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BRAND SINGAPORE: HOW NATION BRANDING BUILT ASIA’S LEADING GLOBAL CITY
By Koh Buck Song


Reviewed by Rachel Chan
APR 20, 2011

For its relatively short history and small land area, Singapore’s range of nation branding efforts is ambitious, concerted and seemingly ceaseless. Its desire to establish and seal its reputation as a leading global city has translated into strategic public diplomacy initiatives that span and encompass practically every sector of its economy and society. This intensive repertoire of public diplomacy is captured in Koh Buck Song’s latest book, Brand Singapore: How Nation Branding Built Asia’s Leading Global City. Before delving into Singapore’s nation branding, Koh gives an overview to the subject which the uninitiated will find useful. He defines branding as the aggregation of conscious and deliberate actions undertaken to influence perceptions and generate awareness, with nation brands typically incorporating public diplomacy into branding strategies. Aptly, he calls nation branding “the lifeblood of any nation”, because it has the capacity to boost the economy, attract talent and improve the quality of life. Nations that can brand themselves well, he concludes, gain an added comparative advantage which can make up for shortcomings, which in Singapore’s case is its small size. State-led efforts make up the bulk of Singapore’s nation branding, so Koh devotes the first section of the book to an examination of this key aspect. Singapore’s nation branding mainly began when it achieved self-governance in 1959, when it faced primary challenges that included a lack of natural resources, political instability, and unskilled workforce. The Economic Development Board was thus established to attract foreign investment and Koh carefully chronicles the evolution of…...  -->

MONSOON: THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN POWER
By Robert Kaplan


Reviewed by Philip Seib
NOV 2, 2010

Let’s begin with a quiz. What and where is Gwadar? Few people can answer that today, but some in the know believe that within 20 years, it will become the next Dubai. For many years, Gwadar had been just another South Asian fishing village. It sits on a hammer-shaped peninsula jutting from southwest Pakistan into the Indian Ocean at one of the world’s most strategic spots. The Chinese have built a deepwater port there, ready for jumbo oil tankers and cargo ships. Plans for resort hotels have been drawn up. Gwadar, writes Robert Kaplan, is “a place of wonders, slipping through an hourglass.” Few books can be considered indispensable, but Monsoon is one of them. Journalist Kaplan is one of the world’s foremost analysts of geopolitical change (and the conflicts that often result). His thesis in this volume is, “Europe defined the 20th century; the Indian Ocean will define the 21st.” The case he presents is compelling, and anyone contemplating the future of global power relationships needs to understand how and why these changes are occurring. Kaplan offers some basic facts: Countries surrounding the Indian Ocean account for a third of the world’s population, and this rimland generates 70 percent of the traffic of petroleum products for the entire world. The potential for vast economic development exists. But nothing is certain. Concerning Gwadar, governance is a relative term in Pakistan, and the port’s potential might fizzle in a mess of incompetence and corruption. Furthermore, the climb to prosperity will be…...  -->

THE UNITED STATES AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CULTURAL AND INTERNATIONAL HISTORY
By Kenneth A. Osgood & Brian C. Etheridge, eds.


Reviewed by Joshua A. Saidoff
JUN 1, 2010

The United States and Public Diplomacy is the fifth in a multi-volume series published by Clingendael under the masthead, “Diplomatic Studies”.  The present volume is a collection of twelve original essays on the history of public diplomacy.  The book should be of interest to scholars of public diplomacy and U.S. history.  It provides novel perspectives on historical events, focusing attention on aspects of the field that have received insufficient study to date.  It also endeavors to provide practical insights, suggesting contemporary applications for lessons learned in the past.  Although this book may not hold much appeal beyond the community of scholars, practitioners, and public diplomacy enthusiasts, teachers of history and public diplomacy should pay particular attention to it.  The essays contained in this volume are appropriate for college and graduate-level course syllabi.  They are well written, prescient, and easily stand alone.  The title, The United States and Public Diplomacy: New Directions in Cultural and International History is a rather inelegant effort to describe the diverse set of monographs included in this volume. It is also a bit of a mind bender.  What is “Cultural and International History” and how can it go in “New Directions”?  It takes an advanced degree just to unpack what this means. Six of the essays examine past U.S. public diplomacy campaigns.  The other six focus on public diplomacy as practiced by foreign governments and non-state actors.  Several essays describe the role of film, art, and culture in public diplomacy.  Others focus on international informational campaigns. …...  -->

BEYOND THE AGE OF INNOCENCE: REBUILDING TRUST BETWEEN AMERICA AND THE WORLD
By Kishore Mahbubani


Reviewed by Yael Swerdlow
APR 29, 2010

Is there a public diplomacy remedy for betrayal?  Kishore Mahbubani’s Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World attempts, with honesty, eloquence and heart, to answer this question.  Published in 2005, when anti-American sentiment was, according to many polls, increasing rapidly, Mahbubani’s analysis of America’s impact on the world, is an invaluable read for global leaders and the general public alike.  For those still asking, “why do ‘they’ hate us?” this book offers a perspective from the proverbial ‘they’.  As earlier reviews have stated, Mahubani’s book is elegantly and courageously written.  It is balanced in its portrayal of both America as a country and Americans as a people.  The author takes great pains to illustrate the nuances of the rest of the world’s view of Americans as a generous, albeit non-worldly society and the actions of America, the superpower.  He guides the reader through the psychological impact of an American foreign policy that can encompass both instant friendship and abrupt abandonment.  The image that emerges is one of a super power making its decisions from an insular, isolationist and reactive psyche, not as the leader of the free world fully conscious of its perceived values and opportunities to drive much of the world’s dreams. Mahbubani devotes much of the book to the United States’ evolving (and in many cases, devolving) relationship with Islamic nations and the religion itself as it applies to the current global fight against terrorism. Using the United States’ relationship with Pakistan as…...  -->

JAPAN’S CULTURAL DIPLOMACY
By Kazuo Ogoura


Reviewed by Philip Seib
APR 22, 2010

Japan Foundation president Kazuo Ogoura has held high posts in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has served as Japan’s ambassador to Vietnam, South Korea, and France.  His diplomatic experience infuses Japan’s Cultural Diplomacy with pragmatic recognition of the value and the limits of cultural diplomacy. This slim volume contains much important information about Japanese diplomacy and general diplomatic practices.  Ogoura defines cultural diplomacy as “the use of cultural means to enhance a nation’s political influence.”  He distinguishes this from public diplomacy, which he defines as having “a well-defined political objective” and being “aimed at certain pre-determined targets,” while cultural diplomacy has broader, less precise goals related to improving a nation’s image. Ogoura shows how Japan has carefully and persistently used cultural diplomacy throughout the years since World War II.  In the period immediately after the war, notes Ogoura, “when in engaging in cultural activities overseas, the Japanese government emphasized such traditions as the tea ceremony and ikebana (flower arrangement), with the intention that they would convey Japan’s serene, peace-loving nature to the rest of the world.”  At the same time, he adds, “the overseas promotion of certain elements of traditional Japanese culture, particularly those related to the samurai spirit or feudal traditions, was discouraged.” Also receiving emphasis were exchange programs designed to internationalize Japan’s outlook.  For a country that had long favored insularity, exchanges were seen, writes Ogoura, “as a means to promote Japanese understanding of foreign cultures.”  Today, he notes, a goal of Japanese cultural diplomacy is…...  -->

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