CIAO DATE: 12/02

Public Diplomacy: A Strategy for Reform

Council on Foreign Relations

July 2002

Abstract

A consensus is emerging, made far more urgent by the war on terrorism, that U.S. public diplomacy requires new thinking and decision-making structures that do not now exist. We must make clear why we are fighting this war and why supporting it is in the interest of other nations as well as our own. Because terrorism is considered the transcendent threat to our national security, it is overwhelmingly in the national interest that the United States formulate and manage its foreign policies in such a way that the war on terrorism receives the indispensable cooperation of foreign nations.

The purpose here is not to increase U.S. popularity abroad for its own sake, but because it is in the U.S. national interest. Doing so requires a deeper understanding of foreign attitudes and more effective communication of our policies. It also means fully integrating public diplomacy needs into the very foundation of our foreign policies in the first place. Particularly now that we are fighting a war on terrorism, we must come to understand and accept that “image problems” and “foreign policy” are not things apart: They are both part of an integrated whole.

In sum, we must make clear the U.S. government’s commitment to public diplomacy as a central element in U.S. foreign policy. Significant reform is urgently needed to bring strategic planning, focus, resources, and badly needed coordination to this effort.

Specifically, this report recommends five urgent areas of reform:

1. Develop immediately a coherent strategic and coordinating framework, including a presidential directive on public diplomacy and a Public Diplomacy Coordinating Structure led by the president’s personal designee.

2. Increase customized, “two-way” dialogue, as contrasted to conventional one-way, “push-down” mass communication, including an “engagement” approach that involves listening, dialogue, and debate that increases the amount and the effectiveness of public opinion research, and that fosters increasingly meaningful relationships between U.S. and foreign journalists.

3. Significantly increase private sector involvement, including greater use of credible and independent messengers, and the creation of an independent, not-for-profit “Corporation for Public Diplomacy.”

4. Raise the effectiveness of public diplomacy resources, including State Department reforms that make public diplomacy central to the work of all diplomats and ambassadors, a Quadrennial Diplomacy Review, an Independent Public Diplomacy Training Institute, and a Public Diplomacy Reserve Corps.

5. Increase public diplomacy resources, including the building of a congressional committee structure, support for public diplomacy, and enhanced resources in key areas of modern communication.

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