In this issue . . .

Public Diplomacy Comes of Age

Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, the nature and role of public diplomacy have been debated more vigorously than at any time in recent memory. A foreign affairs specialty that was once the province of a relatively small number of professionals has suddenly-and quite properly-taken its place in the wide-ranging discussion of national security in which the U.S. population is currently engaged. The growing consensus that the time has come for the United States to rethink, reinvigorate, and reinvest in not just traditional diplomacy but also in the public dimension of the government's overseas presence has been encouraging. I am delighted with the burgeoning recognition that how the U.S. government communicates abroad-and with whom-directly affects the nation's security and well-being.

Yet, what is this art that people call public diplomacy? It is not traditional diplomacy, which consists essentially of the interactions that take place between governments. The practitioners of traditional diplomacy engage the representatives of foreign governments in order to advance the national interest articulated in their own government's strategic goals in international affairs. Public diplomacy, by contrast, engages carefully targeted sectors of foreign publics in order to develop support for those same strategic goals.

Download the full article, available in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format.