Issue #18

Bill Berkeley and Nahid Simadoust“The Hostage-Takers’ Second Act.” Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 2004, pp. 42-50. Columbia University scholar Berkeley and Time magazine reporter Simadoust interview former young radicals who took over the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and discuss how some have evolved into journalists and political reformers with influence today in Iran’s public sphere.

Mariah Blake“Targeting Tehran,” Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 2004, pp. 51-54. CJR assistant editor Blake looks at how expatriate Iranian dissidents are using 26 satellite television and 12 radio stations to broadcast to influence public opinion in Iran. Programs include entertainment and span a range of political and social issues.

Thomas Carothers“Democracy’s Sobering State,” Current History, December 2004. The Director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project finds the state of democracy in the world is becoming more complex and demanding due to a confluence of factors: (1) persistence and rejuvenation of authoritarian forces, (2) economic performance problems in pluralistic systems, (3) economic success in authoritarian systems, and (4) US war on terrorism policies — counterterrorism cooperation with authoritarian governments, tolerance of democratic backsliding, weakened American credibility, and diminished status as a role model.

Defense Science Board Summer Study, 2004. Transition to and From Hostilities, December 2004. This 199-page report of a DSB Summer Study co-chaired by Craig Fields and Philip Odeen examines planning, management, and capability challenges in future stabilization and reconstruction efforts. The report recommends employing capabilities not traditional to U.S. armed forces including a revolution in US strategic communication, substantially increased knowledge of cultures and languages, and making stabilization and reconstruction a core competency of the Departments of State and Defense. The DSB’s Task Force report on Strategic Communication, published in September 2004, was a part of this larger DSB Summer Study.

John Lewis Gaddis“Grand Strategy in the Second Term,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2005, pp. 2-15. Yale historian Gaddis calls for mid-course corrections in US grand strategy centered on gaining multi-lateral support for pre-emptive use of US military power. Gaddis urges “better manners,” correcting failures in “language” (explaining the purposes of US power rather than flaunting power with a mixture of “arrogance and vagueness”), and making its case in terms of a compelling vision.

Paul HeyerHarold Innis, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 132 pages. Professor Heyer’s intellectual biography examines Innis’s (1894-1952) evolution as a thinker from respected early works on political economy to his extraordinary influence on current media studies and communications history. Chapters on “The ‘History of Communications’ Project,” “Time, Space, and the Oral Tradition,” “Monopolies of Knowledge and the Critique of Culture,” and “An Enduring Legacy” are especially rewarding.

The Heritage Foundation“Utilizing Public Diplomacy for Security and Prosperity,” Mandate for Leadership, 2004. The Foundation’s latest Mandate calls for the US to establish “a public diplomacy doctrine,” operating guidelines and principles, independent reporting and budget authority, and new authorities to include “a Public Diplomacy Coordinator for the National Security Council, a strengthened Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy in the Department of State,” and changes in “the outdated Smith-Mundt Act of 1948.”

Russell D. Howard and Reid L. Sawyer, eds. Terrorism and Counterterrorism, (McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2004), 544 pages. Howard and Sawyer, professors in West Point’s Department of Social Sciences, have compiled 33 essays by a range of authors in this updated edition of their 2002 publication. Contributions by Martha Crenshaw, Louise E. Richardson, David Ronfeldt, John Arquilla, Madeleine Gruen, David Rothkopf, and others explore political and religious roots of terrorist activities; network theory, propaganda, and uses of the Internet; and a range of terrorism and counterterrorism strategies.

Mahmood MamdaniWhither Political Islam: Understanding the Modern Jihad, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2005, pp. 148-155. Columbia University professor Mamdani reviews Gilles Kepel’s The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West (2004) and Olivier Roy’s Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (2004). Mamdani finds the “singular merit” of both is that they take debate on Islam beyond “culture talk” and religious origins to a more nuanced understanding of political and strategic issues. Their “common failing,” he argues, is lack of inquiry into encounters between non-Muslims and Muslims, the importance of the Afghan jihad, and the Western influences that shaped it.

Jared Manasek“Letter From Belgrade: The Paradox of Pink,” Columbia Journalism Review, January/February, 2005, pp. 36-42. Manasek examines today’s Serbian media environment. He focuses on B92 and its evolution from a student led revolutionary force to operations that now include radio, TV, online, music promotion, and book publishing. And on TV Pink, a media empire with roots in Milosovic’s information ministry. TV Pink has evolved into a powerful commercial broadcasting organization that offers sensationalist news, American movies and Serbian pop music. B92, largely weaned from dependence on foreign aid, faces commercial challenges to its public service approach to broadcasting.

James Norton“The Defense Science Board Report,” Flakmagazine, December 2, 2004. Jim Lobe, “US Has Zero Credibility Among Muslims — Pentagon Panel,”LewRockwell.com, December 6, 2004. Harlan Ullman, “We’re Losing the War of Ideas,” Baltimore Sun, December 21, 2004. Three of many blogs and opinion columns that looked in depth at the DSB’s report on Strategic Communication.

Olivier RoyGlobalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, (Columbia University Press, 2004), 349 pages. Professor Roy examines the “the way in which the relationship of Muslims to Islam is reshaped by globalization, westernization and the impact of living as a minority.” Roy analyzes peaceful and violent transnational movements beyond traditional borders and contends Islamic fundamentalism “is not a single-note reaction against westernization but a product and an agent of the complex forces of globalization.” He concludes with a discussion of dialogue, values, and the concept of the “clash of civilizations.”

William A. Rugh, ed. Engaging the Arab & Islamic Worlds through Public Diplomacy: A Report and Action Recommendations, (Public Diplomacy Council, 2004). 174 pages. Eleven scholars and public diplomacy practitioners look at public opinion in the Arab and Muslim worlds and tools of public diplomacy. Contributors include William A. Rugh, Shipley Telhami, Kenton W. Keith, Barry Fulton, James L. Bullock, Alan L. Heil, Jr., Norman J. Pattiz, Marc Lynch, Barry Ballow, Cresencio Arcos, and Howard Cincotta.

Richard Virden“World Perspective Essay, December 2004,” Benedictine Center for Lifelong Learning, College of St. Benedict/Saint John’s University. Retired diplomat Dick Virden reflects on a Foreign Service career, much of it in public diplomacy — on pro-American perspectives encountered during assignments in Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Thailand, and on growing anti-Americanism in Brazil prompted by the US war in Iraq, which he experienced during his last assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission in Brasilia.

Sheldon WolinPolitics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought, (Princeton University Press, 2004), 761 pages. This significantly expanded version of Wolin’s classic 1960 study of political theory includes new material on John Dewey’s “idea of a public;” postmodern concepts of power including the generation, storage, control, and instantaneous transmission of information; the rise of interconnected networks; and ways these concepts decades later challenge the role of the state and political concepts in Wolin’s first edition.

Gordon S. WoodThe Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, (The Penguin Press, 2004), 299 pages. Those interested in the growing literature on Franklin and in his public diplomacy achievements will find Brown University historian Wood’s Pulitzer Prize winning book a masterful reappraisal. Wood’s selective psychological study includes lengthy assessments of Franklin’s views on the British Empire and influence as a diplomat in France. He reveals a Franklin quite different from the images and myths of the American folk hero developed in two centuries of historical interpretation.

Issue #17

Timothy Garten AshAmerica, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West, Random House, 2004. Addressing the question “what’s to become of what we used to call ‘the free world?'” Oxford University Professor Garton Ash concludes the US cannot rule unilaterally in an interconnected world and the new Europe can succeed only in a larger transatlantic community. Public opinion, soft power, cultural and political values, information technologies, and the diffusion of threats and opportunities are among the topics discussed. He continues the conversation begun in the book with new material and interactive dialogue on the web.

Susan Bensch“Inciting Genocide,” World Policy Journal, Summer 2004, pp. 62-69. Bensch, a journalist and lawyer with Amnesty International, examines the role of propaganda through mass media and recent changes in international and domestic law on incitement to commit genocide. Drawing on findings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she argues that music and political speech intended to incite others to commit genocide is a crime.

Mark Blaisse and Michael FuchsAmerica! The Brand, Rainy Day Publishing, 2004. The authors of this self-described (100 page) “booklet” published in The Netherlands contend America is a brand that continues to flourish. Drawing on interviews with Business for Diplomatic Action, US Congressional staff, marketing professionals, and Public Diplomacy Council members, Blaisse and Fuchs offer optimistic views on US global advertising, public diplomacy, contradictory elements in anti-Americanism, and the continuing “magic of America.”

Elias CanettiCrowds and Power. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (first published in 1960; English translation, 1962). Nobel Prize winner Canetti’s classic study remains relevant in an age of “smart mobs,” anti-globalization movements, and terrorist networks. Canetti provides insights into theories and types of crowd behavior. His book (495 pages) examines crowd dynamics and the political power of crowds using a wide range of historical examples from Shiite festivals to the English Civil War to 20th century mass movements.

Daniel Pearl Foundation. The Foundation was formed in memory of journalist Daniel Pearl to further the ideals that inspired his life and work. It’s mission is to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications. Events and information can be found on the Foundation’s website and by contacting executive director Marianne Scott, a retired foreign service officer and public diplomacy professional.

Defense Science Board Task ForceStrategic Communication, September 2004. The DSB’s report offers innovative recommendations relating to Presidential leadership in public diplomacy and military information activities, strategic direction by the National Security Council, creation of an independent, non-profit center to leverage private sector knowledge and skills, changes in the roles of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Joint Chiefs of Staff relating to strategic communication. The Task Force, chaired by DSB Vice Chairman Vincent Vitto, includes members from George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Virginia, National Defense University, Mitre Corp., and DMG, Inc. Three participants are members of the Public Diplomacy Council.

Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell“Web of Influence: How Blogs are Changing the World,” Foreign Policy, November/December 2004, pp. 32-40. The authors examine how weblogs are changing the landscape for journalists and policymakers. Using examples that include Iraq, China, Iran, and North Korea, they discuss strengths and limitations of blogs and conclude their influence will more likely grow than diminish. Additional readings and international affairs blogs “that stand out from the crowd” are listed.

Tariq Ramadan“Who’s Afraid of Tariq Ramadan?” Foreign Policy, November/December 2004, p. 20. Editors of Foreign Policy interview Ramadan, a Muslim scholar whose visa to teach at Notre Dame was revoked by request of the Department of Homeland Security. FP frames the interview by asking if Ramadan is “an anti-Semite who preaches moderation out of one side of his mouth and hate out of the other . . . [or] the man to reconcile Islam with modernity.” Excerpts in FP’s print edition; the full interview is online.

Amin MaaloufIn the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, Arcade Publishing, (Published 1996, English translation 2000.) Lebanese-born novelist Maalouf (living in France since 1976) examines questions of identity and tolerance in historical, religious, and political contexts. His short, well written book seeks to “understand why so many people commit crimes in the name of identity.”

Maria Rosa MenocalThe Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, Little Brown and Company, 2002. Yale University professor Menocal writes powerfully of an era when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance and extensive cooperation. Her narrative brings to life the nearly 800 years of the “Andalusian enlightenment” where literature, science, and the arts flourished. [Courtesy of Stephanie Kinney]

Stanley Michalak“Post-Democratic Cosmopolitans: The Second Wave of Liberal Internationalism,” Orbis, Fall 2004, pp. 593-607. Franklin and Marshall College professor Michalak examines characteristics and limitations of “floating coalitions of single-issue NGOs.” For Michalak, problematic aspects of new internationalism include accountability of leaders, legitimacy of norms, and enforceability of supranational covenants.

Marina Ottaway and Thomas Carothers“Middle East Democracy,” Foreign Policy, November/December 2004, 22-28. Carnegie Endowment democracy and rule of law experts Ottaway and Carothers ask and address central questions in the debate over democratization in the Middle East. “If democracy arrives in the Middle East,” they contend, “it won’t be due to the efforts of liberal activists or their Western supporters but to the very same Islamist parties that many now see as the chief obstacle to change.”

Howard Smith and Peter FingarIt Doesn’t Matter, Business Processes Do, Meghan-Kiffer Press, 2003. Smith and Fingar provide a critical analysis of Nicholas Carr’s influential and controversial article, “IT Doesn’t Matter,” published in the Harvard Business Review, May 2003. The spirited debate sparked by Carr’s thesis that technology’s strategic potential inexorably diminishes as it becomes widely accessible and affordable has relevance to public diplomacy and IT change issues in the Department of State. {Courtesy of Joe Johnson}

Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson“The Sources of American Legitimacy,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2004, pp. 18-32. The authors contend that regaining European confidence in the United States and winning Muslim cooperation needed to lessen the appeal of terrorism will not occur “simply by conducting better ‘public diplomacy’ to ‘make the American case’ to the world, for world public opinion already rejects the case that has been made.” To recapture legitimacy, the US must abandon doctrines and practices.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Community Connections Program Evaluation. 2004. The Community Connections Programbrings entrepreneurs, government officials, and professionals to the US for 3-to-5 five week homestays and internships in American communities and businesses. Evaluations were based on interviews with 5,429 Community Connections alumni from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan who participated in the program since its inception in 1994. Sixteen follow-up focus groups were held in eleven different cities with 128 alumni.

State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs gets high marks from outside observers for the quality of its program evaluations. Summaries of evaluations are online.

Michael VlahosCulture’s Mask: War & Change After Iraq, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, September 2004. In this collection of essays, Vlahos contends the Iraq war has clouded America’s purpose while accelerating change in, and deepening America’s relationship with, the Muslim world with consequences far beyond what we now comprehend. His concluding essay, “Exhuming the ‘War of Ideas,'” addresses public diplomacy as an instrument that worked “reasonably well in the months after 9-11.” However, the invasion of Iraq and its subsequent unraveling have “ruined the U.S. message to the Muslim World.” Vlahos can be reached at michael.vlahos@jhuapl.edu.

Tim Weiner“Pentagon Envisioning a Costly Internet for War,” The New York Times, November 13, 2004. Weiner quotes proponents and skeptics of the Pentagon’s ambitious plan to build its own Internet.

Issue #16

Christiane Amanpour. “A Global Perspective,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Summer/Fall, 2004. CNN’s Chief International Correspondent responds to interview questions on the future of democratic growth, the US approach to Iran, satellite networks in the Middle East, anti-Americanism, and the use of military power to promote values.

Kenneth Bacon. “Hiding Death in Darfur: Why the Press Was So Late,” Columbia Journalism Review, September/October, 2004. The President of Refugees International and former Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon analyzes Sudan President Omar al Bashir’s media strategy and delays in press coverage of genocide in Dafur.

Benjamin Barber. Fear’s Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy, W.W. Norton, 2003. The author of Jihad and McWorld challenges core assumptions of current strategic doctrine, military force as an instrument of democratization, and policies that confuse the spread of McWorld with the spread of democracy. Barber urges a strategy of “preventive democracy” — an America that promotes “cooperation, multilateralism, international law, and pooled sovereignty.”

John BrownChanging Minds, Winning Peace: Reconsidering the Djerejian Report. The creator and editor of Public Diplomacy Press Review offers a critique of the report by the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World a year after its release. Brown finds seven serious drawbacks in the report and provides four recommendations to improve America’s cultural and informational programs.

Thomas Carothers. Critical Mission: Essays on Democracy Promotion. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2004. A collection of Corothers’ best essays organized around four themes: democracy promotion in US foreign policy, democracy assistance, the state of democracy in the world, and US efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East. The director of Carnegie’s Democracy and Rule of Law project also includes a comprehensive general bibliography on democratization with separate sections on civil military relations, civil society, decentralization, elections, legislatures, media, the Middle East, political parties, rule of law, and trade unions.

Center for Arts and Culture, Cultural Diplomacy: Recommendations and Research, July 2004. The Center’s 32-page report examines general principles of cultural diplomacy and makes recommendations on government policies, the need to increase federal funding and strengthen existing programs, and best practices in cultural diplomacy. The report summarizes five research papers previously published by the Center and contains a timeline of public and cultural diplomacy events.

The Fog of War. Errol Morris’s Academy Award winning documentary film on former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s reflections on his life and work is available in DVD. A Teachers Guide with eight lesson plans and links to primary sources are available online.

Google’s Public Diplomacy Images. Google’s image website contains approximately 500 .jpg and .gif images linked to the term public diplomacy. The site includes images of several Public Diplomacy Council members.

Gary Hart. A Grand Strategy for the United States in the Twenty-first Century, Oxford University Press, 2004. The former Senator and co-chair of the Hart-Rudman Commission advances a strategy based on democratic principles to replace containment. Hart contends America’s purposes are best achieved through principles and persuasion — “America’s fourth power” — including representative government, Constitutional liberties, press freedom, new collective security structures, and forms of collaborative sovereignty.

House International Relations Committee. Chairman Hyde addresses specific legislative provisions outlined by the 9-11 Commission. The following relate to the State Department’s conduct of public diplomacy:

— Require State to develop an annual public diplomacy strategy in coordination with appropriate agencies.
— Enhance public diplomacy recruitment and training.
— Require a public diplomacy assignment as a condition for promotion to Senior Foreign Service.
— Provide grants to American-sponsored schools in Arab and other predominantly Muslim countries.
— Include promotion of press freedom and professional journalism in the US public diplomacy strategy.
— Increase exchanges in Muslim countries (sense of Congress).

Chairman Hyde’s proposals are included in H.R. 10, 9/11 Implementations Act, Sections 4021 – 4024.

Thomas Kean and Jamie Gorelick. Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations (Rep. Christopher Shays, Chair), August 23, 2004. Two 9/11 Commission members focus on the Commission’s findings relating to public diplomacy as a neglected element of national power and its recommendations on “the struggle of ideas.”

The Shays Subcommittee also heard from Patricia Harrison, Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs; Kenneth Tomlinson, Chair, Broadcasting Board of Governors; Charlotte Beers, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs; Haves Al-Mirazi, Washington Bureau Chief, Al Jazeera; Tre Evers, member, US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy; R.S. Zaharna, American University; and Jess T. Ford, Director, International Affairs and Trade, US General Accountability Office. Each of their prepared statements is available.

Gilles Kepel. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West, Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2004. Kepel examines the impact of global terrorism, the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the “neoconservative revolution in Washington,” military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and radical Islamist doctrines of Bin Laden and Zawahiri. He concludes the most important battle in the war for Muslim minds during the next decade will be fought not in Palestine or Iraq but among second-generation Muslim immigrants in London, Paris, and other European cities who have experienced personal freedom, liberal education, and economic opportunity in democratic societies.

Michael Liedtke. “Google Conforms to Chinese Censorship,” AP, September 25, 2004. AP business writer Liedtke reports that Google’s recently launched Chinese language news service does not display information from websites blocked by Chinese authorities, including such websites as VOANews.com. Google acknowledges and defends its decision. [Courtesy of US Institute of Peace Virtual Diplomacy listserv]

J.D. Lasica. “Transparency Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere,” USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review, Posted August 12, 2004. The author discusses niche expertise, transparency in motives and process, adjacent posting of corrected information and other reasons why many find Weblogs more credible than traditional media.

Jarol B. Manheim. Biz-War and the Out-of-Power Elite, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Inc., 2004. George Washington University’s media and strategic communications professor examines the emergence of a new American “Progressive Movement” founded on a network of foundations and advocacy groups. Chapter 9. “From Networks to Netwar” is a useful overview of power in the information age and tactical uses of networking.

{Manheim’s 1994 book, Strategic Public Diplomacy and American Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press) remains useful for teachers, especially its case studies on public diplomacy strategies of other countries.}

Colin Powell. “The Craft of Diplomacy,'” The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2004, pp. 60-67. The Secretary of State provides a thoughtful assessment of diplomacy as a craft (not a science or an art) based on three core principles: “persuasion in the shadow of power,” coalitions as diplomacy multipliers, and allowing adversaries honorable means of retreat. The Secretary’s article makes no reference to public diplomacy.

Sherri Riccardi. “Missed Signals,” American Journalism Review, August/September. Riccardi examines failures in news gathering, the “administration’s skill at information management, and other reasons for the media’s delay in reporting on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse story.

The article has a link to AJR’s Abu Ghraib Time Line.

Lori Robertson. “Images of War,” American Journalism Review, August/September 2004. AJR’s managing editor examines news organization standards and issues relating to cultural sensitivities in the use of graphic images.

US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. 2004 Report, September 28, 2004. The Commission’s readable and well-designed 40-page report reinforces broad themes central to its reporting for decades and makes numerous tactical recommendations in areas it defines as “short term communication,” “long term communication,” and “broadcasting.” The Commission does not adequately address strategic issues: whether and how public diplomacy can be effective when global attitudes toward US policies are overwhelmingly negative; leveraging private sector skills and imagination; estimates of funding requirements and program priorities; and achieving strong public diplomacy leadership, direction, tasking, and evaluation.

US General Accountability Office. State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors Expand Post-9/11 Efforts, Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, August 23, 2004. GAO’s 16-page statement summarizes its previous studies of State Department public diplomacy and the BBG’s Middle East and Central Asian broadcasting services in the context of the 9/11 Commission’s report. GAO finds “there is no interagency strategy to guide State’s. BBG’s, and other federal agencies communication efforts. The absence of such a strategy complicates the task of conveying consistent messages to overseas audiences.”

{GAO is currently working on a report on developing an interagency strategy for public diplomacy expected in February 2005.}

YaleGlobalOnLine. “Bush Administration Launches Latin Outreach Program,” September 28, 2004. YaleGlobal posts Pablo Bachelet’s 9/28 Miami Herald article on State Department efforts to brief Central American community organizations in the United States on US policies toward their home countries in an effort to address negative views of the United States. YaleGlobal puts the effort in a domestic political campaign context, stating that “In addition to warming the voters to the current presidency, government officials say this project is at heart a ‘public diplomacy strategy to improve the image of the United States.'”

R.S. Zarhana. Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, August 23, 2004. American University communications scholar Zarhana argues the US is pursuing an inappropriate, rather than nonexistent, public diplomacy strategy. America needs to switch strategies from fighting an information battle to building communication bridges.

Zogby International. Impressions of America 2004: How Arabs View America; How Arabs Learn About America, July 2004. In this second six nation study, Zogby measures changes in attitudes since a previous study in 2002. Favorable ratings toward the US have declined sharply. Attitudes toward US policy are extremely low. Attitudes toward American “science and technology,” “freedom and democracy” “movies and TV,” “products,” and “education” remain higher.

Issue #15

The 9/11 CommissionFinal Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (W. W. Norton and Company), 2004. The 9/11 Commission’s report released July 22, 2004 recommends (excerpts below) increased U.S. government radio and television broadcasting to Arab and Muslim audiences; scholarship, exchange, and library programs; and a new International Youth Opportunity Fund.

“Recommendation: Just as we did in the Cold War, we need to defend our ideals abroad vigorously. America does stand up for its values. The United States defended, and still defends, Muslims against tyrants and criminals in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. If the United States does not act aggressively to define itself in the Islamic world, the extremists will gladly it for us.

— Recognizing that Arab and Muslim audiences rely on satellite television and radio, the government has begun some promising initiatives in television and radio broadcasting to the Arab world, Iran, and Afghanistan. These efforts are beginning to reach large audiences. The Broadcasting Board of Governors has asked for much larger resources. It should get them.

— The United States should rebuild the scholarship, exchange, and library programs that reach out to young people and offer them knowledge and hope. Where such assistance is provided, it should be identified as coming from the United States.” (p. 377)

“Recommendation: The U.S. government should offer to join with other nations in generously supporting a new International Youth Opportunity Fund. Funds will be spent directly for building and operating primary and secondary schools in those Muslim states that commit to sensibly investing their own money in public education.” (p. 378)

  • Campaign 2004 — Council on Foreign Relations Website:

Samuel R. Berger“Foreign Policy for a Democratic President,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2004, pp. 47-63. The former NSC Advisor’s views for the next President include policy changes, preventive diplomacy, pragmatic multilateral approaches, restoring “America’s global and moral authority,” and “influence through persuasion.” The “war on terrorism” calls for “a third military transformation,” and a “major retooling of our intelligence agencies.” Berger does not discuss terrorism in the context of a struggle of ideas or changes in the direction and conduct of public diplomacy.

Chuck Hagel“A Republican Foreign Policy,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2004, pp. 64-76. Senator Hagel outlines seven foreign policy principles. The seventh principle “is the importance of strong and imaginative public diplomacy.” Hagel contends public diplomacy requires strategic direction, renewed exchange programs “that pay due weight to both security and openness,” and more public affairs officers “to engage publics in their host countries . . . listen to what they have to say, and coordinate this information into an effective public diplomacy strategy.”

Bill ClintonMy Life, (Random House 2004). Clinton’s autobiography contains very little on public diplomacy. There are brief references in the context of his overseas trips. In discussing his association with Senator William Fulbright, he mentions the Fulbright scholarship program and Fulbright’s thinking that politics is about the power of ideas. References to former USIA Director Joseph Duffey relate to his Senate Democratic primary campaign in Connecticut and mention his appointment as USIA Director. One sentence deals with USIA’s merger into the Department of State:

“I spent most of the month [April 1997] in an intense effort to convince the Senate to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention: calling and meeting with members of Congress; agreeing with Jesse Helms to move the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the U.S. Information Agency into the State Department in return for his allowing a vote on the CWC, which he opposed . . . .” (p. 753)

Ariel Cohen“War of Ideas: Combating Militant Islamist Ideology,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Winter/Spring, 2004, pp. 113-121. Heritage Foundation Research Fellow Cohen urges an integrated strategy of public diplomacy and political action directed at radical organizations and governments that support Islamist political violence. The author discusses targeted audiences, broadcasting, publications, cultural exchanges, education reforms, political covert action, strategic planning through a high level interagency task force, and coordination with allies.

Control Room. Documentary film directed by Jehane Nouaim, Magnolia Pictures, 2004. Control Room looks inside Al Jazeera and portrays complex issues relating to media coverage of the Iraq war and the throughtful views of several Al Jazeera journalists and one military public affairs officer at the U.S. Central Command. When available on DVD, Control Room, (84 minutes) will be useful in courses with topics on satellite television and foreign affairs, media and the military, and cross cultural communication. See also a review by Julia M. Klein, “Whose News? Whose Propaganda?” Columbia Journalism Review, July/August, 2004, pp. 54-55.

Stephen Cook“Hearts, Minds, and Hearings,” The New York Times, July 6, 2004. Council on Foreign Relations Fellow Cook suggests the U.S. government transform its Al Hurra Arabic language satellite television network “into a kind of C-Span for the Arab World.” Available on CFR’s website.

Wilson DizardInventing Public Diplomacy: The Story of the U.S. Information Agency, (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004). Public Diplomacy Council member Wilson Dizard’s history of USIA begins with its World War II antecedents and takes the story to the Agency’s merger with the Department of State in 1999. Wilson’s study of USIA’s activities, strengths, and limitations is complemented by his analysis of public diplomacy concepts, USIA’s role in facilitating cultural exchanges, parallel influence activities of the CIA and the Department of Defense, and thoughts on the future of public diplomacy. Anecdotes drawn from personal experience and his views on changes in the information environment enrich the narrative.

Francis Fukuyama“The Neoconservative Moment,” The National Interest, Summer 2004, pp. 57-68. Fukyama provides a critique of Charles Krauthammer’s 2004 AEI lecture on democratic realism and American unipolarity. Fukyama is concerned about the “great suspicion” with which American power is viewed and finds “excessive realism,” “excessive idealism,” and failure to appreciate the harm brought by America’s “legitimacy deficit” in the neoconservative argument.

Douglas McCollam“The List: How Chalabi Played the Press,” Columbia Journalism Review, July/August, 2004, pp. 31-37. McCollam examines the Iraqi National Congress’s influence campaign directed at prominent U.S. and British news organizations and the INC’s relations with the State Department, CIA, and other U.S. agencies. McCollam concludes from interviews and media analysis the INC heavily influenced Western press coverage in the run up to the Iraq war. He is less certain as to why so many journalists were unable to resist “the lure of the INC.”

House CJS Appropriations CommitteeReport 108-221, July 2004. Title IV of the Fiscal Year 2005 appropriations bill includes public diplomacy programs, educational exchanges, and international broadcasting. The CJS Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), notes “alarming public opinion polls;” calls public diplomacy “a vital element in U.S. foreign policy;” and voices support for “American Corners,” new State Department websites, English teaching to non-elites, Fulbright student and scholar exchanges, International Visitors, cultural exchanges, Middle East Television and Radio Sawa, and maximum use of creative talents in the private sector.

— State Department

— Broadcasting Board of Governors

Azar NafisiReading Lolita in Tehran, (Random House, 2003). Nafisi’s powerful novel about a group of female students who risked much in 1995 to read Western literature in a reading group in Iran is now available in paperback. Barry Fulton used it this year in his graduate seminar on public diplomacy at George Washington University’s Public Diplomacy Institute.

John Hallett Norris“Jaded Optimists: The Young Guns of Foreign Policy,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Winter/Spring 2004, pp. 79-87. Norris, who served with State and USAID and is now with the International Crisis Group, interviewed 40 U.S. foreign policy experts between the ages of 25 and 40 in universities, NGOs, and think tanks. He concludes that adulation of the post-World War II generation of policymakers and much of the current conventional wisdom about the next generation is “remarkably wrongheaded.”

Stanley R. Sloan, Robert G. Sutter, and Casimir A. YostThe Use of U.S. Power: Implications for U.S. Interests, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, 2004. The authors look at ways the U.S. has used its hard and soft power since 9/11, the consequent adverse impact on America’s image abroad, the potential for strategic failure in the Middle East and South Asia, and weakened U.S. positions with key allies in Europe and Asia. They offer recommendations and suggest priorities for the next Administration. ISD’s monograph will be discussed in a public session at Georgetown, 12 pm to 2 pm, September 9, 2004 on the seventh floor of the University’s Intercultural Center.

Government and Independent Organization Studies of Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy, September 2001 – September 2004

Following is an updated and consolidated alphabetical list of studies available through identified websites:

Building Public Diplomacy Through a Reformed Structure and Additional Resources, Report of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2002.

Changing Minds, Winning Peace: A New Strategic Direction for U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Arab & Muslim World, Report of the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, Submitted to the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives, October 1, 2003.

Finding America’s Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy, Report of an Independent Task Force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, September 2003.

How to Reinvigorate U.S. Public Diplomacy, The Heritage Foundation, April 2003.

Managed Information Dissemination, Report of a Defense Science Board Task Force sponsored by the Department of Defense and Department of State, September 2001.

Public Diplomacy: A Strategy for Reform, Report of an Independent Task Force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, July 2002.

Reclaiming America’s Voice Overseas, The Heritage Foundation, May 2003.

The Need to Communicate: How to Improve U.S. Public Diplomacy with the Islamic World, The Brookings Institution, Analysis Paper #6, January 2004.

The New Diplomacy: Utilizing Innovative Communication Concepts that Recognize Resource Constraints, Report of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2003.

Strengthening U.S.-Muslim Communications, Report of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, July 2003.

The Rise of Netpolitik: How the Internet is Changing International Politics and Diplomacy, Report of the Eleventh Annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology, 2003.

U.S. International Broadcasting: Enhanced Measure of Local Media Conditions Would Facilitate Decisions to Terminate Language Services. Report of the U.S. General Accountability Office to the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, February 2004.

{Note: on July 7, 2004 the name of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) changed to the U.S. General Accountability Office.}

U.S. International Broadcasting: New Strategic Approach Focuses on Reaching Large Audiences but Lacks Measurable Program Objectives, Report of the U.S. General Accountability Office to the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, July 2003

U.S. Public Diplomacy: State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors Expand Efforts in the Middle East but Face Significant Challenges, Testimony of the U.S. General Accountability Office before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, February 10, 2004.

U.S. Public Diplomacy: State Department Expands Efforts But Faces Significant Challenges, Report of the U.S. General Accountability Office to the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, September 2003.

U.S. International Broadcasting: Challenges Facing the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Testimony of the U.S. General Accountability Office before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism, Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, April 29, 2004.

Issue #14

Russell BermanAnti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem, Hoover Institution Press, 2004. Stanford humanities professor Berman argues Europe’s anti-Americanism and negative views on US policies can be traced to a larger cultural phenomenon with roots in internal factors: the end of the need for the protection of US troops, anti-Americanism’s value as an ideology to define a new European identity, the acting out of local issues, and the movement against globalization. (Courtesy of Nicholas Imparato)

David CauteThe Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy During the Cold War, Oxford University Press, 2004. A lengthy (788 pp.) history of a cultural contest shaped by ideology, global media, rival claims to a shared Enlightenment tradition, and the influence of writers, dancers, playwrights, poets, artists, musicians, film-makers, arts organizations, and government agencies on aesthetic and propaganda debates within and between the US and the Soviet Union.

Michael Kimmelman’s review (“The Cold War Over the Arts,” The New York Review of Books, May 27, 2004, pp. 33-35) calls Caute’s “excellent” book “a sane rebuke to . . . that revisionist generation of American cultural critics . . . [who allege] a web of capitalist intrigue involving Abstract Expressionism, with its rhetoric of heroic individualism; the Rockefeller family, which had helped to found the Museum of Modern Art; the United States Information Agency, which exported American culture; and the CIA.” (USIA alumni will enjoy a 1977 photo of Rudolph Nureyev in the Capitol with three “young” lawmakers, Rep. Dante Fascell and Senators Patrick Leahy and Bob Dole.)

John Lewis GaddisSurprise, Security, and the American Experience, Harvard University Press, 2004. In this brief, well written book Yale historian Gaddis examines America’s response to 9/11; US national security strategy; and preemption, hegemony, and consent as long standing themes in American history. Gaddis argues the US should seek to “make the world safe for federalism” and offers thoughts on balancing leadership with alliances and ways to wield power while minimizing arrogance.

Glenn Guzzo“First Person: Thinking Big,” American Journalism Review, June/July 2004. The former editor of the Denver Post believes the definition of local news has changed. The Post expanded its overseas staff and finds covering international stories can pay for regional papers.

Stephen Johnson and Helle DaleIraqi Prisoner Crisis: Correcting America’s Communication Failure, The Heritage Foundation, June 2, 2004. Johnson and Dale find the US has no comprehensive public diplomacy strategy for Iraq and that coordination of America’s global public diplomacy is in disarray. Their paper includes recommendations on making better communication a Presidential priority, improving military public affairs operations in Iraq, developing a military-civilian public diplomacy strategy, and strengthening public diplomacy leadership at State.

Sunil Khilnani“Nehru’s Faith: India’s Contribution to Liberalism,” The New Republic, May 24, 2004, pp. 27-33. Johns Hopkins SAIS professor Khilnani reviews Katherine Frank’s new biography of Jawaharlal Nehru and discusses Nehru’s efforts to find a “non-religious bedrock” for practical politics and morality. Khilnani examines Nehru’s views on reason, politics, religion, and tolerance as expressed in his books and letters from prison.

Sook-Jong Lee“Growing Anti-US Sentiments Roil an Old Alliance with South Korea,” YaleGlobal Online, June 8, 2004. Memories of America’s defense of South Korea and deployment of South Korean troops to Iraq notwithstanding, Lee finds “the massive wave of anti-American feelings that have accompanied recent US actions in Iraq and South Korea is unprecedented in Korean history.”

David Morey and Scott MillerThe Underdog Advantage: Using the Power of Insurgent Strategy to Put Your Business on Top, McGraw-Hill, 2004. David Morey, DMG CEO and Public Diplomacy Council member, and his partner Scott Miller offer pratical strategic communication advice to business, political, military, and organization leaders. Their insurgency model and understanding of the information environment draw on their work as consultants to political campagins abroad, to US Congressional and gubernatorial campaigns, and to corporate clients.

Pew Research CenterViews of a Changing World 2003: War With Iraq Further Divides Global Publics, June 3, 2004. New findings from the Pew Global Attitudes Project show that opinions of the US are markedly lower than a year ago. “The war has widened the rift between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the war on terrorism, and significantly weakened global public support for . . . the U.N. and the North Atlantic alliance.”

William A. RughArab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics, Praeger, 2004. Former AMIDEAST President and Public Diplomacy Council member Rugh provides a comprehensive examination of Arab print, radio, and television media and how they function in the political and social structures of 18 Arab countries. Topics include liberalizing trends in Arab media, a typology of media environments, “off shore” pan-Arab print media, and his reasoning on why Arabs are not likely to use Internet-based technologies in the near future.

William A. Rugh“Comments on Radio Sawa and al Hurra Television,” Statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 29, 2004. Ambassador Rugh describes the Arab broadcasting environment and discusses Arab reactions to US government Arabic language broadcasting initiatives.

Shibley Telhami“Hearing on the Broadcasting Board of Governors: Finding the Right Media for the Message in the Middle East,” Statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 29, 2004. University of Maryland Professor Telhami offers five perspectives on the role of the US government’s al Hurra television station, contends al Hurra will not gain a significant market share in the Middle East, and compares al Hurra with limited spending on other public diplomacy initiatives.

Senate Foreign Relations CommitteeBroadcasting Board of Governors: Finding the Right Media for the Message in the Middle East, April 29, 2004. Includes online statements by Senator Joseph Biden; BBG Chair Kenneth Tomlinson; BBG member Norman Pattiz; Mouafac Harb, News Director, al Hurra; Jess Ford, General Accounting Office; Shibley Telhami, University of Maryland; William Rugh, Associate, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University; and Edmund Ghareeb, School of International Service, American University.

Anne-Marie SlaughterA New World Order, Princeton University Press, 2004. The Dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs harnesses ten years of work on global networks and global governance. In her analysis, states are still the most important international actors, but states increasingly are disaggregated into component institutions, which interact with foreign counterparts through horizontal networks of national government officials. Slaughter examines the implications of her thesis for changing concepts of sovereignty, national security, the global economy, the environment and other issues — and for the projection of soft power and conduct of diplomacy.

Tom Wolfe“McLuhan’s New World,” The Wilson Quarterly, Spring, 2004, pp. 18-25. Novelist Tom Wolfe reflects on the continuing impact of McLuhan’s thinking and the intellectual influences he frequently acknowleged (Harold Innes) and did not acknowlege (Teilhard de Chardin). Wolfe discusses McLuhan’s “tremendous debt” to Teilhard’s concept of “noosphere” and the reasons McLuhan never made this debt public.

Issue #13

Sean AdayThe Real War Will Never Get on Television: An Analysis of Casualty Imagery in Television Coverage of the Iraq War. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal, March 17, 2004. A team led by GW Professor and Public Diplomacy Institute board member Sean Aday analyzed 200 hours of television coverage from March 20 – April 9, 2003. The paper concludes the media presented an almost entirely bloodless war to viewers emphasizing “video game” aspects of military technology rather than human aspects of U.S. military power.

Cheryl BenardCivil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies. Rand Corporation, 2003. In this 88-page study, Benard examines Islam’s internal and external struggle over values, identity, and place in the world. She distinguishes four groups — fundamentalists, traditionalists, modernists, and secularists — and offers a strategy to encourage change compatible with greater democracy, modernity, and world order.

Ian Buruma and Avishai MargalitOccidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies, The Penguin Press, 2004, and “Seeds of Revolution,” The New York Review of Books, March 11, 2004. Buruma and Margalit examine the impact of Western ideas in revolts against imperialism and links between religious zealotry and modern ideology. They suggest fault lines in the struggle of ideas do not “coincide with national, ethnic, or religious borders,” but between those in all societies and religions who favor civil liberties and freedom of thought and those who do not.

Anthony H. CordesmanHostages, Murders, and Desecrated Corpses: Iraqi Political and Psychological Warfare, Center for Strategic and International Studies, April 11, 2004. In this brief paper (11 pages), Cordesman analyzes how factions in and out of Iraq are using asymmetric armed force, terrorism, psychological warfare, and global media platforms to achieve political goals.

Barry FultonTaking the Pulse of American Public Diplomacy in a Post-9/11 World, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal, March 18, 2004. Public Diplomacy Institute Director Barry Fulton summarizes common themes in recent studies of public diplomacy and causes of anti-Americanism. He finds consensus that American public diplomacy lacks strategic direction, adequate resources, and proper coordination. The paper offers seven propositions for transforming the conduct of public diplomacy.

Barry Fulton“Communications Researchers and Policy-Making,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(1), 2004, pp. 151-154. In his review of Sandra Braman, ed., Communication Researchers and Policy-Making (MIT Press Sourcebooks, 2003), Fulton examines essays by academicians and policy analysts linked by Braman’s introduction and transitional chapters. He looks at how the U.S. government’s support for communications research during World War II led to its development as field of study, issues that have kept research and public policy communities apart in the decades since, the “Djerejian report’s” focus on a nexus between research and public policy, and the need to reestablish trust and collaboration between academe and government.

William P. Kiehl“Speaking Out: The Weakest Link in our Foreign Policy Arsenal,” Foreign Service Journal, April 2004, pp. 15-17. Public Diplomacy Council Executive Director Bill Kiehl analyzes problems that have weakened public diplomacy and calls for “basic reform and restructuring of the public diplomacy function of the State Department.”

Samuel P. Huntington“Dead Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite,” The National Interest, Spring, 2004, pp. 5-18. Huntington argues “the central distinction between the public and elites is not isolation versus internationalism but nationalism versus cosmopolitanism.” Elite concerns increasingly include participating in the global economy, supporting trade and migration, building international institutions, promoting American values abroad, and encouraging minority identification and cultures at home. He contends the public overall is concerned with physical security and sustaining “existing patterns of language, culture, association, and national identity.” Excerpt online. Go to Spring 2004 issue.

Samuel P. Huntington“Letters,” Foreign Policy, May-June, 2004, pp. 4-13 and 84-91. In an extended exchange, Roberto Suro, Fouad Ajami, Minxin Pei, and others challenge Huntington’s “The Hispanic Challenge” (Foreign Policy, March-April, 2004). Huntington replies. The letters are not yet online. His article is posted at the website below.

Dirk Kinnane“Winning Over the Muslim Mind,” The National Interest, Spring, 2004, pp. 93-99. Kinnane argues U.S. international broadcasting’s Radio Sawa and Al Hurra lack influence and credibility, and the “Djerejian report’s” public diplomacy recommendations are insufficient to address root political problems of powerlessness and humiliation in the Muslim world. The “only really effective approach,” he contends, is to “provide an international platform for those Muslims who seek to reconcile Islam and the modern world.” Kinnane cites the Congress of Cultural Freedom as precedent and makes a case for covert funding as “the cost of doing business.”

Susan MoellerMedia Coverage of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), March 9, 2004 and “Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Failure of the Media,” YaleGlobal, April 14, 2004. In her 101-page CISSM study, Moeller reviews U.S. media coverage of weapons of mass destruction in May 2003 (Iraq), October 2002 (Iraq and North Korea) and May 1998 (South Asia). She asserts that U.S. media (1) accept the political formulation of WMD as a single category of threat, (2) inaccurately associate mass destruction with terrorism, and (3) operate in ways that permit incumbent Presidents to dominate news coverage by setting the terms of public discussion. In her short YaleGlobal article, Moeller contends that U.S. media, caught in patriotic fervor, did not adequately cover the government’s claims before the war in Iraq.

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer“A New Voice {Al Hurra},” April, 15, 2004. The NewHour’s Terrence Smith looks at the U.S. government’s Arabic language satellite television station. Interviews include Broadcasting Board of Governors members Ken Tomlinson and Norman Pattis, Al Hurra’s Mouafac Harb, and Ambassador Edward Djerejian. Available in text, streaming video, and streaming audio.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr“The Decline of America’s Soft Power: Why Washington Should Worry,” Foreign Affairs, May/June, 2004, pp. 16-20. Nye applies discusses his soft power concepts in the context of the struggle against Islamist terrorism, increased funds for public diplomacy, greater support from the White House, and development of short, medium, and long term public diplomacy strategies. Excerpt online.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr“Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 12, 2004. Nye discusses his recent book on Soft Power and related issues with Joseph Lelyveld, former executive editor of The New York Times. Transcript (15 pp.) available online.

Pippa Norris, Montague Kern, and Marion Just, eds. Framing Terrorism: The News Media, the Government, and the Public, Routledge, 2003. This collection of essays looks at theories and cases of media framing. Chapters by Doris Graber, Robin Brown, Brigitte Nacos, and others focus on perceptions of terrorism, how governments and dissident groups seek to manage the media, ways in which journalists construct news, and how citizens respond to news coverage of terrorist events.

Susan Raines“Evaluating Cross-Cultural Exchanges for Peace Building: How Much Bang for the Buck?” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal, March 17, 2003. Kennesaw State University Professor Raines summarizes attempts to evaluate exchanges and measure benefits to individuals and societies in such programs as Seeds of Peace, Global Children’s Organization, and Search for Common Ground. She pesents tentative findings from current exchange evaluation efforts.

Glenn Reynolds“The Blogs of War: How the Internet is Reshaping Foreign Policy,” The National Interest, Spring, 2004, pp. 59-64. Reynolds, a University of Tennessee professor of law and Instapundit.com blogger, looks at ways the Internet is undermining the role of news organizations as gatekeepers and the role of free lance writers with laptops in the Iraq War.

Walter R. Roberts and Barry Fulton“Rebuilding Public Diplomacy,” National Strategy Forum Review, Spring 2004. In this 3-page paper, Roberts and Fulton discuss challenges facing public diplomacy, lessons from history, and offer proposals for change.

Paul StarrThe Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications, Basic Books, 2004. This sweeping history by Princeton sociologist Paul Starr shows how political choices have shaped modern communications as much as technology. Starr compares the American experience with sharply different patterns in Europe. In a narrative that ends in 1941, he demonstrates how communications structures in the United States have become a source of economic growth, cultural influence, and military advantage — and how the power of the media has challenged traditional views of the press in a democracy.

Gabriel Weimann“www.terror.net: How Modern Terrorism Uses the Internet,” United States Institute of Peace, Special Report 116, March 2004. USIP Senior Fellow Weimann examines eight ways that terrorists use the Internet “ranging from psychological warfare and propaganda to highly instrumental uses such as fundraising, recruitment, data mining, and coordination of actions.”

Alan Wolf“Native Son: Samuel Huntington Defends the Homeland,” Foreign Affairs, May/June, 2004, pp. 120-125. In his lengthy review of Huntington’s new book, Who Are We? The Challenge to America’s National Identity, (Simon & Schuster, 2004), Wolf contends that Huntington in his study of the challenges of immigration has abandoned the “clear eyed realism” of earlier writings in favor of “moralistic passion” and a “nativist hysteria.”

Useful Tools and Research Projects

Newseum: Today’s Front Pages. An online version of the Newseum’s daily collection of front pages from more than 250 newspapers around the world. (Courtesy of Steve Chaplin)

John Brown is preparing a bibliographical essay on public diplomacy and an article on public diplomacy as carried out by countries other than the United States. John also puts out a daily public diplomacy press review, which is available on request. He was in the foreign service from 1981 to 2003 and served in London, Prague, Krakow, Kiev, Belgrade and Moscow. He has given courses on public diplomacy at Georgetown University and is the author of “The Purposes and Cross-Purposes of American Public Diplomacy.” He can be reached at johnhbrown30@hotmail.com.

Pamela Smith has prepared a bibliography on public diplomacy, broadly defined, for her spring 2004 graduate course on public diplomacy at Georgetown University. Her bibliography draws on her own research, her examination of syllabi for courses taught by Public Diplomacy Council members, and other sources. Now on a two-year assignment at Georgetown, she previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Modlva, Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs in London, Press Attache in Jakarta, and Cultural Attache in Belgrade. She can be reached at phs5@georgetown.edu.