Chapter 1 I De÷nitions of Public Diplomacy
on policy; communication between those whose job is communication, as diplomats and foreign correspondents; and the process of intercultural communications.Û 3 In 1987, the United States State Department put it more baldly:
ÚPublic Diplomacy refers to government-sponsored programs intended to inform or inøuence public opinion in other countries; its chief instruments are publications, motion pictures, cultural exchanges, radio and television.Û 4 In 1990, Hans Tuch, another former American diplomat, offered a more considered view:
Ú>Public diplomacy@ is a governmentØs process of communicating with foreign publics in an attempt to bring about understanding of its nationØs ideas, its institutions and culture, as well as its national goals and policies.Û 5 The notion that receptiveness as well as transmission is entailed in such communication is suggested in the de÷nition employed when the once autonomous United States Information Agency (USIA) was merged into the State Department:
ÚPublic Diplomacy seeks to promote the national interest of the United States through understanding, informing, and inøuencing foreign audiences.Û 6 Recent commentators7 have objected to de÷nitions that are exclusively focused on action by governments Õ a criticism it is worth noting does not apply to GullionØs original de÷nition Õ when there is a range of international actors, including international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), engaged in activities related to public diplomacy today. Irrespective of the debate about de÷nition Õ on which, see also the discussion below about diplomacy more generally Õ, most governments practising public diplomacy are in no doubt that to be successful they must collaborate with a wide variety of partners and engage in genuine conversations with their respective audiences. A colourful view of American efforts to inøuence foreign publics was advanced by the late Richard Holbrooke, until his death President ObamaØs civilian adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistan:
ÚCall it public diplomacy, call it public affairs, psychological warfare, if you really want to be blunt, propaganda.Û 8 As we shall see in Chapter 3, there is in fact a distinction to be drawn between public diplomacy and propaganda, even though in both cases the object is broadly the same: to get people to think and behave in ways conducive to oneØs own interests.
3 4 5 6 7 8
See Nicholas J. Cull, 2006. US Department of State, Dictionary of International Relations Terms, 1987. Hans Tuch, Communicating with the World: US Public Diplomacy Overseas, New York, St MartinØs Press, 1990. Planning Group for Integration of USIA into the Dept. of State, June 1997. See e.g., Jan Melissen (ed), 2005. Richard Holbrooke, Get the Message Out, Washington Post, 28 October, 2001. 19