The article was written by CCLP Faculty Fellow Phil Seib, and was originally posted on the Center on Public Diplomacy blog. Judith McHale's departure from her position as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs presents an opportunity not only to appraise her tenure, but also to consider the future direction of U.S. public diplomacy. McHale's most valuable contribution may have been to structurally reinforce public diplomacy within the State Department. By overseeing the addition of deputy assistant secretaries responsible for public diplomacy throughout State, she took a big step toward increasing the centrality of public diplomacy……
Tag: public diplomacy
Pakistan and America: The Bad Marriage
The last time I saw Abbottabad, I was in a crowd of a couple of hundred men watching a dancing bear hopping up and down and then wrestling in the dust with the owner's son. The crowd enjoyed it and stayed for the end, the collecting of coins. There was not a lot of entertainment around there; people looked and stopped at anything out of the ordinary. So, like all people, the folks there gossiped about most anything they noticed–say, a million-dollar compound with 18-foot walls and opaque windows three times the size of anything else in what we would……
The New Arab World Requires New Public Diplomacy
This article was written by CCLP Faculty Fellow Phil Seib. DOHA — My conversation with two North African friends ranged widely, from the role of satellite television in the Arab world to the prospects for electoral reform in the region. Then we came to how other nations would deal with the new dynamics of Arab politics. One of my friends said, "In the past, diplomacy has been with the leaders, but now it must be with the people." In other words, public diplomacy will now be of unprecedented importance for governments, such as that of the United States, that want……
Education and training of foreign service must be enhanced to protect US interests
With support from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, senior fellow Jeremy Curtin was the lead drafter of a major new study Forging a 21st Century Diplomatic Service for the United States Through Professional Education and Training , sponsored by the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Stimson Center in Washington, DC. The report focuses on the new and expanding demands on American diplomacy in the 21st century and the training and resources required to meet them successfully. The report argues that the rising importance of "civilian power" in the U.S. national security equation, as Secretary of State Hillary……
U.S. Public Diplomacy and the New Egypt
This article was written by CCLP Faculty Fellow, Phil Seib. Events of the past few weeks belong wholly to spirit of the Egyptian people, not technology. And although it was built on democratic aspirations, this was not a revolution that drew any inspiration from the United States. Think about that. In China's Tiananmen Square in 1989, there was a Statue of Liberty-like model and many signs written in English as protesters there looked toward the nation that was seen as a beacon of freedom, born of a revolution of its own. In 2011, in Cairo and Alexandria, the signs in……
Qatar’s Well-Funded Public Diplomacy
This article was written by CCLP Faculty Fellow Philip Seib. DOHA — Money is a wonderful thing. Qatar has plenty of it and is putting it to use in its expanded public diplomacy. With wealth rather than weaponry, Qatar is becoming a new kind of superpower. The tiny state's latest triumph is being named the site of the 2022 World Cup. In the run-up to that event, Qatar plans to build air-conditioned stadiums, a 25-mile bridge to Bahrain, a new city, Lusail, which will be home to 300,000 residents, plus a new array of luxury hotels and other amenities. During……
Seib in HuffPo – India
"At a conference in New Delhi," writes Faculty Fellow Phil Seib, "Indian diplomats, media executives, business persons, and others examined their country's "Public Diplomacy in the Information Age" and found that their efforts to reach the global public needs more coherence and imagination." Seib attended the conference in December entitled "Public Diplomacy in the Information Age." His findings of the conference can be found in his blog post on the Huffington Post…….
Seib to speak at PubD conference in New Delhi
Faculty Fellow Phil Seib will be speaking at a conference on public diplomacy organised by the external affairs ministry of New Delhi on Friday, Dec. 10. Also speaking at the conference will be Nicholas Cull, USC Annenberg professor of Communication. An article about the conference and its speakers can be found on Sify News. [follow-up information from Live-PR]……
We need more diplomats … and time to train them
When President Obama said, "Our commitment in Iraq is changing – from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats," he underscored a fact that has become very clear from the research I am doing for the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Stimson Center in Washington on preparing our diplomats for 21st century statecraft. A key message of our research to date is the absolute necessity for Congress to continue funding a surge in State Department hiring – an initiative launched in 2009 called Diplomacy 3.0 – so that we have not……
Seib Huff Po
"Sometimes effective public diplomacy can be conducted through a simple and unambiguous gesture," writes Faculty Fellow Phil Seib in his latest contribution to the Huffington Post. Seib commends Obama for the recent commemoration of the 50th anniversaries of 17 African nations' independence, in which 115 Africans under the age of 35 were invited to the White House…….