Author: GW

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

Kadir Jun Ayhan, “An English School of International Relations Approach to Public Diplomacy: A Public Diplomacy Framework for Global Governance Issues,” Journal of Public Diplomacy 2, No. 1 (July, 2022): 1-5. In his lead editorial in the Journal’s current issue, JPD’s editor-in-chief calls for public diplomacy scholars to place greater emphasis on “the political side of public diplomacy” and international relations theory. Specifically, Ayhan (Ewha Womans University, Seoul) advances a public diplomacy framework for global governance issues that builds on the English School in IR studies and James Pamment’s ideas on the intersection of international development and public diplomacy. His framework identifies priorities and implications for public diplomacy and global governance in the context of the English School’s core categories: the international system, international society, and world society. His intent is to stimulate discourse among scholars and practitioners on the value of supplementing a vast communications scholarship in public diplomacy with greater attention to IR theory and the interactive practices of national, international, and transnational actors in global governance.

Kudos to JPD as it launches its second year as a highly promising and well-regarded open access publication. The Journal seeks submissions (younger scholars are welcome) and ideas for special issues. It recently issued a call for a special issue on African public diplomacy. Articles in the current issue include:

Tugce Ertem-Eray (NC State University) and Eyun-Jung Ki (University of Alabama), “Foreign-Born Public Relations Faculty Members’ Relationship with their Universities as a Soft Power Resource in U.S. Public Diplomacy.”

Nicolas Albertoni (Catholic University of Uruguay), “Exploratory Insight into the (Un)intended Effects of Trade Policy in Public Diplomacy.”

Joyce Y.M. Nip (University of Sydney) and Chao Sun (Sydney Informatics Hub, University of Sydney), “Public Diplomacy, Propaganda, or What? China’s Communication Practices in the South China Sea Dispute on Twitter.”

Di Wu (Tongji University) and Efe Sevin (Towson University), “Neither External nor Multilateral: States’ Digital Diplomacy During Covid-19.”

Sohaela Amiri (USC Center on Public Diplomacy), “Understanding the Dynamics between U.S. City Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy.”

Rachel Naddeo and Lucas Matsunag (Tohoku University), “Public Diplomacy and Social Capital: Bridging Theory and Activities.”

Carla Cabrera Cuadrado (Universidad de Valencia), book review essay on City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects (1st edition), edited by Sohaela Amiri and Efe Sevin, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020; Urban Diplomacy: A Cosmopolitan Outlook, by Juan Luis Manfredi-Sánchez, Brill, 2021; City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities, by Raffaele Marchetti, University of Michigan Press, 2021.  

Joel Day, Building a Citywide Global Engagement Plan, CPD Perspectives, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, February 2022. In this thoughtful and well-organized study,Day (USC CPD and UC San Diego) presents three analytical categories through which to advance knowledge about city diplomacy. First, he argues the central motivation in today’s global engagement of cities is grounded in governance choices broader than traditional drivers of cultural exchange and protocol – (1) diplomacy that advances a city’s competitiveness in the international political economy or (2) diplomacy that seeks global relationships that improve the welfare of a city’s residents. Decisions rest on establishing priorities and the possibility of doing both. Second, he provides a list of five practical steps for local leaders contemplating a decision to engage globally. A “who, what, when, where, and why” guide for planners based on specific issues in modern cities. Third, his study develops a research agenda for scholars that emphasizes the importance of building a longitudinal data set that examines the actors, actions, targets, motivations, and outcomes of city diplomacy over time. Scholars and practitioners will find Day’s study a useful addition to the literature.

James Der Derian and Alexander Wendt, eds., Quantum International Relations: A Human Science for World Politics, (Oxford University Press, 2022). Science and technology not only shape diplomacy’s tools, they provide historically contingent metaphors for understanding diplomacy. Newton’s mechanistic physics gave meaning to government-to-government relations, balance of power, correspondence to an intrinsic reality “out there,” and rational choice diplomacy. When science becomes outdated, theorists adopt alternative vocabularies. Notably it was former Secretary of State George Shultz who introduced the term “quantum diplomacy” in 1997 (see Gem from the Past below). A quarter century later, quantum theory has emerged in international relations and diplomacy in the speculative insights of diplomacy scholar and filmmaker James Der Derian (University of Sidney), IR theorist Alexander Wendt (Ohio State University), and similarly inclined scholars in these essays. As the editors and former diplomat Stephen J. Del Rosso in his Foreword contend, their aim is to examine questions drawn from the application of quantum physics to world politics and diplomacy. What ideas are generated? How might quantum technologies interact with other technologies? How do they illuminate computing, communications, control, and artificial intelligence in ways of value to practitioners?  Are social media and data mining creating quantum effects in politics, war, and diplomacy? What are ethical consequences? Their multidisciplinary compendium looks cautiously and non-polemically at these issues. See also James Der Derian and Alexander Wendt, “‘Quantizing International Relations’: The Case for Quantum Approaches to International Theory and Security Practice,” Security Dialogue, 2020, Vol. 51(5), 399-413; and Stephen J. Del Rosso, “Making the Case for Quantum International Relations,” Carnegie Corporation of New York, June 2, 2022.

As scholars and diplomats lean into the quantum approach beyond metaphor, several practical concerns arise. What kinds and levels of subjectivity are embedded in data? How does big data create knowledge that can be incorporated effectively into diplomatic discourse and behavior? Hannah Arendt argued perceptively in The Human Condition (1958) that even if powerful technologies create potentially useful knowledge and thought, they can diminish agency and speech. Can we act on these technologies in politically meaningful ways? Consider also the qualities of good political judgment raised in Isaiah Berlin’s essay “On Political Judgment.” Politics and diplomacy require “practical wisdom, practical reason, perhaps, a sense of what will ‘work,’ and what will not.” A “great deal in practice,” Berlin argued, “cannot be grasped by the sciences.”

Peter Finn and John Maxwell Hamilton, “U.S. Was Targeted with Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation in WWI,” The Washington Post, June 4, 2022. Finn (the Post’s national security editor) and Hamilton (Louisiana State University and author of Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda) report on their discovery of American journalist Herbert Corey’s memoir in the Library of Congress, which they edited, annotated, and published as Herbert Corey’s Great War: A Memoir of World War I by the American Reporter Who Saw It All (LSU Press, 2022). Corey, considered “the dean of the correspondents with the American Army,” is interesting for his coverage of ordinary soldiers and civilians; his frustrations with the military’s press controls; and his insights into British influence directed at American officials and opinion leaders, particularly planted stories in the press and censorship achieved by “rewriting correspondents’ stories, a practice Corey exposed.” 

Zach Hirsh, “Elise Stefanik’s Defense of Trump Around Jan. 6 Clouds Her Pro- Democracy Work Abroad,” Morning Edition, National Public Radio (NPR), June 20, 2020. America’s democratizers have long been challenged by double standards: when the US simultaneously soft pedals democracy in some countries and vigorously supports it in others, or interferes in election outcomes for geopolitical or economic reasons. Now they face double standards at home. NPR’s case in point – US House Republican leader Elise Stefanik’s assault on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and continued membership on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). See also Daniel Lippman, “Elise Stefanik’s post on democracy group board sparked a staff uproar,” Politico, June 17, 2021. Many on NED’s staff voiced strong written dissent. However, NED’s leadership and leading democracy scholars such as Larry Diamond argue removing Stefanik would threaten NED’s funding and work abroad. She remains on NED’s board (her membership renewed for a second term in January 2022) espousing its core values abroad while undermining them at home. See also Larry Garber and Edward McMahon, “US Election Deniers Promoting Democracy Abroad Defies Reason,” The Hill, July 16, 2022.

Learning Agenda 2022-2026, US Department of State, June 2022. The Department’s report was issued in response to Congress’s “Evidence Act” (2018) requiring federal agencies to answer questions relevant to achieving strategic objectives. It also seeks to bolster Secretary of State Blinken’s modernization goals. The report lists eight broad questions relating to diplomatic interventions, foreign assistance, climate, global pandemics, global disinformation, customer service for US citizens, risk management, and performance management and evaluation. Public diplomacy appears as a sub-question within the framework of diplomacy intervention. Tools identified for attention are “1) digital communication campaigns; 2) short-term and long-term cultural exchanges; 3) media literacy and journalism programs; and 4) methodological approaches to evaluating public diplomacy performance.” The report is interesting for its framing of US diplomacy, its generalizations and goals, and its structural implications. Missing is discussion of the leadership, hard choices, and cost-benefit tradeoffs required for an operational roadmap. The Learning Agenda was launched at Harvard’s Kennedy School by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland.  See also the Learning Agenda of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Evaluation Division. 

W. P. Malecki and Chris Voparil, eds., What Can We Hope For? Essays on Politics / Richard Rorty (Princeton University Press, 2022). Richard Rorty, an influential voice of American pragmatism, left a powerful legacy when he died in 2007. Teacher. Public intellectual. Cultural critic drawn to narratives and conversations. Skeptic of universal truths. Progressive democrat wary of identity politics but deeply committed to democracy, reduction of cruelty, and concrete political agendas. Author of Achieving Our Country (1998), Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989), and many other books. In this collection Malecki (University of Wroclaw, Poland) and Voparil (Union Institute & University, Cincinnati) compile 19 of Rorty’s essays on American and global politics, four previously unpublished, others hard to find. Four stand out. In “Rethinking our Democracy” (1996), suspicious of alternatives, he argues the case for democracy in addressing global crises despite its current dysfunctions. In “The Unpredictable American Empire” (2003), he despairs of the “iron triangle that links corporations, the Pentagon, and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees,” but calls for an activist reform agenda around which leftist intellectuals and the American people might rally. His essay, “Looking Backward from the Year 2096” (1996) warns of “automatic weapons freely and cheaply available,” vulnerability to “dictatorial takeover,” and the breakdown of citizenship and democratic institutions. In “Does Being an American Give One a Moral Identity?” (1998), he connects a country that “has been racist, sexist, homophobic, imperialist” with a country capable of reform “over and over again.” Rorty’s essays are prescient and valuable in thinking about the problems of democracy, populism, climate, inequality, American exceptionalism, and other contemporary challenges.

Ilan Manor, Exploring the Semiotics of Public Diplomacy, CPD Perspectives, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, April 2022. Manor (University of Oxford) looks at how diplomats use visuals on social media platforms to influence views of digital publics. His article opens with comments on how diplomats practice visual narration in online public diplomacy campaigns. Then, borrowing semiotics ideas of Roland Barthes, he investigates how diplomats use visuals “as ideological devices” to advance norms, values, and offline policy goals. Manor’s objective is to explore diplomats’ intent through interviews with practitioners associated with social media campaigns in foreign ministries in Israel, the UK, and Lithuania. The article contains a literature review and his account of how diplomats’ use of social media platforms “has advanced from reactive to proactive digitalization.” It also points to research opportunities: application of his methodology to other cases, assessment of links between online and offline outcomes in digital campaigns, and ways ministries of foreign affairs institutionalize visual narration practices. Researchers might also compare diplomacy’s use of digitalized visual narratives with earlier visual narratives used in analog technology platforms, the strengths and limitations of the Barthes semiotics ideas, and the wealth of empirical evidence generated by war in Ukraine.

Joyce Y.M. Nip and Chao Sun “Public Diplomacy, Propaganda, or What? China’s Communication Practices in the South China Sea Dispute on Twitter,” Journal of Public Diplomacy 2, no. 1, (July, 2022): 43-68. Nip and Sun (University of Sydney) explore how modes of communication on social media contribute to public diplomacy in the context of China’s #SouthChinaSea conversations on Twitter. Their article seeks to answer a primary research question: What model of public diplomacy best describes China’s communication? Sub-research questions include: “(1) Who are China’s key actors in the issue, and to what extent are non-state actors involved? (2) To what extent do China’s actors conduct monologic, dialogic, and network communication with other users? (3) How sustained is Chinese actors’ dialogic and network communication with the same users over time?” Their article blends a theoretical discussion of public diplomacy models – identified as “PD white propaganda,” “relational PD,” and “network/collaborative PD” – with empirical research on China’s use of Twitter in the South China Sea dispute.  

Michael S. Pollard, Charles P. Ries, and Sohaela Amiri, The Foreign Service and American Public Opinion: Dynamics and Prospects, (RAND, 2022). This report by RAND researchers, with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, examines American public opinion relating to diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Methods included opinion surveys and moderated on-line focus groups. The report produced evidence that Americans overall had generally favorable attitudes toward US diplomats but also a “limited understanding of what diplomats actually do, how they are selected, and how diplomacy interacts with other elements of America’s national security establishment.” Among other findings: 

·      Greater awareness of “helping citizens abroad” than other diplomatic functions; 

·      High priority given to “understanding of global affairs” and “negotiating” as important diplomatic skills; 

·      Low priority given to “public speaking,” “bravery,” “discipline in following instructions,” and “empathy;”

·      Over 65% believe diplomacy contributes to national security;

·      More than 40% think it is “better for diplomats to lead efforts abroad” (compared with 20% favoring the military and the rest no opinion);

·      A preference for keeping spending on foreign affairs “about the same” with “relatively more support for cutting than adding to funding in 2020.” 

The report addressed implications for creating better understanding of diplomats and diplomacy.

Maria Repnikova, “The Balance of Soft Power: The American and Chinese Quest to Win Hearts and Minds,”  Foreign Affairs, July/August 2022, 44-51. After a brief overview of the soft power ideas of Joseph Nye, Repnikova (Georgia State University) profiles the different ways in which the US and China interpret and operationalize the concept. For example, the US prioritizes democratic values and institutions. China focuses on integrating cultural and commercial agendas. Although many view the two soft power agendas as competitive, Repnikova argues people in many parts of the world view them as complementary. “They are perfectly happy to have both the Americans and the Chinese seduce them with their respective visions and values.” Both soft power agendas face problems she concludes. For China, concerns are raised about the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccines and the pedagogy of its education programs. The US suffers from inconsistency between its emphasis on democratic values and democratic erosion, racial discrimination, and attacks on reproductive rights at home.

Dan Spokojny, “Doctrine for Diplomacy: To Remain Relevant, the U.S. State Department Needs a New Statecraft,”  August 10, 2022, War on the Rocks.  Spokojny (founder and CEO of fp21) argues “It is time to start treating the conduct of diplomacy as a profession with its own standards, methodologies, and skills.” Building on US military ideas about doctrine, he observes that its power comes not from a single definition but “from its ability to help an organization achieve results.” Diplomats should feed experiences into a systematic body of knowledge that bridges divides between policymaking and research, and between thought and action. Spokojny’s persuasive article takes on the skepticism of diplomats who resist generalized learning, codified knowledge, and evaluation. “Creating a doctrine for diplomacy,” he maintains, “will improve the quality, accountability, and effectiveness of American foreign policy.

Dan Spokojny and Alexandra Blum, “Let’s Get Serious About Research for Diplomacy: A Proposal for a Foreign Policy-focused FFRDC,”  fp21, July 18, 2022. Spokojny (fp21 CEO) and Blum (UC Berkeley) argue that although the State Department is committed to responding to important research questions framed in its Learning Agenda, 2022-2026, it lacks capacity to do so. Most diplomats lack the time and training. No State office is equipped to support research of this scale. Their proposal: create a State sponsored Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) for US foreign policy. FFRDCs – public-private research organizations funded by but located outside government – currently support the research needs of 15 departments, including ten sponsored by the Defense Department. Their proposal discusses structural issues, research needed for diplomacy and foreign policy, and a key separation between research and policymaking. 

Excellent idea. It has been recommended before in the context of diplomacy’s public dimension. Two year-long Defense Science Board Task Force studies in the 2000s – the work of career public diplomacy practitioners, military officers, and scholars – recommended an FFRDC for State, a Center for Global Engagement. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication (2008), pp. xiv-xv, 89-93 and Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication (2004), pp. 6-8, 69-70. Kristin Lord’s Brookings report, Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century (2010),pp. 17-30, called for a 501(c)(3) organization. 

In 2010, the Wilson Center convened a broad coalition of leading advocates in Washington to create a business plan leading to a Center for Strengthening America’s Global Engagement (SAGE). Former Secretaries of Defense and State, William Perry and Condoleezza Rice, were honorary co-chairs. These were serious voices. But their efforts did not prosper. The State Department and most career diplomats were not interested. The Wilson Center’s Sage project also provided a list of reports with similar recommendations prepared by the Council on Foreign Relations, Public Diplomacy Council, RAND Corporation, Heritage Foundation, and other organizations.

George Stevens, Jr., My Place in the Sun: Life in the Golden Age of Hollywood and Washington, (University Press of Kentucky, 2022). Diplomacy enthusiasts will find Stevens’ entire narrative of interest, especially the account of his years as head of the Motion Picture Service in Edward R. Murrow’s US Information Agency. There he oversaw the production of award winning documentaries that included Charles Guggenheim’s “Nine From Little Rock” (1964) and Bruce Hershensohn’s “Years of Lightening, Day of Drums”(1964). Stevens spoke about his years at USIA in an hour-long discussion with historian Nick Cull in an event co-sponsored by the Public Diplomacy Council of America and USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Zed Tarar, “The State Department Needs True Generalists to Succeed,” May 12, 2022; “The State Department’s Generalists are Withering on the Vine,” May 19, 2022; “For the State Department’s Generalists, When Is Quitting the Answer,” May 26, 2022, The Diplomatic Pouch Blog, ISD, Georgetown University. Career US diplomat Tarar continues his assessment of the State Department. His blogs in this miniseries make a case for three propositions. First, building on ideas in David Epstein’s book Range, generalists are good fits for domains without rigid rules. In 21st century international affairs, they often outcompete narrowly specialized colleagues. Second, diplomats in volatile and ambiguous settings, diplomacy’s normal context, require cognitive frames achieved through interdisciplinary professional development and diverse experiences outside government. A requirement unmet by the Department’s long-standing and continuing lip service to mid-career professional education. Third, for those who choose to leave diplomacy after 10-12 years, “Saying goodbye is hard,” but often “the best course of action for long term growth.” Experienced diplomats underestimate the considerable skills they bring to civil society and the private sector.

US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, “ACPD Official Meeting Minutes: June 1, 2022,” Transcript. The Commission’s meeting focused on business and cultural dynamics in city diplomacy. A panel, moderated by executive director Vivian S. Walker, included Tony Pipa, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute, Center for Sustainable Development; Christopher Olson, Director of Trade & International Affairs, City of Houston; Vanessa Ibarra, Director of International Affairs, City of Atlanta; and Sherry Dowlatshahi, Chief Diplomacy & Chief Protocol Officer, City of San Antonio. The panel’s discussion expanded on issues developed in the Commission’s report, Exploring U.S. Public Diplomacy’s Domestic Dimensions: Purviews, Publics, and Policies, April 25, 2022.

Recent Items of Interest

Advance Articles, 2022, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy.

Sohaela Amiri, “Dynamics Between City Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy,”  August 8, 2022,CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Andy Blatchford, “Behind Joly’s Plan to Modernize Canadian Diplomacy,” May 31, 2022, Politico.

Broadening Diplomatic Engagement Across America,  Report of the Truman Center City & State Diplomacy Task Force, June 2022.

James Careless, “Hot Debate on Shortwave Revival Continues,”  May 12, 2022, RadioWorld.

Nicholas J. Cull, “Why the Office of War Information Still Matters,”  June 2022, The Foreign Service Journal.

Renee Earle, “A Salute to Cultural Diplomacy and Those Who Make It Possible,”  August 2022, American Diplomacy

Anastasia Edel, “The Door Between Russia and America Is Slamming Shut,”  June 9, 2022, The New York Times.

David Ellwood, “Narratives, Propaganda & “Smart” Power in the Ukraine Conflict, Part I: Narrative Clash,” July 19, 2022; “Narratives, Propaganda & “Smart” Power in the Ukraine Conflict, Part 2: Inventing a Global Presence,” July 21, 2022, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Willow Fortunoff, “Mayors Are Quickly Becoming International Diplomats. The US Can Help Them Thrive,”  July 6, 2022, Atlantic Council.

Jory Heckman, “State Department Rethinks How It Vets Foreign Service Candidates To Diversify Ranks,”  June 10, 2022, Federal News Network.

Jessica Jerreat, “Nomination Hearing Set for Biden’s Pick to Lead USAGM,”  June 7, 2022, VOA. 

Sam Knight, “Can the BBC Survive the British Government,”  April 18, 2022, The New Yorker.

Joseph Lieberman and Gordon Humphrey, “It’s Time to Open a New Front Against Putin Inside Russia,”  July 9, 2022, The Hill.

Michael Lipin, “Biden’s USAGM Nominee Bennett Wins Senate Committee Approval,”  June 23, 2022, VOANews

Larry Luxner, “Ambassador Oversight Act Aims For More Qualified US Diplomats Abroad,”  June 22, 2022, The Washington Diplomat; Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), “S.4205 –  Ambassador Oversight and Transparency Act.”

Williams S. Martins and Daria Gasparini, “OWI and the ‘Battle of Sweden,’”  June 2022, The Foreign Service Journal.

Michael T. McFaul (R-TX), Letter to Senator James Risch (R-ID) regarding Amanda Bennett’s nomination to be CEO, US Agency on Global Media, June 9, 2022. 

Lia Miller, “Why Exchange Programs Can ‘Make Dreams Come True,”  July 10, 2022, Diplomatic Diary.

Stephen Lee Myers and Eileen Sullivan, “Disinformation Has Become Another Untouchable Problem in Washington,”  July 6, 2022, The New York Times.

Christopher Paul and Matt Armstrong, “The Irony of Misinformation: USIA Myths Block Enduring Solutions,”  July , 2022, 1945 blog; Matt Armstrong, “False Myths About USIA Blind Us to Our Problems…And to Possible Solutions,” July 7, 2022, MountainRunner.us.

Michael Pollard and Charles P. Ries, “Do Americans Know Who Their Diplomats Are? Or What They Do?” June 18, 2022, The Hill.

Jimmy Quinn, “Senate Advances Biden’s Global-Media Nominee Amid Mounting Conservative Criticism,”  June 27, 2022; “Why is Biden’s Global-Media Nominee Getting the Kid-Glove Treatment?”  June 15, 2022; “The Campaign Against Biden’s Nominee to Head U.S. Agency for Gobal Media,”  June 6, 2022, National Review.

“Review of the Recruitment and Selection Process for Public Members of Foreign Service Selection Boards,” May 2022, Office of Inspector General, Department of State; Nahal Toosi, “Watchdog Raises Flags About Nepotism, Incompetence on State Department Promotion Panels,”  May 25, 2022, Politico.

Conor Skelding and Mary Kay Linge, “State Department Dumbing Down Its Diplomat Applications,”  May 28, 2022, New York Post.

“Special Issue: Moving Public Diplomacy Research Forward: Methodological Approaches,” 18, no. 2, September 2022, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy.

Tara Sonenshine, “America Could Use a Little Jazz Diplomacy,”  August 6, 2022, The Hill. 

Roger Stahl, “Why Does the Pentagon Give a Helping Hand to Films Like ‘Top Gun’?”  May 30, 2022, Los Angeles Times.

Jon Temin, “City and State Diplomacy Are Key To Saving U.S. Foreign Policy,”  July 2, 2022, The Hill.

John C. Thomson, “Restarting Educational Exchanges with China After the Cultural Revolution,”  August 2022, American Diplomacy.

Nahal Toosi, “A Netflix Show Starring Keri Russel Stirs Buzz Among U.S. Diplomats,”  July 31, 2022, Politico.

Tom Wadlow, “U.S. Dept of State: Keeping Diplomacy Connected,” August 4, 2022, B2eMedia.   

Walker, Vivian T., “‘The Wine-Dark Sea’ of the Information Age,”  July 7, 2022, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Samuel Werberg, “How to Communicate Official Policy to a Globalized World,”  May 29, 2022, Diplomatic Diary, Washington International Diplomatic Academy.

Lauren C. Williams, “Cyber Ambassador Pick Wants to Bring ‘Coherence’ to Tech Diplomacy Efforts,”  August 3, 2022, Defense One; Tim Starks, “Cyber Ambassador Could Soon Take on a World of Challenges,”  August 2, 2022, The Washington Post.

Gem From The Past  

George P. Shultz, “Diplomacy in the Information Age,” Keynote Addresses from the Virtual Diplomacy Conference, US Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, April 1, 1997. Precisely a quarter century ago the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) convened its Virtual Diplomacy conference in Washington on challenges posed by communication and information technologies. Former Secretary of State George Shultz spoke about what remained unchanged in diplomacy (a fundamental human activity conducted between people and governing entities by diplomats speaking with authority), what was new (pervasive, fast, and cheap mediated information), and an imagined future (diplomacy increasingly in the public domain). Influenced by Stanford University physicist Sidney Dell, Shultz coined the term “quantum diplomacy.” He pointed to the quantum theory axiom that “when you observe and measure some part of a system, you inevitably disturb the whole system.” The process of observation and selectivity (such as a TV camera in some chaotic event), he asserted, causes distortions in systems (such as diplomacy) in which information and knowledge are raw materials. Other still valuable keynote speeches were delivered by USIP president Richard Solomon, “The Information Revolution and International Conflict Management,” and former Citicorp / Citibank CEO Walter Wriston, “Bits, Bytes, and Diplomacy.”

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, and the Public Diplomacy Council of America.