Barack Obama may be the best exponent of American publicdiplomacy since Benjamin Franklin, inspiring a newly hopeful attitudeabout the United States in many parts of the world. But beyond thepresident himself U.S. public diplomacy lacks coherence and impact.
A simple definition of "public diplomacy" is a government(and some non-state actors) reaching out to foreign publics, ratherthan confining itself to the government-to-government communication oftraditional diplomacy. As long as U.S. policymakers continue to seekan answer to the post-9/11 question, "Why do they hate us?" publicdiplomacy should be an integral part of America's approach to the restof the world.
Instead, the Obama administration, like its predecessor,has given little indication that it understands that today's world ofglobal communication and dispersed influence requires systemic reformof the way public diplomacy is developed. Much of American publicdiplomacy remains rooted in the Cold War-era assumption that the worldyearns for information from the United States. That may have beentrue when the alternative to such worthy institutions as the Voice ofAmerica was Radio Moscow, but no longer.
In the Arab world, for instance, news channels such as Al Jazeera andAl Arabiya have great credibility; Arab viewers can see the worldthrough Arab eyes rather than relying on Western providers such as theBBC and CNN, or on the principal U.S. government effort in this field,Al Hurra television. This Arabic-language news channel is largelyignored or ridiculed in the Middle East, all for upwards of half abillion U.S. taxpayer dollars. The U.S. broadcasting effort wouldhave more viewers and greater effect if instead it just provided thenightly American network newscasts dubbed into Arabic.
All this matters because public diplomacy is not merely an exercise tomake people around the world feel warm and cuddly toward the UnitedStates. American policymakers work at a disadvantage when they mustdeal with widespread hostility as they develop and advance U.S.priorities. Also, public diplomacy should be considered the keystoneof antiterrorism efforts.
Granted, the Osama bin Ladens of the world are never going to be wonover; they need to be dealt with as the deadly enemies they are. Butpublic diplomacy can be effective in defusing the next generation ofpotential terrorists and their sympathizers. If the United Statesdoes not appear to be "the enemy" (even if it is not beloved), hatredof it will cease to be a principal recruiting tool for Al Qaeda andothers.
Given these stakes, the Obama administration should not be satisfiedwith occasional triumphs such as the president's recent Cairo speech.U.S. public diplomacy, grounded in enlightened policy, must berebuilt, and not just for the Middle East. America's message mustreach the people of Russia and, China, among others, and citizens ofemerging powers such as India, Brazil, and Nigeria if the UnitedStates is to have the diplomatic leverage it needs in a multipolarworld. And those who implement U.S. public diplomacy must show enoughhumility to listen to other nations' messages, even when unpleasant.
This will require imagination, which has been singularly lacking inrecent American public diplomacy. For one thing, public diplomacymust incorporate recognition of the rise of virtual states. Pakistan,for example is not merely the land mass northwest of India. Pakistanexists throughout the world, with roughly a million Pakistanis livingin the United Kingdom, another million in Saudi Arabia, and about twomillion more around the globe. They are connected, principallythrough Internet-based media, with a linkage between diaspora andhomeland far closer than immigrant communities knew in the past.
Plenty of other examples exist. Kurdistan, for one, might not be a"state" in the legal sense, but it exists as a noncontiguous countrythat is fully whole in cyberspace and whose role in a tense regionmerits a public diplomacy effort. Many Kurds are well disposed towardthe United States, and public diplomacy could be invaluable innurturing such a relationship.
These virtual states must be engaged through a virtual publicdiplomacy that features sophisticated understanding of religious andcultural sensitivities as well as the politics and technologies of themoment. As international Internet usage increases, the United Statesmust stay ahead of the wave and create online public diplomacy toolsthat reach into new arenas of public discourse.
Of course, everything comes back to policies. If people around theworld hate American policies, then no amount of public diplomacy willbe effective. But if the Obama administration is sincere in wantingto bring U.S. policy into alignment with global norms, a new publicdiplomacy will be essential in delivering the American message andbuilding American bridges to the rest of the world.