CPD Bloggers Assess America’s New Public Diplomacy Framework

In early March, current U.S. Under Secretary of State Judith McHale testified before a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Commit-tee hearing on ―The Future of U.S. Public Diplomacy.‖ There she unveiled a new public diplomacy roadmap to strengthen U.S. engagement with the world, which she touted as ―a strategic approach for the 21st century.‖ The roadmap includes the addition of two new Deputy Assistant Secretaries at the State Department, as well as five strategic imperatives for public diplomacy: shape the narrative; expand and strengthen people-to-people relationships; combat violent extremism; better inform policy-making; and deploy resources in line with current priorities.

Since this announcement, though, several contributors to the CPD Blog have criticized the framework as insufficient and vague. CPD Director Philip Seib asserts the framework is seriously lacking in imagination and not necessarily new since there has been consensus between Under Secretary McHale and her predecessors. Alexis Haftvani, a candidate in USC’s Master of Public Diplomacy program says that while there were a few fresh ideas presented, the implementation details are still lacking. And finally, President of Dillen Communications LLC and State Department alum Mark Dillen says the framework is at least the ―first good news in quite a while‖ for the Department, specifically, and for public diplomacy, in general. Below are the four CPD articles highlighting these perspectives on the new framework for U.S. public diplomacy.

CPD Blogs on the PD Framework

What’s Past is Prologue: A Senate Foreign Relations Committee Review of the Future of U.S. PD
by APDS Blogger, Alexis Haftvani

Questions Remain About McHale’s Public Diplomacy Strategy
by Philip Seib

U.S. Public Diplomacy, Back to the Future
by Mark Dillen

U.S. Public Diplomacy’s Flimsy New Framework
by Philip Seib

Other PDiN Headlines: PD Framework

New PD Posts Posit Progress
The Layalina Review

McHale’s Strategy Sparks Debate
Layalina

Future of U.S. Public Diplomacy
State.gov

The Narrative Gap in the New PD Strategy
COMOPS Journal

How to Win the War of Ideas
Foreign Policy

Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications Review: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight
The Heritage Foundation

A Surfeit of America: Engaging the World in a Time of Excess
The Huffington Post

Reaction to the new US Public Diplomacy Strategy – Part I
Intermap Blog

Meeting of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy
Mountainrunner.us

A Muddled Messsage: US Public Diplomacy Faces Roadblocks Budget Insight
(Stimson Center Blog)