practices in which they are constituted as actors.” He divides everyday global diplomatic practices into “administration” (e.g., issuing passports, facilitating trade, and managing exchanges) and “politics” resolving disputes between states “about the rules of association within the global practice of states” (e.g., about claims to territory, reparations after wars, and constitutional issues in international organizations). Third, Frost contends these practices have become more complex due to media and communication forms open to publics and the “extensive strategic communications” of government leaders, which he states is sometimes “misleadingly referred to as ‘public diplomacy.’” A more accurate term, he argues, is simply “international politics” or the struggle for power and material advantage. 

Frost’s chapter is useful because it prompts reflection on salient issues in practice theory and ethics in diplomacy. However, it is problematic in its assumption of a hard binary between the society of sovereign states and a “macro practice” of anarchy in the absence of central government — a category distinction that overlooks a vast domain of governance rules, norms, and institutions in the space between anarchy and government. His offhand dismissal of public diplomacy fails to consider that in essence it is a political instrument central to diplomatic practice and relationships between government and governance actors and their publics. For an insightful review of the book and Frost’s chapter, see Kristin Anabel Eggling, “Review Feature: New Perspectives on Diplomacy,” E-International Relations, July 9, 2022. 

Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, (Random House, 2024). In this sweeping new book, Harari (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind) challenges what he calls the “naive view” of information. By this he means the idea that information’s primary role in history is to represent a preexisting reality, that sufficient information can lead to truth, which in turn can lead to power and wisdom, and that good information will drive out bad information in the marketplace of ideas. For Harari, most information does not represent reality, although sometimes it does. Rather, because information always connects different points in a network, our starting point should be how information connects people and new networks over time. Part one of the book discusses ways humans invented information technologies that improved connectivity — shared stories, clay tablets, print, mass media. Chapters explore how information networks have been used to create myths and bureaucracies, authoritarian and democratic power structures, resurgent populism, fantasies of infallibility, and self-correcting mechanisms.

With part one as an essential historical perspective, part two interrogates AI — a fundamentally different technology that does not rely on human mythmakers and human bureaucracies to function. What happens when computers with autonomous agency run bureaucracies and invent new myths? How should we distinguish between consciousness and independent decision-making capabilities? What are the implications of computer-to-computer information chains without humans, relentless networks that are always “on,” and computer-generated narratives that a computer’s algorithms alone curate and interpret? What do these inorganic information capabilities mean for democracy, economic models, cultural norms, and instruments of governance and political power? Harari is not a technology determinist; we have choices. In part three he explores the implications of unfathomable AI algorithms for democracy, populism, and authoritarianism, possible “digital empires,” and the heavy responsibility of making good choices and building strong self-correcting capabilities. Harari earned his global reputation by making powerful arguments through impressive storytelling, humor, and conceptual clarity. Some reviewers, including technology experts and scholars bent on writing for other specialists, are critical of Harari’s account. But there is broad reader and reviewer enthusiasm for his creative bridging of scholarship and public discussion of one of the most important issues of our time. His book is a compelling read for teachers and students of diplomacy’s public dimension.

Stuart MacDonald and Andrew Murray, Soft Power at a Turning Point: A Comparative Analysis, 2024, British Council. In this 50-page report, commissioned from ICR Research Ltd, London, the authors compare the “cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy” activities of the British Council and counterpart organizations. Key findings include the following. (1) Countries are focusing soft power assets more on national interests and their foreign and economic policies than shared global challenges. (2) More programs are designed for domestic audiences. (3) Soft power is increasingly mobilized to promote national identities “sometimes assertively or controversially.” (4) More control is “exerted by governments over arm’s length bodies like the British Council.” The report, filled with instructive graphics, compares resources, “digital maturity,” and global reach. The authors recognize a variety of challenges in their comparative analysis: dissimilar connections between governments and civil society, differences in definitions of soft power, complexities in operationalizing digital and analog tools and methods, and structural contrasts between foreign affairs ministries and organizations comparable to the British Council. Despite these analytical concerns, the report is an instructive global overview and online resource for teachers and practitioners.

Jessica T. Mathews, “What Was the Biden Doctrine?”  Foreign Affairs, September/October, 2024. The Carnegie Endowment’s Distinguished Fellow Jessica Mathews argues four years is insufficient time to establish a foreign policy doctrine. Nevertheless, Biden’s commitment to diplomacy backed by strength is an approach well-suited to today’s world if it is not overturned by a successor. Her article is a report card on Biden’s achievements and strategic mistakes. High grades: winning the trust of allies, institutionalizing a deep American presence in Asia, restoration of a US presence in multilateral organizations and agreements, ending the longest “forever war” in Afghanistan, and an innovative response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Low grades: undermining an ambiguous “one China” policy and escalating tensions over Taiwan, a stubborn unwillingness to use US leverage with Israel to reduce staggering levels of death and suffering in Gaza, trade protectionism, lack of sustained nuclear arms control and nonproliferation diplomacy, a Manichean division between autocracies and democracies, and an unproductive “Summit for Democracies.” Mathews makes no predictions in the face of historical uncertainties, but overall Biden has used diplomacy to bring about profound changes in foreign policy “not to accommodate American decline but to reflect the country’s inherent strength.”

Ahmed Nabil, “Contact Groups as Diplomatic Intervention Tools in Civil Wars: US Diplomacy,”  The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Online publication July 25, 2024. Nabil (Wayne State University and a former diplomat) examines contact groups as a distinct mode of diplomatic intervention and engagement in conflicts. Contact groups are different from track one and track two negotiations, he argues, and they do not include parties to civil wars. Using qualitative methods, consisting primarily of unstructured and anonymous interviews with mid-career, senior, and former US officials who participated in conflict group meetings, his article examines case studies of contact groups in civil conflicts in Libya’s P3+3, the Syria Small Group, and the Yemen Quartet. His interview questions explored each groups’ formation, meeting dynamics, relations with UN processes, and effectiveness from the US perspective. Nabil concludes the three groups failed to achieve success in achieving a final settlement. Nevertheless, they served US interests. They were a forum for dialogue and advancing US policies. They were a means to build support for UN envoys in these conflicts. And they helped to achieve US interests such as guaranteeing Libyan oil exports and financial support to territories liberated from ISIL in Syria. Nabil also argues this mode of diplomacy can support engagement between stakeholders with different views of conflict and provide a useful supplement to other modes of multilateral diplomacy. His article is a good example of how analysis of practice can illuminate conceptual issues in diplomacy.

Jack Spence, Alastair Masser, and Claire Yorke, eds., New Perspectives on Diplomacy, A New Theory and Practice of Diplomacy, Volume 1, Contemporary Diplomacy in Action, Volume 2, (I.B. Tauris, 2021). Spence (Kings College London), Masser (Legatum Institute), and Yorke (Yale University) argue a seismic shift in world order and complex emerging challenges pose fundamental questions for the nature, practice, and study of diplomacy — fading American hegemony; rising multipolarity; geopolitical, technological, and demographic changes; and diminished distinctions between war and peace, state and non-state actors, formal and informal dialogue, and values and interests. Chapters in two volumes explore what these trends mean for continuity and change in the study and practice of diplomacy. Volume 1 includes chapters on diplomacy and ethics, identity, and empathy; relations between diplomacy and conflict resolution, small state politics, summitry, and intelligence; and the theoretical value of practice theory. Volume 2 includes chapters on diplomacy and social media, the environment, information war, domestic populations, emotions, and social movements. Diplomacy remains indispensable, the editors contend, and its “widening aperture” embraces more actors and more sub-disciplines. Central questions going forward: what skills and experiences will next generation diplomats need; how should we study and teach diplomacy; and how should we bridge the academic / practice divide? (Suggested by Kathy Fitzpatrick, University of South Florida)

Daya Kishan Thussu, Changing Geopolitics of Global Communication,  (Routlege, 2024). Thussu (Hong Kong Baptist University and previously University of Westminster in London) examines issues at the intersection of geopolitics — shaped by decline in a US-led West, the rise of China, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and global communication — shaped by transformative digital technologies and the role of artificial intelligence in weaponizing information. Chapters explore the historical origins of the 21st century’s global information infrastructure, “digital democracy vs. digital imperialism,” how military conflict has been framed by Western media to advance geopolitical interests, weaponization of information in the Russia-Ukraine war, cyberwarfare, and emerging characteristics of a new global information order.

Kate Wright, Martin Scott, and Mel Bunce, Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America,  (Oxford University Press, 2024). Efforts by government officials to politicize news coverage by the Voice of America (VOA) have been present from its creation. Senior VOA broadcasters were fired for their coverage of Italy’s King Victor Emanuel III in 1943. Senator Joseph McCarthy mounted vile attacks on VOA in the 1950s. The White House and senior USIA officials deleted content in VOA’s coverage of the US evacuation from Vietnam in 1975. The State Department tried to prevent VOA from airing an interview with Taliban leader Mullah Omar in 2001. Examples from a very long list. In this timely book, Wright (University of Edinburgh), Scott (University of East Anglia), and Bunce (University of London) take a deep dive into VOA’s politicization by US Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack during the last seven months of the Trump administration. Adopting the theoretical framework of “government capture” — understood as ways governments and civil society allies directly and indirectly politicize journalism in public service media — the authors discuss Pack’s actions in detail, their cumulative effect in undermining democratic checks and balances, and VOA’s vulnerabilities to future politicization. 

The book brings needed scholarship to examination of historical, conceptual, and practitioner issues in government media. It is distinguished by its evidence-based research, much of it derived from Freedom of Information Act requests. It also serves as a needed reform primer for those seeking to strengthen VOA’s journalism firewall and address continuing risks of politicization. There is one significant weakness in their research. The authors did not seek to interview Pack, his appointees, and others on the questionable grounds that doing so risked disrupting the “delicate processes” of investigations that might result in criminal and civil lawsuits.

Irene Wu, Measuring Soft Power in International Relations, (Lynne Reiner Publishers, 2024). Irene Wu (Georgetown University, US Federal Communications Commission) takes a deep dive into the meaning and measurement of soft power. She argues soft power can be quantified in ways that make possible comparisons across societies and political entities and analyses across time. Her soft power rubric has three people-to-people interactions — emigration, studying abroad, and traveling abroad — and a fourth mediated interaction, watching foreign movies. These indicators are arranged on a spectrum spanning short- and long-term attraction. Part one of the book explores recent conceptual developments in soft power research and how ideas from related fields of study can provide tools to study soft power. Part two applies her conceptual framework to case studies: US movies and popular culture, international education hubs, India’s emigrants, Russia’s and China’s soft power compared, soft power in Southeast Asia, and the strengths and limitations of global soft power rankings.  

Recent Items of Interest

Madison Alder, “State Department Conducting Market Research on an LLM it Could Customize,”  August 5, 2024, FedScoop.

Matt Armstrong, “Two Examples of Disinformation, One of Great Comms, Plus a Still Relevant Observation,”  September 17, 2024; “Functional Discrepancy: Syncing Geographies of Bureaucracies,”  September 13, 2024; “Tactical Solutions Will Not Fix a Strategic Defect,”  September 9, 2024, Arming for the War We’re In substack.

Kadir Jun Ayhan, “Diplomacy Analytics LLC.” Research Consultancy Firm.

Evan Cooper and Lucas Ruiz, “Domestic Engagement is Needed in State Department Modernization,”  September 9, 2024, Stimson.

Michael Crowley, “Senior U.S. Diplomat Will Lead Kamala Harris’s Running Mate’s Team,”  August 2, 2024, The New York Times.

Gordon Duguid, “USIA: Let It Be,”  July 30, 2024, Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Renee Earl, “Getting NATO Membership to 32: Why We Needed Public Diplomacy,”  August 2024, American Diplomacy.

Francesca Ebel and Mary Ilyushina, “Artists Say Putin’s Push for Patriotism is Killing Russian Culture,”  July 29, 2024, The Washington Post.

Kristin Eggeling, “Field Notes from the Bay: Why are There Diplomatic Offices in Silicon Valley?”  August 30, 2024, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, “It’s Time to Fix the Foreign Service to Give Diplomacy a Chance,”  August 6, 2024, Newsweek.

Alexey Gorbachev, “Russian Hacker Attacks Target Former US Ambassadors, Reveal Prior Penetration,”  August 28, 2024, Voice of America.

Garrett M. Graff, “Antony Blinken Dragged US Diplomacy Into the 21st Century. Even He is Surprised by the Results,”  September 4, 2024, Wired.

Bruce Gregory, “Remembering Tom Korologos (1933-2024),” August 2024, Public Diplomacy Council of America.

“Tom Korologos, Former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, 91,”  July 31, 2024, The National Herald; Brian Murphy, “Tom Korologos, Guru of Senate Confirmation Crossfire, Dies at 91,”  August 1, 2024, The Washington Post; Richard Sandomir, “Tom Korologos, Sherpa of Republican Nominees Dies at 91,” August 7, 2024, The New York Times.

Stuart Holliday, “America’s Mega-decade of Sports Is a Powerhouse of Diplomacy,”  August 17, 2024, The Hill.

Susan R. Johnson, “Project 2025: Department of State,”  July 29, 2024, Fulcrum.

“Kaine and Young Introduce Bill to Empower State Department and USAID to Counter People’s Republic of China, Other Threats,” July 31, 2024, Senator Tim Kaine Press Release; Gabe Murphy, “Senators Want to Infect Other Agencies with ‘Unfunded’ Wish Lists,”  August 6, 2024, Responsible Statecraft.

Kathy Kemper, “Sports Diplomacy Playing on in Paris Sets a Global Example,”  August 6, 2024, The Hill.

“Daniel Kimmage: Countering Disinformation Through Resilient Information Ecosystem, Partnerships,”  September 18, 2024, This Day.

Dana S. LaFon, “How the U.S. Can Counter Disinformation from Russia and China,”  August 14, 2024, Council on Foreign Relations.

Jorge Marinho, Julio Ventura, Lourenco Ribeiro, “Media Diplomacy and the Ongoing Armed Conflict in Ukraine,”  August 2, 2024, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Samantha Masunaga, “As Hollywood and Streaming Go Global, U.S. State Department Leans on Power of Film,”  September 19, 2024, Los Angeles Times.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “Invest in Soft Power,”  September 9, 2024, “Letters to the Next President,” Foreign Policy.

Kathryn Palmer, “Defense Department Cuts 13 of Its Language Flagship Programs,”  May 15, 2024, Inside Higher Ed.

Mitzi Perdue, “A New England Yankee Tells America’s Story,”  September 11, 2024, CEPA.

Rick Ruth and Scott Lingenfelter, “The High Ground of Soft Power,”  August 2024, Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Cynthia P. Schneider, “Afghanistan: A Window Onto a Potential Harris-Walz Pivot on Foreign Policy,”  and “Breakdancing in Afghanistan: Cultural Resilience Three Years After U.S. Withdrawal,”  August 29, 2024; CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

“A Short-term Work Visa Shows the Benefits of Immigration,”  August 8, 2024, The Economist.

Tara Sonenshine, “Gaza’s Fighting Pauses for Vaccines Show Power of Health Diplomacy,”  September 4, 2024, The Baltimore Sun.

Dan Spokojny, “Advice for the Inaugural Provost of the Foreign Service Institute,”  September 12, 2024; “Ten Principles for Foreign Policy Expertise,”  September 5, 2024; “State Department FFRDC: Public Comment for the Federal Register,”  August 14, 2024, Foreign Policy Expertise Substack.

Dan Spokojny, “How to Embrace Uncertainty in Foreign Policy,”  August 21, 2024, Foreign Policy Expertise Substack.

“Talent is Scarce. Yet Many Countries Spurn It,”  August 15, 2024, The Economist.

Paul Tassi, “‘The Diplomat’ Season 2 Gets An Imminent Release Date on Netflix,”  August 8, 2024, Forbes.

US House Committee on Small Business Interim Staff Report, “Small Business: Instruments and Casualties of the Censorship-Industrial Complex,” September 2024;  Gabe Kaminsky, “Embattled State Department Office [Global Engagement Center] Skirted Mandate in Funding ‘Censorship’ Groups: House GOP,”  September 10, 2024, Washington Examiner.

Tim Walz, “Dear Foreign Service: We’ve Got Your Back,”  January-February 2018, The Foreign Service Journal.

Michael Walzer, “Israel’s Pager Bombs Have No Place in a Just War,”  September 21, 2024, The New York Times; Brian Finucane, “Law of War Questions Raised by Exploding Pagers in Lebanon,”  September 18, 2024, Just Security.

Jian (Jay) Wang and Andrew Dubbins, “What Artificial Intelligence Means for Public Diplomacy,”  August 12, 2024, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Bill Wanlund, “Feminists to the Fore,”  September 2023; “Resetting Public Perceptions in Chile,”  August 2024;Remarks by Ambassador Bernadette M. Meehan, recipient of PDCA’s 2024 award for Public Diplomacy Leadership by a Senior Officer, August 2024, Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Gem from the Past

Marcy E. Gallo, “Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): Background and Issues for Congress,” Congressional Research Service (CRS), Updated April 3, 2020. The CRS defines FFRDCs as a special class of research and development (R&D) institutions owned by the federal government, but operated by universities, other nonprofits, and industrial firms. They provide federal agencies with R&D that cannot be obtained within government or the private sector alone. The State Department through Federal Register notices is requesting public comment on its first proposed FFRDC for diplomacy. This CRS report provides information on the origins, activity types, characteristics, and federal funding of the 42 FFRDCs sponsored by the 13 federal agencies (currently 15) when the report was written. The report summarizes issues of interest to Congress: agency oversight and management, competition with the private sector, diversification of activities or “mission creep,” competitive FFRDC contracts vs. long-term relationships with sponsoring agencies, and aging infrastructures. The State Department seeks an FFRDC for R&D in three areas: Diplomatic Innovation and Modernization, Global CyberTech Solutions, and Global Operations and Acquisitions.

In 2008, a Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication report called for an R&D center such as RAND with multiple capabilities. They included facilitation of knowledge transfer across government through a help desk staffed by subject experts, assessments of cultural dynamics and societal values, audience segmentation analysis and behavioral trends, up-to-the-minute knowledge of media trends and communication technologies, a knowledge base for public diplomacy implementation and evaluation, a locus for project experimentation, and sustained memory of core data, best practices, and research. The recommendation was dismissed by State at the time. It still has value and deserves a second look today.

An archive ofDiplomacy’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, the Public Diplomacy Council of America, and Len Baldyga’s email listserv.

A warm welcome to our Visiting Scholar from New Zealand

By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator

IPDGC welcomes Professor Natalia Chaban, professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Professor Chaban is a leading expert in image and perceptions studies within the EU and IR contexts, and in public diplomacy and political communication.

As a Visiting Scholar with our Institute, she will be researching “Public diplomacy at times of conflict and crises”, which will allow her to apply and extend her expertise in image and perceptions studies, international political communication and media ecology studies, while considering the three cases informed by her original theorization of the perceptual approach to foreign policy studies.

Professor Chaban has led multiple transnational research projects externally supported by the Erasmus+ of the European Commission, Foreign Policy Instrument Division of the European Commission/European External Action Service, EU member states’ embassies and NATO.

She is also widely published in high impact foreign policy journals such as Journal of Common Market Studies, Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of European Integration and Foreign Policy Analysis.

Our Institute and the wider GW scholarly community look forward to collaborating with Professor Chaban on this very topical and timely research.

Considering opportunities at the State Department

IPDGC Career talk with senior U.S. diplomats

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC communications assistant.

At the recent career talk held on September 13th, GW students had many questions to ask: “Does having a graduate degree improve employment prospects at the Department of State?”

“What are your recommendations for making yourself a good candidate for an FSO position in undergrad?”

“How did you end up specializing in economics?”

“What is it like working for different presidential administrations?”

Senior Foreign Service Officers Chris Teal (left) and Michael Newbill spoke to over 50 undergraduate and graduate students about a variety of career opportunities available to them at the US Department of State.

The two senior diplomats are currently on detail at the George Washington University. Chris is the Public Diplomacy Fellow at IPDGC and teaches public diplomacy, and Michael teaches classes in communication and global strategies.

Apart from giving information about programs available for students wanting short-term involvement with the State Department – internships, fellowships, study abroad – both also shared their experiences in overseas postings and how they prepared for the professional and personal challenges. Michael and Chris spoke about having the mindset to advance national interests abroad and handling the challenge of being questioned about everything that happens in the U.S.

“When you are representing the US, you have to be ‘on’ 24-7. This is not a 9-5 job,” Chris added.

Some takeaways from yesterday were: State jobs don’t always require a graduate degree; YES to studying languages; and explore both the diplomatic and civil service positions to better understand what works for you. The Department publishes information on paid internships and fellowships, and those students who want to get on the career path to a State Department role, they can learn more about the Pickering, Rangel, and Clarke fellowships.

Issue #118

Intended for teachers of public 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

Marguerite Cooper, “Through the Rearview Mirror: The 1970s Reform of Women’s Role in Diplomacy,” The Foreign Service Journal, 100, No. 6, (July/August, 2023), 44-47. In this informed and instructive article, retired Foreign Service Officer (FSO) Marguerite Cooper narrates “what near ground zero looked like 50 years ago for women” in US diplomacy. After summarizing varieties of inequities, she describes reform initiatives that over time led to change: FSO Alison Palmer’s successful Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint in 1971, her sex discrimination class action lawsuit against the State Department in 1976 (Cooper was a co-plaintiff), the important role of the Women’s Action Organization, and initiatives of State’s Open Forum Panel. Cooper cites FSJ articles and Alison Palmer’s book, Diplomat and Priest: One Woman’s Challenge to State and Church (2015), as useful supplements to her account. Palmer’s account provides essential additional information. She and other FSOs were activists in State’s American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union in the 1970s. Palmer is generous in her praise for AFGE’s EEO specialist Judith Hirst and FSO Harrison Sherwood “who devoted hundreds of hours to working” on her EEO complaint and for the Foreign Service women who were named plaintiffs in her class action lawsuit.  

Mai’a K. Davis Cross and Saadia M. Pekkanen, eds., “Space Diplomacy: The Final Frontier of Theory and Practice,” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 18, Issue 2-3 (May 2023). In this timely and innovative special issue, Cross (Northeastern University) and Pekkanen (University of Washington, Seattle) compile essays that analyze theories and practices of an eclectic array of diplomacy practitioners. They include scientists, astronauts, space enthusiasts, professional diplomats, space agencies, private companies, start-ups, think tanks, and empowered individuals. The essays illuminate ways “persuasion, communication, and bargaining” are shaping interactions, conflicts, and outcomes in the burgeoning global space economy. In their introduction Cross and Pekkanen discuss varieties of space diplomacy, science space diplomacy as a distinct category, their framework of analysis, and an overview of the articles. This HJD special issue is instructive for many reasons, particularly its focus on the range of practitioners, their uses of methods in diplomacy’s public dimension, and ways diplomatic practice informs both theory and political, economic, and military policies and outcomes. Their introduction is especially valuable for its insights at the crossroads of theory and practice in an understudied domain in societized diplomacy. All articles are open-access. 

Research Articles

William Stewart and Jason Dittmer (University College, London), “More-than-Human Space Diplomacy: Assembling Internationalism in Orbit.”

Kunhan Li (University of Nottingham) and Maximilian Mayer (Bonn University), “China’s Bifurcated Space Diplomacy and Institutional Destiny.”

Saadia M. Pekkanen, “Japan’s Space Diplomacy in a World of Great Power Competition.”

Marianne Riddervold, (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences) “The European Union’s Space Diplomacy: Contributing to Peaceful Co-operation?”

Nikita Chiu (University of Exeter), Orbis non sufficit—Co-operation and Discord in Global Space and Disarmament Governance.”

Nancy Riordan (University of Massachusetts, Boston), Miloslav Machoň, and Lucia Csajková (Prague University of Economics and Business), “Space Diplomacy and the Artemis Accords.”

Mariel Borowitz (Georgia Institute of Technology), “Let’s Just Talk About the Weather: Weather Satellites and Space Diplomacy.”

Practitioners’ Perspectives

Jan Wörner (German Academy of Science and Engineering), “Space Diplomacy.”

Rick W. Sturdevant (United States Space Force), “Deterrence and Defense: The US Military and International Partnering for Peace in Outer Space.”

Naoko Yamazaki (Space Port Japan Association), “Space Diplomacy from an Astronaut’s Viewpoint.”

Frank White (The Human Space Program, Inc.), “Space Diplomacy and the ‘Overview Effect.’”

Timothy Garton Ash, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe,(Yale University Press, 2023). In his latest book, Garton Ash, celebrated journalist, intellectual, author of Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected WorldThe Magic Lanternand many other works, turns to a panoramic view of Europe’s journey over the past half century. Part memoir, part history, and part critical reflection, his account narrates events as seen by an observer and participant: the postwar destruction, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and more. Garton Ash’s vignettes, authoritative analysis, and beautiful prose will captivate both those who have lived Europe’s odyssey and those who have not. (Courtesy of Dick Virden)

Eytan Gilboa, ed. A Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy, (Edward Elgar, 2023). The contributors in this important new compendium are a globally and academically diverse mix of senior scholars at the top of their game, scholar/practitioners, and younger scholars with considerable promise. Gilboa (Bar-Ilan University) grounds the volume on several assumptions. Public diplomacy is an emerging field of study and practice. It is “the most multidisciplinary field in the social sciences.” It is a field struggling with critical questions relating to concepts, boundaries, methods, and practice. His Research Agenda examines many of these questions and research priorities. Gilboa’s overview essay and the attention knowledgeable scholars and practitioners give to under-researched issues are what make this book valuable.  

A still unresolved predicate question going forward, however, is whether public diplomacy should be considered an independent field of study and practice. Gilboa believes it should be, but he is attentive to an alternative, which he frames as the claim by some that public diplomacy is a “subfield of international relations or public relations (PR).” This alternative and his argument for an independent field of study are challenged by a key consideration. If public diplomacy is now central to the practice of diplomacy, as compelling evidence increasingly shows, should it be framed as an important and integrated dimension of diplomacy studies and diplomatic practice? Regardless of how this “field of study” issue is resolved, the chapters in the book constitute a significant contribution to critical questions in scholarship and practice.

Following Gilboa’s opening chapter, “Moving to a new phase in public diplomacy research,” A Research Agenda divides into three parts: actors, disciplines, and instruments.

Part I

·      Caitlyn Bryne (Griffith Asia Institute), “States: public diplomacy contests in Asia”

·      Phillip Arceneaux (Miami University), “International organizations”

·      Candace L. White (University of Tennessee) and Wilfried Bolewski (Freie Universität Berlin), “Corporate diplomacy”

·      Efe Sevin (Towson University) and Soheala Amiri (University of Southern California), “City diplomacy”

·      Paul Lachelier (Learning Life) and Sherry L. Mueller (American University), “Citizen diplomacy”

Part II

·      Nicholas J. Cull (University of Southern California), “History”

·      Craig Hayden (Marine Corps University Command and Staff College), “International relations”

·      Kathy R. Fitzpatrick (University of South Florida), “Public relations”

·      R.S. Zaharna (American University) and Amelia Arsenault (US Department of State), “Relational and collaborative approaches” 

·      Alicia Fjällhed (Lund University) and James Pamment (Lund University), “Disinformation”

·      Steven L. Pike (Syracuse University), “Management”

Part III

·      Natalia Grincheva (University of Melbourne), “Cultural diplomacy”          

·      Simon Anholt (Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index), “Nation as brand”

·      Shawn Powers (US Department of State), “International broadcasting”

·      Giles Scott-Smith (Leiden University) “International exchanges”  

·      Ilan Manor (Ben Gurion University), “Digital public diplomacy” 

·      Jian Wang (University of Southern California) and Jack Lipei Tang (University of Southern California), “Hybrid communication”

Alan K. Henrikson, “The Role of Diplomacy in the Modern World,” chapter 11 in Reimagining the International Legal Order​, ed. Vesselin Popovski and Ankit Malhotra (Routledge, 2024),145-168. Henrikson (Lee E. Dirks Professor of Diplomatic History Emeritus and founding Director of Diplomatic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy) explores an important and under-researched question. “What, if any, is the international legal framework within which public diplomacy is, and should be, conducted?” He frames his analysis in a discussion of five interrelated steps: (1) the origins and “historically evolved” meaning of the term public diplomacy, (2) the range of public diplomacy activities and how they can vary with country size, (3) his central legal-normative question, (4) challenges to public diplomacy in the international political system and global communications space, and (5) a critique of responses to these challenges and suggestions of ways public diplomacy could strengthen the international legal order and contribute to global comity and human enlightenment. Scholars and students will benefit from Henrikson’s analysis and the considerable supporting evidence he provides. His chapter is especially valuable for its interrogation of legal, normative, and organizational foundations for public diplomacy—and for the questions generated by his concluding discussion of norms, narratives, power, and diplomacy in the context of cyber security and the war in Ukraine. 

Journal of Public Diplomacy, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Summer 2023). JPD’s current issue contains the following articles.  All are open access.

Kadir Jun Ayhan (Ewha Womans University), “Rethinking Soft Power from the Power Recipient’s Perspective: Voluntary Compliance is Key.” In his lead essay, JPD’s Editor-in-Chief explores three ideal types of compliance with soft power wielders’ desires: fear, appetite, and spirit-based compliance. He examines their meaning in a historical case study of regional actors’ compliance with a China-centric hierarchical order in East Asia.

Thomas A. Hollihan and Patricia Riley (University of Southern California), “Public Diplomacy Arguments and Taiwan.” Hollihan and Riley examine public statements, military actions, and media narratives in relations between the US, Taiwan, and China; Taiwan’s use of soft power, and evidence drawn from the cases of the COVID pandemic, silicon chips competition, war in Ukraine, and heightened tensions between the US and China.

Nicholas J. Cull (University of Southern California), “From Propaganda to Reputational Security: An Intellectual Journey Around the Role of Media in International Relations.”  In this invited article, acclaimed historian Nick Cull reflects on his career and intellectual journey from his student years to the present. 

Roger Croix Webb (US Department of State), “Behavior Change Through Public Diplomacy: Incorporating Behavioral Science Into Program Design.” Webb explores how behavioral science principles can provide better ways to evaluate public diplomacy activities. He discusses limitations of traditional evaluation methods, a case study on the evaluation of US-sponsored educational advising in Central Africa using behavioral studies of two scholars, Angela Duckworth and Patricia Devine, and whether the case was scalable or a one-off success. A thought-provoking article—well worth an academic seminar and focused conversations in think tanks and foreign ministries.

Natalya Steane (Coventry University, UK, and Aarhus University Denmark), [Book review essay], Jane Knight, Knowledge Diplomacy in International Relations and Higher Education, (Springer Nature, 2022).

Lindsay M. McCluskey, John Maxwell Hamilton, and Amy Reynolds, “When Propaganda Became a Dirty Word,”  Journalism History 49, no. 2 (2023): 149-157. McCluskey (State University of New York, Oswego), Hamilton (Louisiana State University) and Reynolds (Kent State University) examine how the words “propaganda” and “publicity” were used during the years prior to, during, and after World War I. Their article combines a narrative of how the words were used in public discourse, in a military/war context, and in mass communication scholarship with a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of their usage in The New York Times. Their research documents the evolution of propaganda from narrow and benign meaning prior to World War I to a term that after the war achieved a pejorative meaning that rendered it useless except as a label for adversaries. “Publicity” did not “come out of the war unscathed.” But, although it sometimes had “an unwholesome side,” it did not experience a negative usage anywhere near that of “propaganda,” and it continued to be used in a variety of promotional and public relations contexts.

Philip Taubman, In the Nation’s Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz, (Stanford University Press, 2023). It takes a writer with unusual talent to render a compelling biography of a protean figure whose years in the private sector included appointment as dean of the University of Chicago’s School of Business, stints at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study and Hoover Institution, and president of the global construction and engineering company Bechtel. And whose public service included combat as a US Marine in World War II, Dwight Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisors, Richard Nixon’s Secretary of Labor, Office of Management and Budget Director, and Treasury Secretary, and seven years as Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State. Former New York Times national security reporter Philip Taubman meets the challenge and then some. His insider account of Shultz’s tenure as Secretary of State, a substantial part of the book, fascinates for its focus on his relations with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, his role in the Geneva and Reykjavik summits, his complicated view of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), and his tensions with Reagan administration hardliners. Of particular interest are Shultz’s quiet conversations with Soviet leaders about how science and technology “are creating new ways of working, new ways of making decisions.” They listened intently, Taubman writes, even if their actions did not always accord with their intellectual enthusiasm. In his diplomacy and speeches, Shultz was an information age pioneer. “Closed and compartmented societies,” he argued, “cannot take advantage of the information age.” He would not be a good fit with today’s Republican Party. But he was a very good fit with the diplomacy that ended the Cold War.

Spring 2023 Snapshot on International Educational Exchange,  Institute of International Education (IIE), June 2023. IIE’s Snapshot, written by Julie Baer and Mirka Martel,contains data on trends in international students studying in the US in spring 2023 and US study abroad in summer 2023 and academic year 2023-2024. Key findings: most international students are studying in person on US campuses, international student applications continue to increase, and US institutions are supporting refugees and displaced international students, 

Richard Wike, et al., International Views of Biden and U.S. Largely Positive,  Pew Research Center, June 27, 2023. Pew lists two top line findings in this survey of global attitudes in 23 countries, many of which it identifies as US allies. (1) Views of President Biden and the United States overall are largely positive (Biden’s median favorable rating is 53%; the US has a median favorable rating of 59%). (2) Overwhelmingly, most (a median rating of 83%), believe the US intervenes in the affairs of other countries, “but most also believe the US contributes to peace and stability around the world.” Opinion is “essentially divided” on whether the US considers the interests of others when it is making foreign policy decisions.” On a range of questions relating to what Pew calls “American soft power,” the US gets above average marks for its technology, entertainment, universities, and military. It receives lower marks for its standard of living, and many think the US “is lesstolerant and a more dangerous place to live compared with other wealthy countries.”

US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, The Role of Public Diplomacy in Democracy Promotion, ACPD Official Meeting Minutes, April 13, 2023. The Commission’s meeting, held at Stanford University, focused on ways US public diplomacy programs can more “effectively promote and defend democratic values in an increasingly authoritarian and illiberal global context.” Issues discussed by panelists included attention to multilateral approaches, more listening, avoiding the term “US democratic values,” a massive increase in exchanges, treating all US broadcasting networks as grantees, and making democracy promotion a higher State Department priority. The panel, moderated by executive director Vivian Walker, included Larry Diamond (Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution), Kathryn Stoner (Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law), and Michael McFaul (former US Ambassador to Russia and Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies).

Recent Items of Interest

Gordon Adams, “Diplomatic Disaster: The State Department Is Its Own Worst Enemy,”  July 9,2023, Sheathed Sword.

Ravi Agrawal, “Why America Has a New Tech Ambassador [Nathaniel Fick],”  August 14, 2023, Foreign Policy.

“America’s States Are Pursuing Their Own Foreign Policies,”  June 1, 2023, The Economist.

Peter Baker, “To Foreign Policy Veteran, the Real Danger Is at Home,”  July 1, 2023, The New York Times.

Martha Bayles, “Propaganda in Paradise?”  Spring 2023, 79-80. Claremont Review of Books; “Remembering Henry Pleasants: The Career of a Critic Who Found the Meaning of Jazz,”  Summer 2023, The Hedgehog Review.

Peter Beinart, “This Reagan-era Villain Has No Place in the Biden Administration,”  July 12, 2023, MSNBC. 

“Britain Has Blown Its Reputation as a World Leader in Aid: Blame a Botched Merger of Its Aid and Diplomatic Corps, Lower Spending, and More Secrecy,”  July 27, 2023, The Economist.

Paul Farhi, “Voice of America Drops Host Accused of Spreading Russian Propaganda,”  June 17, 2023, The Washington Post.

Jack Forrest, “Biden Nominates Controversial Former Trump-appointee to Public Diplomacy Commission,”July 3, 2023, CNN

Ellie Geranmayeh, Jason Pack, Barbara Stephenson, and Garvan Walshe, “Is Netlix’s ‘The Diplomat’ Factual or Farcicial?”  June 4, 2023, Foreign Policy.

Elaijah Gibbs-Jones, “U.N. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s Secret Weapon? ‘Red Beans and Rice Diplomacy,’”  June 20, 2023, MSNBC.

Stephen Golub, “The U.S. Has a Mixed Record of Promoting American-style Democracy Abroad,”  July 4, 2023, The Washington Post.

Marc Grossman, Marcie Ries, and Ronald Neumann, “The State Department Needs a Reserve Corps,”  July 9, 2023, TheMessinger.

Elizabeth A. Harris and Alexandra Alter, “A.I.’s Inroads in Publishing Touch Off Fear, and Creativity,”  August 2, 2023, The New York Times.

Fred P. Hochberg, “Cultural Diplomacy is an Essential US Strategy,”  July 19, 2023, The Hill.

The IC Data-Driven Future: Unlocking Mission Value and Insight, August 2023,The IC Data Strategy, 2023-2025, United States Intelligence Community.

Joseph Lieberman and Gordon Humphrey, “To Save Putin’s Victims, Launch an Information War Against the Kremlin,”  August 1, 2023, The Hill.

Thomas Kent, “Demoting the D-Word,”  June 14, 2023, Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)

Rachel Oswald, “Cardin, Hagerty Aim to Fund Modernization Panel for US Diplomacy,” June 5, 2023, Roll Call.

Michael Rubin, “Voice of America Mismanagement Is a National Security Issue,”  June 7, 2023, Washington Examiner.

James Ryerson, “Harry G. Frankfurt, Philosopher With a Surprise Best Seller, Dies at 94”  July 17, 2023, The New York Times.

Nadia Schadlow, “The Forgotten Element of Strategy,”  June 22, 2023, The Atlantic.

“SFRC Chairman Menendez Delivers Floor Remarks Prior to Cloture Vote for Elizabeth Allen,”  June 13, 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Tara Sonenshine, “Hiroshima Attack Marks Its 78th Anniversary—Its Lessons of Unnecessary Mass Destruction Could Help Guide Future Nuclear Arms Talks,”  August 1, 2023, The Conversation.

Tara D. Sonenshine, “See the World, Know the World: The Case for Study Abroad,”  June 30, 2023; “Blinken’s Beijing Trip Puts US Diplomacy Back on Track,”  June 20, 2023, The Hill.

“The US Needs a Better Publicist,” June 2023, Talking Points, 19-20, Foreign Service Journal.

Mary Yang, “Biden to Nominate Elliott Abrams, Who Lied Over Iran-Contra, to Key Panel,”  July 8, 2023, The Guardian.

Fareed Zakariah, “The United States Can No Longer Assume That the Rest of the World is on its Side,”  June 2, 2023, The Washington Post.

Gem From the Past  

Raphaël Ricaud, John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit—The Difficult Art of Practicing Public Diplomacy, Angles: New Perspectives on the Anglophone World, published online November 1, 2015. John L. Brown, PhD in Romance languages, Paris correspondent for the New York Times, poet, and contributor to numerous European and American literary journals became a highly regarded Foreign Service Officer and cultural attaché with the US Information Agency in Brussels, Rome and Mexico City during the early Cold War. His voluminous papers are archived in Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library. In this online essay, Ricaud (Paul Valery University, Montpellier, France) mines his papers to show how Brown used wit for diplomacy purposes. Humor strengthened cross-cultural ties. Quips relieved tensions. It was a way to communicate “what could not otherwise be said.” 

As Ricaud summarizes: Brown “was not the epitome of the cultural attaché because he used wit and diplomacy. He stood out because he used wit as diplomacy. His examination of Brown’s correspondence with friends, colleagues, and host country citizens is an illuminating window into cultural diplomacy as practiced by a legendary master of the profession. Scholars and practitioners will find this paper a useful supplement to John L. Brown, “But What Do You Do?” Foreign Service Journal 41, no. 6 (June 1964): 23-25. His son, diplomat John H. Brown, served in the US Foreign Service from 1981-2003 and is known for his highly regarded Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review

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.

IPDGC welcomes Visiting Scholar Seung-Keun Lee of Keimyung University

Dr. Seung-Keun Lee is a professor in the Political Science Department at Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea.

By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator

At GW, Lee will be conducting research into “Public Diplomacy and Northeast Asian Peace Building”.

Though the Cold War has long ended, there is much effort to curtail tensions in the region. Some potential areas of conflict are: the Korean Peninsula, the China-Taiwan issue, the China-U.S. trade conflict, and territorial issues between Japan-Russia and Japan-China.

Lee will look at how the United States, Japan, China and Russia implement their diplomatic strategies and policies in the region. He notes that public diplomacy in the practice of foreign policies – amid the changes in global diplomatic paradigms – will be an answer to building peace in the region.

IPDGC looks forward to having Lee join our other prestigious Visiting Scholars at IPDGC this spring semester.

Public Diplomacy Studies Award 2023 – applications now closed

The Walter Roberts Endowment, through IPDGC, has been consistent in supporting and recognizing GWU graduate students interested in public diplomacy.

Since 2011, the Endowment has awarded a GWU Elliott School graduate student who has shown academic excellence in their studies related to public diplomacy.

The awardee receives a prize for their academic excellence in Public Diplomacy studies while at George Washington University and will get recognized at the Elliott School’s commencement ceremony at the end of the academic year. 

Eligibility
Applicants for the award must be on schedule to graduate from the Elliott School of International Affairs this spring term. Applicants are also asked to provide:

  • A resume
  • A 500-word essay on their goals for pursuing further studies or careers based on their PD courses
  • due by March 13 by 5:00 PM ET

DEADLINE for Applications has passed: March 12 by 11:59 PM ET