Latest Must-Reads in Public Diplomacy: July 2025

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 the erosion of U.S. soft power, perspectives on propaganda, new strategies for improving a country's image, and more.  

Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “The End of the American Century: Trump and the Sources of U.S. Power,” Foreign Affairs, July/August, 2025, 68-79. In this essay, longtime collaborators Robert Keohane (Princeton University) and the late Joseph Nye (Harvard University) advance two broad claims. First, by undermining interdependence and misusing the hard power associated with trade in erratic and counterproductive ways, President Trump is undercutting “the very foundation of American power.” Second, Trump’s policies are eroding America’s soft power in the short run and in what in the long run is a losing strategy. By weakening trust with allies, voicing imperial ambitions, destroying USAID, silencing the Voice of America, and challenging the rule of law at home he is recklessly “making a tragic bet on weakness,” not making America great again.

Charlie English, The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War With Forbidden Literature,(Random House, 2025). Through compelling stories written with the flair of an accomplished journalist, English (formerly, The Guardian) provides a vivid account of the CIA-financed book smuggling and printing activities led by the Romanian exile and CIA operative George Minden and courageous resisters in Europe. Based on extensive archival research and numerous in-depth interviews, English focuses his history on Poland and the careers of seven activists: Mirosław Chojecki, publisher and film producer; Helena Łuczywo, editor, Mazovia Weekly; George Minden; Jerzy Giedroyc, publisher, Literary Institute; Gregorz Boguta, publisher, NOWa; Marian Kaleta and Józef Lebenbaum, Sweden-based book distributors and smugglers; and Joanna Szczęsna, deputy editor, Mazovia Weekly. Other personalities and institutions appear throughout the book. Jan Nowak. Lech Walesa. Zbigniew Brzezinski. William Casey. Richard Pipes. Frankfort Book Fair. Samizdat. Voice of America. Radio Free Europe. Solidarity. And more. Technologies were different in this era before digitalization and before information scarcity gave way to information plenitude. But censorship, disinformation, book bans, and influence campaigns endure as instruments of political power. There are timely lessons in this account of what was achieved through books, globally sourced high-quality literature selected without regard to cultural imperialism, a belief in the value of “free, honest thinking,” and recognition that “soft power” can also be an effective instrument of political power.

Loso Judijanto and Nural Fadhilah, “The Evolution of Public Diplomacy: A New Strategy for Enhancing State Image,”  Synergisia (SG), Vol. 2, No. 1, May 2025. Judijanto (IPOSS Jakarta) and Fadhilah (Universitas Muhammadiyah Luwuk) add to the growing Asian literature on public diplomacy in this open access article. They examine public diplomacy as “a subfield of political science and international relations” that evolved to include communication with foreign publics by state and non-state actors on a broad range of transborder political, economic, and social issues. Their objectives are to identify new and effective strategies for improving a country’s image, strengthening its soft power, and utilizing digital technologies and social media. Examples are drawn primarily from the public diplomacy practices of Ukraine, South Korea, China, Turkey, Qatar, and the European Union. The article includes an extensive list of references, much from non-Western sources. 

Vivian S. Walker, “The Propaganda Apocalypse,”  The Foreign Service Journal, June 2025, 78-80.Walker (Georgetown University, Chair of FSJ’s Editorial Board) writes positive reviews of three books that stand out for their balanced and accessible analyses in the “firehouse of alarmist commentary on propaganda, disinformation, and fake news.” Sarah Oates and Gordon Neil Ramsay, Seeing Red: Russian Propaganda and American News, (Oxford University Press, 2024). Peter Pomerantsev, How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler, (Public Affairs, 2024). Nancy Snow, Garth S. Jowett, and Victoria J. O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion, 8th edition, (Sage Publications, 2024). Walker provides informed summaries of their content and her overall assessment. Unlike much current literature, she concludes, they avoid “handwringing” and provide reasoned, evidence-based “approaches to defining propaganda’s scope, nature, and impacts.” 

Lori A. Felton, “Educational and Cultural Exchange Is in Trouble,”  June 6, 2025, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Giles Strachan and Ilan Manor, “Quantum Mechanics and the Future of Public Diplomacy,”  May 22, 2025, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

Lamia Zia and Leah Waks, “Rethinking Diplomatic Negotiations in the Age of AI,”  June 11, 2025. | Lamia Zia, “Negotiating With Algorithms: The Future of AI-Powered Diplomacy,” CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy.