Public Diplomacy Review (August, 2014)

Abbreviated edition for the month of August, 2014*

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PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Reforming American Public Diplomacy  [video] - isn.ethz.ch: "In this video, Richard Stengel, who is the US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, discusses the future of American public diplomacy, the role social media plays in applying soft power, and the competition the US currently finds itself in with Russia, China, and subnational organizations in ‘informing’ the world."

State Department: 'Volleyball Diplomacy Strengthens U.S.-Iranian Relations' - Jeryl Bier, Weekly Standard: "Team USA Volleyball with support from the U.S. Department of State, is hosting the Iranian National Men’s Volleyball Team for a series of four friendly matches in southern California between August 9 and 16."

Front Line Public Diplomacy: How US Embassies Communicate with Foreign Publics; William A. Rugh; publication date August 2014 - "This book presents the first-ever close and up-to-date look at how American diplomats working at our embassies abroad communicate with foreign audiences to explain US foreign policy and American culture and society."

The Secret to Public Diplomacy: Looking at Email Dari Amerika - Janet Steele, takefiveblog.org: "Although I spent the summer in Indonesia working on my project on journalism and Islam, I’ve also been up to some public diplomacy – most recently two weeks ago, when I launched a collection of my Email Dari Amerika columns at @America – an outpost of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy located in a fancy shopping mall in Jakarta."

The Voice of America: A Worthy Mission for the 21st Century - Joseph Bruns, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "In this world of instant communication, VOA is needed as much as ever."

Promoting “Journalism with Purpose” - Emily T. Metzgar, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "VOA’s charter, promulgated in 1976, already calls for the broadcaster’s content to be 'consistent with the foreign policy objectives of the United States' and to 'present the views of the United States government.' "

Public Diplomacy - bbgwatch.com: A listing of recent articles on U.S. international broadcasting pertaining to America's public diplomacy.

Voice of America and United States’ Public Diplomacy: The Cold War, technology and the post 9/11 Muslim Worldmore by James Fahey [can be downloaded] - "The essay outlined how both the United States domestic values and beliefs regarding democracy and freedom shaped their foreign policy in the Cold War era as well as in Afghanistan, Iran and the Muslim World after 9/11 by trying to influence foreign audiences of the true character of the United States."

A young woman checks her smart phone: The Real Social Media Battleground - Philip Seib, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "As we should have learned from more than a decade of dealing with Al Qaeda, the mobilizing capabilities of the online world are underestimated at our peril." Image from

EU expands Public Diplomacy Network Downunder - thejetnewspaper.com: "The European Union (EU) has invested €4.6million (NZ$7.2million) to establish six EU Centres across Australia and New Zealand for the 2014-2016 period."

Travel and Tourism as a Form of Public Diplomacy - thewell-travelledpostcard.com: "[T]he EU is encouraging integration through public diplomacy and nurturing a generation of truly European citizens."

Israel is losing its battle in public diplomacy - Amelia Smith, middleeastmonitor.com: "Israel's actions have become impossible to defend and answers like, 'We don't want to see innocent civilians caught up in the crossfire between us and Hamas,' are sounding increasingly disingenuous."

Israel must rethink its public diplomacy before it’s too late: Feeling good under the comfort blanket of American support for Israel is not enough. Israel must find ways of taking its arguments into European politics [subscription] - Denis MacShane, haaretz.com

ISRAELikers crowdsources Israel's public diplomacy: The initiative provides tools to get Israel's message across on the digital battlefront - globes.co.il: "ISRAELikers ... was dreamed up by colleagues at Tel Aviv-based digital and direct marketing agency Data Pro Proximity and their friends."

New President “Jokowi” Needs to Revamp Indonesian Public Diplomacy - Ellen Huijgh, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "[D]digging Indonesian public diplomacy out of its stagnation and revamping it ... will inspire others in the region and beyond."

Ebola: An Opportunity for Public Diplomacy: The Ebola virus is proof that foreign policy is not “foreign” - Tara Sonenshine, theglobalist.com: "Public diplomacy means local community education in underdeveloped countries where disease is a stigma and reporting on issues like Ebola is poor." See also.

Public Diplomacy Among US Bishops and Iranian Religious Leaders - Teresa Shaffer, scribd.com: "By cultivating relationships with citizens, misperceptions can be battled through exchange and dialogue, and U.S.-Iran relations can begin to normalize once again, facilitating negotiations and benefiting both countries’ interests."

Loved? Liked? Respected? The Success and Failure of U.S. Public Diplomacy [scroll down link for item; conference event held on August 6]: "In this special program for interns, LINK, on behalf of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy will host a debate the value of U.S. public diplomacy."

Public Diplomacy, Education and Czechs Living in the USA - Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C.: "The mission of the Embassy of the Czech Republic’s Public Diplomacy Section is to bring the vibrancy and richness of Czech culture and heritage to Washington, DC and the surrounding areas, as well as the international community."

Nord [sic] America: The Private Sector and United States Diplomacy Nexus - cronacheinternazionali.com: "Public diplomacy cannot exist without the government but at the same time it calls into existence the private sector, from here it stems the close link in the United States foreign policy between diplomacy and the private sector." Below image from

Role of Public Diplomacy - Aznan Mat Piah, iprm.org.my: "A public diplomacy that is proactive, well coordinated, innovative and informative is essential in advancing the interest of the nation abroad."

Title of study: The Role of New Public Diplomacy in Global Tuberculosis Control - Principal Investigator name: Tara Ornstein - surveymonkey.com "You are being invited to take part in [this] research study."

Public Diplomacy Symposium: When: Thursday, October 30, 201 (all day) Where: Washington, DC - Maxwell School Syrcause University: "Our theme this year is 'Public Diplomacy and the Media'."

Public Diplomacy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan: "[M]any observers have stressed the importance of 'public diplomacy' - direct appeals to citizens and public opinion in other countries in cooperation with the private sector."

The Palestine Center for Public Diplomacy - "The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) is a private sector and civil society initiative that seeks to form and manage a unified vision for the promotion of Palestine at home and abroad, and to develop and execute strategic initiatives in support of this vision."

Comparative public diplomacy: Message strategies of countries in transition - sciencedirect.com: "Findings indicate that transitional countries could benefit from advocacy and promotional message strategies."

What Is Public Diplomacy? - wisegeek.com: "Foreign embassies are the main source for local public diplomacy."

What is Citizen Diplomacy? - worldboston.org: "Citizen diplomacy, or public diplomacy, is the grassroots of foreign relations."

Public diplomacy an alternative diplomacy in foreign affairs' issues. Greek public diplomacy: capabilities and perspectives - Petropoulos, Sotirios, calhoun.nps.edu: "[T]his research paper will focus on Greece as a case study of PD by examining its level of effectiveness, capabilities, and perspectives."

RELATED ITEMS

Will be covered in subsequent PDR issues.

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*With the summer break, your compiler is going back to his (some would say) rather monk-like compilation (now fashionably known as "computer aggregation" requiring, I suspect, no human being to actually read in full what is actually aggregated) of articles appearing, mostly in our vastly expanding media universe (of course, of uneven quality), pertaining to public diplomacy. In today's brief compilation, summarizing (in a far too small limited a fashion, one-month PD-related items) I've selected important articles, during the month of August, when persons, aspiring to be reasonable, take a vacation) that could be useful in understanding where PD is going today. (Need I confess that my perspective is unashamedly American?) Given time and patience limitations, I've not included pieces on propaganda or on PD -"soft power"- related articles that did not mention the term, "public diplomacy."

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Please note that Google has eliminated the term "Google Blogs" as a search category. The term has now been subsumed under "Google News," given that  (I suspect) so many blogs (mine of course excluded) are more interesting, thought-provoking and intellectually challenging than yet another pontificating (I won't say Pravda-style; Pravda had better editors) NYT/Washington Times/Washington Post editorial/"op-ed."