Latest Must-Reads in Public Diplomacy: December 2023

CPD Faculty Fellow Bruce Gregory has compiled a list of the latest must-reads in public diplomacy. Known affectionately at CPD as "Bruce's List," this list is a compilation of books, journal articles, papers and blog posts on a wide variety of PD topics.

Highlights from the latest list include publications on topics spanning sports diplomacy and noncoercive statecraft.

Matthew K. Asada, An Inter-Event Comparison of Two Historical Global Mega Events: FIFA 2022 and Expo 2020,  CPD Perspectives, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, October 2023. In this innovative study, Matthew Asada, a US Foreign Service officer on detail at CPD, compares the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar and Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). His analysis compares their bidding narratives, how the events responded to external stimuli, the handling of the mega events, and their innovations. He develops his comparison in the context of geopolitics, the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural differences, and the whole of country focus of Qatar and the UAE on the events “as part of their public diplomacy strategies.” The article also provides a framework for future inter-event comparisons within a region and/or during a given period of time. Asada draws on extensive experience with World’s Fairs as a career diplomat and his access to serving practitioners enhanced by his status as an “insider.” He credits opportunities for reflection and in-depth research to time spent as a visiting senior fellow at USC. Photos and endnotes add to the value of this issue of CPD Perspectives.

Sohaela Amiri, “The Future of Noncoercive Statecraft and International Security,”  October 27, 2023, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Farah Pandith, “The U.S. Faces a Public Relations Crisis in the Arab and Muslim World,”  October 27, 2023, Council on Foreign Relations.

Anna Popkova, “The Public Diplomacy of Political Dissent,”  October 30, 2023, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

The full list for this edition of Bruce's List can be found here.