Public Diplomacy employed by the US during the Cold war has been greatly deemed to have been a success. US public diplomacy especially in the last 10 years of the cold war greatly influenced to bring down the Soviet Union, with the radio programs and magazines, all displaying and promoting the American way of life, freedom and human rights. As the cold war came to an end, public diplomacy efforts were considered not to be of importance anymore, and were considered to have only been ideal for the cold war period. (Lord, C. & Dale, H. 2007) After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 though, public diplomacy used during the cold war was seen as a great way to combat terrorism as well, since it was also considered to be a ‘war of ideas’, highlighted by the National Security Strategy of the US in 2002. (Zaharna, R.S. 2005) The question therefore is, how effectively could the US employ the same public diplomacy efforts that were used during the Cold war?
The ‘information battle’ that characterized the cold war between two powers, with the loser being the one that produced less information for an intended audience. Cold war PD was defined more of ‘quantity rather than quality’ and the distribution of information was the key component. (Zaharna, R.S. 2005) As we have moved away from the clearly defined information battle between two powers and into an era of globalization where information is readily available and culture and identity, rather than ideology are taking the forefront, the US cannot any longer rely on distributing as much information as possible, but to establish and cherish relations between nations and cultures, in other words ‘building networks’. (Zaharna, R.S. 2005) PD is no longer about controlling the information output, as it was during the cold war, but rather managing the information already out there in favor of one’s national interests. (Zaharna, R.S. 2005)
It would be a mistake for the US to rely too heavily on Cold war PD methods and strategies today, as the world has changed enormously since then. As the world keeps moving forward with rapid pace, so should the means of effective public diplomacy, which should highlight today’s global environment. (Zaharna, R.S. 2005) For the US to rely solely on means used for PD during the cold war and the production of as much information as possible to highlight the American way of life and values, would surely just create resentment globally, and would rather be counter-productive, than anything else. (Zaharna, R.S. 2005)
References:
- Lord, Carnes & Dale, Helle C. (2007) Public Diplomacy and the Cold War: Lessons Learned. Backgrounder, published by the Heritage Foundation, September 18. Available from: http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/12861.pdf Accessed: 24.2.2011
- Zaharna, R.S. (2005) The Network Paradigm of Strategic Public Diplomacy. Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIP), Policy Brief Vol 10, No 1. Available from: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/upload/Network-Paradigm.pdf Accessed: 27.2.2011
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the US should not rely on its Cold War diplomacy strategy, as the current nature of public diplomacy (PD) has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. During the Cold War years PD was centralized and characterised for having a top down approach, this meant governments had control over the information that was being produced. However, nowadays this appears to be changing, as when there is too much control over PD by a state, the foreign audiences seem to be more wary of the information presented to them. Hence, there being a decrease in the chances of the government’s ability to meet their foreign policy (FP) goals. As a result, it could be argued that there has been a shift in governments including the US, in which they are becoming facilitators of the PD process. As you mentioned, the main objective of today’s PD is to place high emphasis in building relationships with the civil society and non state actors, which in turn could lead to a more effective and more open way in state’s achieving their FP objectives.
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