QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 4 > 2016
THE NEED FOR
GREATER ATTENTION TO CULTURE
IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS
Access to information at the UN: the UN(certain) depository library system
CONNECT WITH US
Q > CONTENTS QUARTERLY
FEATURE ONE
THE NEED FOR GREATER ATTENTION TO CULTURE IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS The Globe Study | 3 Kara Alaimo, PhD | Assistant Professor of Public Relations at Hofstra University
SPECIAL FEATURE
ACCESS TO INFORMATION AT THE UN: THE UN(CERTAIN) DEPOSITORY LIBRARY SYSTEM Raising concerns over changes to the system | 5 Jim Church | Librarian for Economics, Development Studies, Political Economy and International and Foreign Government Information at the University of California, Berkely Peter I. Hajnal | Fellow, Senior College and Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Trinity College, University of Toronto
EXPLANATORY NOTE BY THE UNDPI | 6
AM17 PLENARYSESSIONS SESSIONS INCLUDE: INCLUDE: PLENARY Plenary I ACUNS at 30 Years: Accomplishments and Future Challenges Plenary II The Role of the United Nations in the Future of the Korean Peninsula Plenary III Protection and Promotion of Human Rights Plenary IV Sustainable Development Plenary V Agenda for the New Secretary General
REVITALIZING THE UNITED NATIONS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT 2017 ACUNS ANNUAL MEETING
THURSDAY – SATURDAY > JUNE 15–17, 2017
Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Korea Hosted by Korean Academic Council on the United Nations System (KACUNS)
WELCOME TO ACUNS
STARTING POINT
up2date news & opinions
A living library of intercultural experience
SECRETARIAT STAFF
Academic pursuits and international travels converge to provide topical and well-documented explorartions of both living history and our UN culture
Alistair Edgar
Dr. Alistair Edgar, ACUNS
Executive Director, ACUNS Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University T > 226.772.3167 E > aedgar@wlu.ca
Brenda Burns, Co-ordinator T > 226.772.3142 F > 226.772.0016 E > bburns@wlu.ca
Gwenith Cross, Administrative Assistant T > 226.772.3121 E > gcross@acuns.org
BOARD MEMBERS 2016-2017
ACUNS is governed by an international Board of Directors:
Chair: Lorraine Elliott, Australian National University
Past Chair: Abiodun Williams, The Hague Institute for Global Justice
Vice Chair: Kurt Mills, University of Glasgow Vice Chair: Margaret Karns, University of Dayton
MEMBERS Thomas Biersteker, Graduate Institute, Geneva Stephen Browne, Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, Graduate Center Eunsook Chung, Sejong Institute Cristián Gimenez Corte, Universidad Nacional del Litoral Mary Farrell, University of Plymouth Francesco Mancini, International Peace Institute Otto Spijkers, Utrecht University
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Let me start with a few short notes about recent ACUNS programs and related activities. First, I am pleased to report that in early October we held a very successful 10-day 2016 Workshop hosted by O.P. Jindal Global University, in Sonipat, India on the theme “Supporting States’ Implementation of International Law.” Our group of 16 participants came from various parts of the United Nations and from universities around the world. Thanks again to Professor Vesselin Popovski and JGU Founding Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Law School, Professor C. Raj Kumar for their generous support and immense hospitality, and for building an excellent program of academic and extra-curricular events: including a visit and inside look at the workings of the Supreme Court of India; meetings at the Indian Society of International Law, Indian Law Institute, and World Wildlife Fund; and separate dinner conversations with the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University Professor Yagesh Tiagi, and with Shashi Tharoor. Of course, the Workshop would not have been complete without a day trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. Immediately following the Workshop, I flew to Seoul and then southwards to Busan, to participate in the 16th East Asian Seminar on United Nations Studies, hosted by the Korean Academic Council on UN Studies—the same KACUNS which will be our host organization for the 2017 Annual Meeting at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul. Our host for the seminar was the Honorable Sung Kihak, Chairman and CEO of Youngone Corporation, as members of the three UN studies associations of Korea, China, and Japan gathered for discussions at the Youngone Convention Center in Changnyeong, South Korea. The two-day seminar concluded with announcements by KACUNS of planning for the 2017 ACUNS Annual Meeting—details of which you now can find on our website. On either side of these international ventures, ACUNS supported and co-organized three seminars in New York. We offered two events in our excellent ACUNS-TECONY series (in midSeptember and early November), advertised as always on our website and to members who have requested notification of New York based events; and we held a separate seminar with One Earth Future foundation, the International Peace Institute, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung NY, as part of our Global Governance journal series, this time on “Women, Peace and Security: Are We There Yet?” Looking ahead, ACUNS Vienna will host its annual Vienna UN conference on 17–19 January at the Vienna International Center, on the theme “Implementing the 2030 Agenda.” If you are anywhere in the vicinity at that time, do take advantage of the opportunity to attend this very popular regional conference, which always features an impressive list of speakers and is supported there by an extremely hard-working team of volunteers under the leadership of Max Edelbacher and Michael Platzer. Again, details of the conference are available on the ACUNS website. Finally, in this issue of the newsletter we feature as a keynote article, Hofstra University faculty member Kara Alaimo’s piece on culture, public diplomacy and global communications; and as a special conversation, we offer in combination an article from James Church and Peter Hajnal expressing their concerns about recent and planned changes to the UN Depository Library system, and a short note from UN DPI explaining the context and reasons for those changes. As a matter of transparency and full disclosure, I should add also that UN DPI did provide me with copies of some lengthier correspondence related to these changes, as additional background, but these were not for publication and hence the correspondence is not reproduced here.
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FEATURE ONE
THE GLOBE STUDY
FEATURE STORY > K A R A A L A I M O, P h D ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
THE NEED FOR
GREATER ATTENTION TO CULTURE
IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS IN RECENT YEARS, the so-called “tender-minded” school of public diplomacy has argued that, when governments attempt to reach out to citizens in other countries, they should engage in two-way exchanges rather than propaganda. Such two-way dialogue may include educational, artistic, and language exchange programs or discussions between representatives of a government and foreign citizens. While this development is long overdue, largely absent in this scholarship has been an examination of how public diplomacy and other global communication campaigns should be adapted to account for cultural differences in the nations in which they are implemented.
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TEN CULTURAL CLUSTERS
CONFUCIAN ASIA SOUTH ASIA ANGLO EUROPE LATIN EUROPE GERMANIC EUROPE NORDIC EUROPE EASTERN EUROPE MIDDLE EAST SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA LATIN AMERICA
FOR EXAMPLE, Vlahos argues that, during the early years of the war on terror after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, U.S. messages in the Arab world were often “no more than a reseller of core domestic messages: hawking ‘transformation’ and ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy,’ as Americans embraced them, to Muslims.” 1 Instead, my experience as a head of communications for a United Nations initiative and Spokesperson for International Affairs in the U.S. Treasury Department taught me that campaigns should appeal to local cultures and values in the countries in which they are executed. That is why, in my new text for public diplomacy and global communication courses which was published by Routledge in August, Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication, I break the world into ten different cultural clusters—as identified in the GLOBE study, a ten-year project by more than 170 researchers—and explain best strategic communication practices within each of them. The results are based on interviews with senior practitioners in 31 countries. The following are examples from each of the world’s ten cultural clusters.
1 Vlahos,
M. (2009). Public diplomacy as loss of world authority. In N. Snow & P. M. Taylor (Eds.), Routledge handbook of public diplomacy (pp. 24-38). New York, NY: Routledge.
CAMPAIGNS SHOULD APPEAL TO LOCAL CULTURES AND VALUES IN THE COUNTRIES IN WHICH THEY ARE EXECUTED.
In the cultural group known as “CONFUCIAN ASIA”— countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea, which have been influenced by the tradition of Confucianism—there is a teaching that people should avoid what Tzu‐hsiang Yu & Wei‐Chun Wen call “risky communication,” because it is said that talking about a problem begets further problems. It can therefore be a challenge to convince actors in this part of the world to be transparent and to proactively disclose negative information when it is in the public’s interest to know it. Asia also includes the cultural cluster of “SOUTH ASIA,” which encompasses countries such as Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand. As in many other parts of the world, the “personal influence” model is practiced in this region. This communication practice means that having personal relationships with well-placed people is key to achieving goals. Europe is broken into five cultural clusters. In “ANGLO EUROPE,” which includes Great Britain and Northern Ireland, communicating can be challenging because of the skepticism of U.K. audiences. If you set up a media interview in the U.K., be prepared for tough questions; top reporters will truly grill the executives they interview! (The United States, Canada, and Australia fall under the Anglo cultural cluster, as well). “LATIN EUROPE,” which includes Italy, France, and Spain, has been heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. One communicator in Italy told me that it is helpful to remember the local adage that “Italy is the country of a thousand bell towers.” In other words, Italy is oriented around local communities, where most decision-making occurs, rather than its capital and national government. Targeting the many local newspapers in the country’s provinces is therefore one of the best ways to reach the Italian people. “GERMANIC EUROPE” includes Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. A critical factor to be aware of in Germany is the country’s strict privacy laws. This means that organizations need to get permission from a reporter before adding him or her to a distribution list for press releases and should always include an option to unsubscribe in emails. “NORDIC EUROPE” includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. One of the most significant characteristics of Sweden is the country’s history of, and expectations for, openness with the public. The government has a long tradition of providing access to information and Sweden is believed to have been the world’s first country to enjoy freedom of the press. In the book, I include a case study of @Sweden—a Twitter handle developed by the advertising agency Volontaire on behalf of the Swedish Institute (a government agency that promotes Swedish culture) and the country’s tourism agency, VisitSweden—which turns over control of the country’s Twitter handle to a different Swedish person every week. In 2012, a tweeter of the week named Sonja Abrahamsson drew global headlines and outrage after posting tweets about Jewish and gay people that many around the world found to be offensive, as well as a series of other bizarre posts. Even then, VisitSweden’s social media manager defended the platform as essential to showcasing “the multi-faceted people that Sweden is composed of” and noted that to delete posts or ban a tweeter on the platform would constitute censorship, which is inappropriate in Swedish culture. The “EASTERN EUROPEAN” cultural cluster includes Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, and Serbia. Political campaigns are notorious for their sometimes unethical practices in Russia, which has led to the notion of “black PR”—a term used to describe practices such as manipulation and deceit. Of course, many scholars do not consider so-called “black PR” to be public relations, at all.
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Access to Information at the UN
The UN (certain) SPECIAL FEATURE
DEPOSITORY LIBRARY SYSTEM
DURING OUR 2016 ANNUAL MEETING at Fordham University, New York, the ACUNS executive director was approached by members Peter Hajnal, former head of government documents at the University of Toronto, and James Church, Librarian at the University of California, Berkeley, who wanted to express their concerns over recently-announced and anticipated future changes to the UN Depository Library System. Peter and James accepted the request to prepare an article outlining their concerns, and this is included here. However, in the interest of fair and open exchange, we did also contact UN DPI, and they have provided a short note giving their explanation of the reasons, purpose and nature of the changes taking place. UN DPI provided ACUNS with copies of some additional background correspondence, but these were not for general publication. We provide here, the article by Peter and James, followed by the note by UN DPI.
THE 1955 UNITED NATIONS DOCUMENT Principles Governing United Nations Depository Libraries states that “In order to make the documents and publications of the United Nations freely available throughout the world there shall be maintained a system of depository libraries to which documents and publications will be sent without charge.” i The UN Depository Library System (UNDL), currently numbering some 360 libraries worldwide, was founded in 1947 by the first Head Librarian of the United Nations. The objective of the UNDL was to make UN information freely available to all and to preserve this information through a network of geographically distributed depositories. As the founders of the UN recognized, libraries representing institutional memory often outlast wars and catastrophes and the regimes that support them.
BUT NOW the UN Depository Library System is under serious duress. The UNDL effectively (if not officially) ended in 2012, and most UN Depository Libraries now receive little in print except the United Nations Yearbook.ii UN documents (speeches, reports, and resolutions) are available on the Internet, but there is consequently limited access in many developing countries. There is no official preservation policy for UN information, and while digital copies exist elsewhere, the content resides primarily on UN servers, where it remains vulnerable to hacking, deletion, and digital obsolescence. Of equal if not greater concern is that UN publications (books, statistical annuals, and journals) are now primarily distributed via an Intergovernmental Publishing Platform headed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has a fundamentally different mission and more limited membership. If libraries wish to obtain enhanced search and download capabilities from this system, they must pay a high subscription fee, initially offered at 12,500 USD annually.
i ii
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UN Depository Librarians were understandably concerned by these events, which were decided by a select group of individuals on the UN Publications Board. The decision-making process was not made public and little opportunity was provided for depository stakeholders to contribute. A survey entitled A New Strategic Direction for UN Depository Libraries was indeed distributed to UN Depositories in April 2014, in which the majority of libraries indicated interest in “re-engineering” the UNDL from a print-based to digital system. Subsequently, the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library (DHL) stated in 2015 that the “aim is that Depository Libraries will receive a comprehensive and integrated service from DHL including distribution of relevant paid/unpaid publications and documents through the Digital Repository” and that this would be “a continuation of historic policy.” But as time went on, new announcements were issued by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) and with each message the news got worse for Depository Libraries. Initially UN Depositories were to be given
access to a digital collection of UN Publications, by paying a modest fee as before; then they were to be given a 50% discount; and finally a 10% discount, limited to the first year. The biggest change came when UN Publications, instead of maintaining their own digital collection, began collaborating with the OECD, host of the content on the subscription-based OECD iLibrary platform. The name then changed from the “UN eCollection” to the “UN iLibrary,” and the discounts were all but dropped. This product allows users to read and embed content online, but does not allow for downloads. For a time there was hope the DHL would provide a similar service through another digital library that has also undergone name changes: originally called the “UN Digital Repository;” it is now the “UN Digital Library.” This product is still in beta, and expected to provide access to UN documents, maps, audiovisual content, speeches and voting records, but not the paid publications previously received on deposit. All this is confusing, even to UN Information specialists. The DPI has fundamentally altered
Principles Governing United Nations Depository Libraries, December 20, 1955. U.N. Doc. ST/PB/4. Limited content is still supplied to Depositories from the UN Regional Commissions, but this comprises a fraction of what was previously sent. A C U N S . O R G S i g n u p f o r o u r E > U P D AT E b y b e c o m i n g a m e m b e r !
> JAMES CHURCH
> PETER I. HAJNAL
LIBRARIAN: ECONOMICS, DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, POLITICAL ECONOMY AND INTERNATIONAL AND FOREIGN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELY
FELLOW, SENIOR COLLEGE AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, MUNK SCHOOL OF GLOBAL AFFFAIRS AND TRINITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
An Explanatory Note from the UN DPI The Dag Hammarskjöld Library is part of the Outreach Division in the United Nations Department of Public Information and works with over 360 Depository Libraries around the world which are an important partner in the dissemination of UN information to people around the world. In the early years of the programme, and a pre-digital age, Depository Libraries used to receive hard copies of UN documents, reports and publications. As costs of printing and shipping got higher and higher, a modest fee was introduced a few decades ago and many of the publications were no longer sent along with official documents and reports.
A restored, updated, and affordable UNDL would benefit the world community, including scholars for whom UN information remains a crucial resource. It would also serve the UN well, by increasing transparency and information outreach about its programmes and activities.
As is the increasing practice in the printing and publishing world, we have also shifted to creating platforms to share UN documents, reports and publications digitally. In 2014, we asked Depository Libraries around the world for feedback on future options for the Department’s relationship with Depository Libraries and in that light, and following a consultation with the UN Publications Board, we communicated our decision on the future direction of the Depository Library Programme to bring it in line with current technology, needs and capacity.
...the UN can maintain and nourish the important partnership between libraries and the communities they serve, and adhere to the democratic principles of a depository partnership in the digital era, which should still be “to make the documents and publications of the United Nations freely available throughout the world.”
the depository arrangement, transforming depository libraries from partners to consumers. It has also transformed what was once a collaborative working relationship: one rationale for creating the UNDL was for librarians to serve as UN information ambassadors. Now Depository Libraries are considering leaving the program, and some have already done so. It appears to outside observers that the DPI proceeded without the full consent and participation of the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library, which has long been responsible for managing the depository. The American Library Association (ALA) considered this issue in its annual 2016 meeting, and passed a Resolution on the Restoration of the United Nations Depository Library System.iii ALA’s chief recommendation was for existing depositories to receive a free “comprehensive and integrated service from DHL including distribution of relevant paid/unpaid publications and documents through the Digital Repository, including implementing and adhering to a digital preservation policy”; and also to appoint “a working panel to study the issues, comprised of representatives from the Dag Hammarskjöld
iii See
Library, the (UN) Publications Board, and Depository Libraries.” By doing this the UN can maintain and nourish the important partnership between libraries and the communities they serve, and adhere to the democratic principles of a depository partnership in the digital era, which should still be “to make the documents and publications of the United Nations freely available throughout the world.” In fact, most paid depository libraries do not ask for free distribution, only for an affordable system. A restored, updated, and affordable UNDL would benefit the world community, including scholars for whom UN information remains a crucial resource. It would also serve the UN well, by increasing transparency and information outreach about its programmes and activities. * James Church is the Librarian for Economics, Development Studies, Political Economy and International and Foreign Government Information, University of California, Berkeley.
Peter I. Hajnal is a Fellow at Senior College, Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs, and Research Associate in Arts, Trinity College University of Toronto.
While many speak of the digital access challenge in developing countries, our 2012 biennial survey of depository libraries has shown that 99% of them have access and 97% said that their connectivity was good to excellent. For those who may still have connectivity issues, we have undertaken to provide them with DVDs of selected publications, that are normally only sold at a cost, on annual basis. We are also sending a hard copy of the UN Yearbook, another priced publication, without cost to all depository libraries. Earlier this year, we launched the iLibrary which is an online platform that can be read, shared, embedded and cited for no cost, period. Depository libraries who wish to have additional functionality can purchase a subscription at a specially arranged reduced price. Even here, one depository library in each Member State will receive a free subscription. We have also agreed with the OECD, the host of the iLibrary, that there will be a graduated pricing policy depending on the economic and financial situation of the country and the library in question.
http://www.ala.org/offices/resolution-restoration-united-nations-depository-library-system
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A C U N S . O R G 6
MEMBER PUBLICATIONS United Nations Protection of Humanity and Its Habitat: A New International Law of Security and Protection
The Globalization of Childhood: The International Diffusion of Norms and Law Against the Child Death Penalty
Bertrand G. Ramcharan | Brill, 2016
Robyn Linde | Oxford University Press, 2016
This book is a study of the future of international law as well as the future of the United Nations. It is the first study ever bringing together the laws, policies and practices of the UN for the protection of the earth, the oceans, outer space, human rights, victims of armed conflicts and of humanitarian emergencies, the poor, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged world-wide. It reviews unprecedented dangers and challenges facing humanity such as climate change and weapons of mass destruction, and argues that the international law of the future must become an international law of security and of protection. It submits that the concept of international security in the UN Charter can no longer be restricted to situations of armed conflict but must be given its natural meaning: whatever threatens the security of humanity. It calls for the Security Council to perform its role as the guardian of the security of humankind and sees a leadership role for the UN Secretary-General in analysing and presenting challenges of international security and protection to the Security Council for its attention.
In this book, Robyn Linde tracks the diffusion of a single human rights norm: the abolition of the death penalty for child offenders under the age of 18. The norm against the penalty diffused internationally through law–specifically, criminal law addressing child offenders, usually those convicted of murder or rape. Through detailed case studies and a qualitative, comparative approach to national law and practice, Linde argues that children played an important– though little known–role in the process of state consolidation and the building of international order. Through an innovative synthesis of prevailing theories of power and socialization, Linde shows that the growth of state control over children was part of a larger political process by which the liberal state (both paternal and democratic) became the only model of acceptable and legitimate statehood and through which newly minted international institutions would find purpose.
Written by a seasoned scholar/practitioner of international law and the United Nations, who has served in key policy, peacemaking, peacekeeping and human rights positions in the United Nations, this book offers indispensable new vistas of international law and policy, and the future role of the United Nations.
US Politics and the United Nations: A Tale of Dysfunctional Dynamics Alynna J. Lyon | Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2016 It is no secret that the US variously pulls away from the United Nations and embraces it as a significant venue for policy initiatives. But what explains this dramatic inconsistency? What is the logic of US multilateralism? Alynna Lyon explores the puzzling waxing and waning of US support for the UN, tracing events, actions, and decisions from the end of World War I to the present. Lyon weaves together a consideration of international context, UN institutional dynamics, and US domestic politics to conceptualize and explain the trials and tribulations of the US-UN relationship. In the process, she tells the story of the progression of the US from a country committed to internationalism to one full of dysfunctional partisanship, ideological underpinnings, and domestic power struggles that undermine its capacities to cooperate on a global scale.
The Governance of Complementary Global Regimes and the Pursuit of Human Security Andrea Marrone | Intersentia, 2016 This book offers an overview of the challenges in the emerging regime of international criminal justice as a tool of sustainable peace. It illustrates the impact of the regime on international law and international relations, focusing on the obstacles to and concerns of its governance in the context of the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security. The author advocates for an appropriate interaction strategy between the United Nations and the Rome Statute institutions as a matter of international mutual concern and for the sake of human security. In multiple and interlinked country situations the failure of strategies to prevent mass atrocity crimes have severely compromised the safety of civilians, including their individual fundamental rights. In several countries – such as in Libya, Syria, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Mali – civilians have severely suffered the consequences of such failure. Furthermore, the international community’s claim of right of humanitarian intervention is now challenged and qualified by the responsibility to protect civilians in situations of mass atrocity crimes. Such an international norm represents unfinished business in global politics and is considered by many to be far from capable of preserving the rule of international law. The preservation of the rule of law requires discussions and the advocacy of global values in international relations, such as multilateralism, collective responsibility, global solidarity and mutual accountability.
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The book offers insight into the origins, spread, and adoption of human rights norms and law by elucidating the roles and contributions of principled actors and norm entrepreneurs at different stages of diffusion, and by identifying a previously unexplored pattern of change whereby resistant states were brought into compliance with the now global norm against the child death penalty. From the institutions and legacy of colonialism to the development and promotion of the global child–a collection of related, still changing norms of child welfare and protection–Linde demonstrates how a specifically Western conception of childhood and ideas about children shaped the current international system.
Interventions in Conflict: International Peacemaking in the Middle East Rami G. Khouri, Karim Makdisi, Martin Wählisch (Eds.) Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 This book presents reflections of prominent international peacemakers in the Middle East, including Jimmy Carter, Lakhdar Brahimi, Jan Eliasson, Alvaro de Soto, and others. It provides unique insights and lessons learned about diplomacy and international peace mediation practice based on real life experience.
Land of Blue Helmets: The United Nations and the Arab World Karim Makdisi, Vijay Prashad (Eds.) University of California Press, 2016 Born in 1945, the United Nations came to life in the Arab world. It was there that the UN dealt with early diplomatic challenges that helped shape its institutions such as peacekeeping and political mediation. It was also there that the UN found itself trapped in, and sometimes part of, confounding geopolitical tensions in key international conflicts in the Cold War and post–Cold War periods, such as hostilities between Palestine and Iraq and between Libya and Syria. Much has changed over the past seven decades, but what has not changed is the central role played by the UN. This book’s claim is that the UN is a constant site of struggle in the Arab world and equally that the Arab world serves as a location for the UN to define itself against the shifting politics of its age. Looking at the UN from the standpoint of the Arab world, this volume collects some of the finest scholars and practitioners writing about the potential and the problems of a UN that is framed by both the promises of its Charter and the contradictions of its member states. This is a landmark book—a close and informed study of the UN in the region that taught the organization how to do its many jobs.
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A C U N S . O R G S i g n u p f o r o u r E > U P D AT E b y b e c o m i n g a m e m b e r !
THE NEED FOR GREATER ATTENTION TO CULTURE IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS Continued from page 4 > In the “MIDDLE EASTERN” cultural cluster, expected emotional responses can differ significantly from those in other parts of the world. For example, while U.S. audiences expect people who are interviewed on television to be cool and collected, in the Arab world, people are often expected to provide emotional responses to emotional questions. In the “LATIN AMERICAN” cultural cluster, be aware of the region’s “polychronic” approach to time. While in “monochronic” cultures promptness is expected, polychronic cultures take a more fluid approach to time. One government affairs professional explained that “if someone says, ‘Let’s do this tomorrow at 10 a.m.,’ at 10:05 in the U.S. we’re late. In Brazil, a week later we’re not late; we’re just getting talking.” Finally, in the “SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN” cultural cluster, reporters often expect “brown envelopes” (full of cash) for media coverage because many are not paid or are grossly underpaid by their news organizations. One way that organizations get around paying journalists is by offering meals at events and press briefings. You can also help with transportation. When I worked
ONE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONAL EXPLAINED THAT “IF SOMEONE SAYS ‘LET’S DO THIS TOMORROW AT 10 A.M.,’ AT 10:05 IN THE US WE’RE LATE. IN BRAZIL, A WEEK LATER WE’RE NOT LATE; WE’RE JUST GETTING TALKING.” for the U.S. Treasury Department and one of our officials addressed the Parliament in Togo, our embassy’s communication officer drove around the capital city of Lomé in a van picking up reporters to attend the speech! A note about the book: Professors can request complimentary inspection copies of the book Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication and members and friends of ACUNS can get a 20% discount on the book using promo code FLR40 at www.routledge.com/ Pitch-Tweet-or-Engage-on-the-Street-How-toPractice-Global-Public-Relations/Alaimo/p/ book/9781138916050. * Kara Alaimo, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of
Public Relations at Hofstra University and a former communicator at the U.N. and in the Obama administration. Follow her on Twitter: @karaalaimo.
SEEKING NOMINATIONS: ACUNS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MPub
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Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication Kara Alaimo | Routledge, 2016 Routledge’s new text for public diplomacy and international communication courses, Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street, offers a modern guide for how to practice strategic communication around the globe. Drawing upon interviews with professionals in over 30 countries as well as the author’s own experience as a practitioner in the United Nations and in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, this book explains how to craft public diplomacy and international communication strategies, messages, and tactics for countries and cultures around the globe. The book includes dedicated chapters on public diplomacy by governments and advocacy communications. It also discusses key cultural differences which require communicators to adapt their approaches before taking readers on a tour of the world, explaining how to develop communication campaigns for Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Along the way, readers are introduced to practitioners around the globe and case studies of particularly successful campaigns – from a communication “siege” that successfully ended an epidemic of violence in Kenya to the radical approach to transparency on Sweden’s official Twitter handle which has captivated audiences around the globe.
The United Nations and Changing World Politics— Eighth Edition Thomas G. Weiss, David P. Forsythe, Roger A. Coate, and Kelly-Kate Pease Westview Press, 2017
Nominate or be nominated. AS OF JUNE 2017 multiple positions are open on the ACUNS Board of Directors. Board members will serve from 2017 – 2020. ACUNS members are invited to nominate qualified individuals, including themselves, for these positions. All nominees should be members of ACUNS. Please send nominations with: • Curriculum vitae • Bio (300-500 words) • A short supporting statement outlining what the nominee will bring to ACUNS.
TO N O M I N AT E > All nominations will be accepted from January 1, 2017 to March 31, 2017. Nominations should be sent to bburns@wlu.ca. Questions? Please email admin@acuns.org or call (1) 226.772.3121
This completely revised and updated eighth edition serves as the definitive text for courses in which the United Nations is either the focus or a central component. Built around three critical themes in international relations—peace and security, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and sustainable human development—the eighth edition of The United Nations and Changing World Politics guides students through the seven turbulent decades of UN politics. This new edition is fully revised to incorporate recent developments on the international stage, including new peace operations in Mali and the Central African Republic; ongoing UN efforts to manage the crises in Libya, Syria, and Iraq; the Iran Nuclear Deal; and the new Sustainable Development Goals. The authors discuss how international law frames the controversies at the UN and guides how the UN responds to violence and insecurity, gross violations of human rights, poverty, underdevelopment, and environmental degradation. Students of all levels will learn that the UN is a complex organization, comprised of three interactive entities that cooperate and also compete with each other to define and advance the UN’s principles and purposes.
A C U N S S E C R E T A R I A T > Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
A C U N S Q UA R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R > I S S U E 4 > 2 0 1 6
A C U N S . O R G 8
A workable world is possible. “ This ... will be an essential reference work for all those who are concerned with the future of a new United Nations.” Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 6th Secretary-General of the UN
“ ... lucidly and intelligently presents a sweeping series of new, innovative ideas designed to reform the United Nations’ structure and performance. A rich mother lode to change and challenge current thinking ... [it] is a rare compendium of forward-looking ideas. ...” thomas Pickering, former US Ambassador to the UN and former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
“ Most proposals regarding reform of the United Nations system are overly concerned about what is feasible, at the expense of what is ideal. [This] formidable work corrects that ... bias, and shuttles between the feasible and the ideal with elegance and rigor.” hakan Altinay, Global Ethics Fellow, Carnegie Council
“ No one has thought longer or harder than Joe Schwartzberg about the challenges of designing a fairer and better world order. This book is an essential contribution to a long overdue conversation.” thomas G. Weiss, past President of the Academic Council on the United Nations System and of the International Studies Association
transforming the United Nations System Designs for a Workable World Joseph E. Schwartzberg
Order at Brookings.edu/Press or orderentry@perseusbooks.com
United Nations University Press 9789280812305 | $40 paperback
ACUNS ANNUAL MEETING CALL FOR PAPERS - WORKSHOP PANELS
AM17
15-17 JUNE, 2017 Sookmyung Women’s University | Seoul, Korea 2017 will see a new UN Secretary-General taking office on the 38th Floor at UN Headquarters, following the end of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s second term. The new SG will be faced with a number of ongoing global, regional and other challenges, and will be confronted with new issues that will arise over time. The SG also will have the job of continuing to build on the momentum of recent milestone agreements, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Commitments to Action from the World Humanitarian Summit. While the transition in the leadership of the United Nations is likely to be a central interest for many ACUNS members, the 2017 Annual Meeting notably also marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Academic Council. This year’s meeting, therefore, will offer a relatively rare opportunity for members—that is, a moment to reflect on the achievements of one Secretary-General and to consider the agenda of the new leader of the global body, while connecting those reflections to discussions of the role of ACUNS and its members in promoting innovative scholarship and greater understanding of the UN system and its place in meeting global governance.
The full text of the Call for Papers is available at acuns.org/am2017
A N N UA L M E E T I N G T H E M E
REVITALIZING THE UNITED NATIONS
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT The Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) is now accepting workshop paper and panel proposals for presentation at 2017 Annual Meeting. Proposals on the Annual Meeting theme— “Revitalizing the United Nations for Human Rights, Peace and Development”—and on the subthemes and issues raised in this introductory note, in addition to other topics relating to the UN system and the broader mandate of the Council, will be considered.
The deadline for uploading your proposals is Monday, April 13, 2017. QUESTIONS? > Please contact the ACUNS Secretariat at admin@acuns.org or 226.772.3121 For general questions about the Council and its activities, please contact: Dr. Alistair D. Edgar, Executive Director, ACUNS, Wilfrid Laurier University T 226.772.3167 E aedgar@wlu.ca
Submissions: To submit an individual proposal or a full panel proposal, you will be required to upload full contact information, the paper/panel title(s), abstract(s) of no more than 200 words, biographical note(s) of no more than 200 words, and biographical notes of no more than 250 words. Proposals:
Proposals will be accepted and evaluated, and panel spaces will be allotted, on a first-come rolling basis subsequent to the issuance of this Call. Once all panel spaces have been filled, a waiting list will be established for any subsequent proposals that are received.
Registration: Once your proposal is accepted you are required to register for the 2017 Annual Meeting at acuns.org/am2017
Current ACUNS members in good standing (including new or newly-renewed members) will be given priority consideration for their proposals, but non-members are welcome to submit proposals. PLEASE NOTE: In order to present at the AM17 workshops, Council membership will be required: this includes all persons participating in a full panel team proposal.
A P P L I C AT I O N P R OCEDU R E
Registration Fees are available online at acuns.org
We will be filling workshops on a rolling basis. Once all spaces are filled there will be a waiting list for spaces.
A C U N S S E C R E T A R I A T > Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5 > T 226.772.3121 > F 226.772.0016 A C U N S . O R G
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Issue 4 > 2016 Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Quarterly Newsletter is published four times a year with the support of the Department of Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing (CPAM) at Wilfrid Laurier University.
We welcome and encourage your feedback. Opinions expressed in ACUNS Quarterly Newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, ACUNS or the host institution. © ACUNS 2015. All rights reserved.
Publisher: Alistair Edgar, Executive Director, ACUNS Editor: Brenda Burns, Co-ordinator, ACUNS Contributing Writers: Kara Alaimo, Mesfin Gebremichael, Lapic Kalay, Wasiq Silian, Nikal Kabala’an, Alistair Edgar and Brenda Burns Design: Dawn Wharnsby, CPAM Imagery: Thinkstock.com
AC U N S S E C R E TA R I AT Wilfrid Laurier University 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3C5 T > 226.772.3142 F > 226.772.0016
Send address changes and feedback to: Gwenith Cross, Administrative Assistant, ACUNS E > gcross@acuns.org T > 226.772.3121
A C U N S Q UA R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R > I S S U E 4 > 2 0 1 6
ACUNS.ORG 10
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