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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.

ANOTHER WAKE UP CALL
SEP 11, 2006 - 7:42PM PDT
Posted by Jill A. Schuker
All posts by this author

Is it any wonder that U.S. public diplomacy is on life support? While perhaps the truest measure of our effectiveness around the globe and an essential tool for U.S. national interests long-term, public diplomacy is in deep trouble -- undervalued at home and under siege abroad. From Katrina to Iraq, our communication wounds are deep -- hostage to policies that are viewed as bankrupt in both their rhetoric and application. At the core, our credibility is on the line, at home and abroad. The challenge is how to stop the hemorrhaging and get back to winning hearts and minds. When our words and deeds are perceived as so mismatched it won't be easy. Just this week, the Bush Administration again is seeking to turn the responsibility for failed planning and policies by blaming the American people. We are again admonished by the Secretary of Defense that American "willpower" is at stake internationally and those who question or offer alternatives are confused or lack "resolve." It is an old and familiar argument. No responsibility for failure is ever assumed by this Administration for helping create the dangerous world in which we live. Demonstrably, we are not safer today than we were six years ago. And one of the main reasons is that America has lost its moral authority. Our policies have led to failure not to success, and our credibility is seriously diminished. We have time and again squandered our good will, most dramatically in the wake of the tragedy of September 11, 2001 when we pursued a short-sighted policy of invasion seemingly without credible intelligence, appropriate planning or execution. In the process, America lost precious confidence and support at home and abroad. We possess military might and the economic clout, but we always have been at our most potent and influential internationally because of a respect and admiration (even if grudging) long associated with U.S. values. We are historically a country that cherishes its civil rights and human rights at home and supports these goals abroad especially through first seeking peaceful conflict resolution and "best practices." If we lose the strong desire of others to respect and even seek to emulate America, we have lost the generations to come. That does not make America safer or lead to success. Shortly after 9/11 Osama Bin Laden mocked that the real danger to America is within our own borders and ourselves -- that we will be the architect of our own destruction and isolation through our willingness to give up those things, those liberties, that define our greatness and inspiration to others. Al Qaeda's ultimate success would be to have us change our historic persona through the manipulation of fear, threat, and action. Clearly, we must anticipate and meet the new dangers of the world in which we live, but we also must not fall victim to the rhetoric or mind-set of those who demonize responsible critics for their own failures. We've been there before and it is the last resort of…... FULL TEXT
 
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Fred Coffey on September 13, 2006 @ 10:12 am:
I agree with you completely. But there are values that can be communicated despite the crippling policies. The machinery to apply those values is broken. Plse. see my input to Al Snyder's request for comments from experienced PD pros who have worked and developed this inexact science since 1953.
Its about time the USC addressed the organizational structure of PD. It is a car limping along on four cylinders which formerly functioned splendidly on eight.
Thank you for your valuable contribution.
Fred Coffey

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