New Public Diplomacy Strategies of the Obama Administration

Public diplomacy is an important component of overall diplomacy in the U.S. It mainly refers to the U.S. government’s interactions with the foreign public, including publicity and cultural exchanges. It also includes the related activities of non-governmental U.S. organizations funded or guided by the government.

One of the main motives of publicizing U.S. foreign policies and values to the foreign public is to increase knowledge of the U.S. social system, history, culture and diplomatic policies. This is, in turn, to increase sympathies and support for the U.S., construct beneficial public opinions and thus influence foreign diplomacies and policies dealing with the U.S. in an effort to maintain U.S. interests, safety and global supremacy.

Public Diplomacy Given Unprecedented Importance

Due to national and international developments, the Obama administration made major strategic adjustments to the Bush administration’s hardline unilateral diplomacy, adopting instead a flexible diplomatic strategy. There is now an increased value attached to developing public diplomacy inside and outside of U.S. borders. Thus, public diplomacy is now of unprecedented importance within U.S. diplomacy and foreign relations.

The Obama administration is of the opinion that the globalization of information and development within the communications industry has had an immense impact on the attitudes, speech and actions of the global community. Public opinion now has unprecedented influence on governments and the direction of international politics, even impacting the futures of the U.S. and of the world. With this backdrop, it is of greater importance now than ever for the U.S. to maintain contact with the foreign public through public diplomacy.

In facing a global challenge, the U.S. is adopting an integrated, multilayered public diplomacy strategy — including bowing down and listening attentively — to directly deal with the foreign public and exert influence. In addition, public diplomacy is aimed at two main demographic groups — youths [aged] 25 and under and women, who make up 45 percent and 50 percent of the global population respectively — and includes the explication of targeted strategies and a new public diplomacy agenda.

Using the words of Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton understand that having direct contact with the global public must necessarily become an important aspect of U.S. diplomacy and have walked the walk in making public diplomacy an indispensible strategy in promoting national interests, pursuing diplomacy and ensuring national safety.

Pushing Forward New Public Diplomacy Strategies

Presently, the U.S. State Department is responsible for executing U.S. public diplomacy. In August 2009, the State Department evaluated the state of public diplomacy and public affairs, consulting the opinions gathered from the Congress, the White House Security Council, the Department of Defense, foreign embassies and consulates, the academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Their conclusion is that U.S. public diplomacy has had remarkable results in promoting national interests, and at the same time, there is need to undertake reforms such that public diplomacy complements current U.S. diplomatic focus.

On this basis, the U.S. State Department announced in January 2010 a new global strategic framework for public diplomacy in the 21st century. According to this new strategic framework, the core mission of U.S. public policy is to expand and strengthen the relationship between the U.S. government and the foreign public, actively influence the foreign public, support U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, advance national interest and improve national security. The U.S. State Department has come up with five strategic imperatives in advancing this new public diplomacy strategy:

1) “Shape the narrative”: strengthen communication with the foreign public on national, regional and global scales to actively publicize the U.S. image.

The U.S. State Department and various U.S. government-linked organizations with global presence need to cooperate, targeting all media contact, to actively promote news in the interests of the U.S. and at the same time quickly react to anti-U.S. discourse, ensuring that there is sufficient U.S. presence and maintaining the right to speech in both traditional and new forms of media that play crucial roles in the dissemination of information and political discourse. In order to strengthen coordination with and influence over foreign media, the U.S. State Department has also established a new office: the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Media Engagement in the Bureau of Public Affairs.

2) “Expand and strengthen people-to-people relationships”: through the use of U.S. established platforms, keep in contact with both the elite around the world and expand and strengthen relationships with the foreign public.

The U.S. is especially paying attention to the use of online social media, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, to expand contact with the public, ensuring that policy viewpoints are communicated in new social media.

President Obama’s speech on his visit to Ghana in July 2009 was officially broadcast through the integrated use of both traditional and new media, so that the message reached hundreds of millions of Africans.

The U.S. government is also looking to reestablish public spaces in foreign countries called “American centers” or “American corners.” Partnerships will be encouraged with various cultural institutions within the U.S. to promote culture to the foreign public through direct contact, increasing the attractiveness of U.S. domestic and foreign policies and American values.

3) “Combat violent extremism”: rapidly react toward dissemination of anti-American misinformation and the recruitment of new members by extremist groups.

In this area, the U.S. is mainly relying on the traditional media and new media such as the Internet to widely publicize the viewpoint of the U.S. government, strengthen “credibility” and discredit “misinformation.” At the same time, the U.S. is actively promoting training in areas such as sanitation, education and development in areas rampant with extremists, such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia, in order to exert pressure on local religious and secular leaders so as to indirectly influence the public opinion on the U.S. in the area.

4) “Better inform policy-making”: The U.S. State Department and overseas institutions need to strengthen research and planning of public diplomacy to better understand and master attitudes and opinions of the U.S. to better inform strategic planning.

In addition to establishing the office of deputy assistant secretary for international media engagement, additional deputy assistant secretary [positions] for public diplomacy have been created in the department’s six geographical bureaus to ensure that public diplomacy remains in the overall policy consideration of the U.S. and to coordinate regional public diplomacy initiatives and actions.

5) “Deploy resources in line with current priorities”: strengthen internal coordination to ensure public diplomacy remains a priority.

The U.S. State Department has strengthened McHale’s Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs office’s planning and resources, and at the same time, restated long-term strategic goals and performance indicators for all related positions in embassies. Well-defined job scopes ensure the effective allocation of required resources and that public diplomacy complements the current priorities in U.S. diplomacy.

Limits of U.S. Public Policy

Overall, in this era of globalization, information and the Web, as the world’s only superpower, the U.S., with its national strength and intentions, will be able to change its image and protect national interests and national security if it proactively performs public diplomacy.

The U.S. is strengthening public policy only to publicize and export its own ideologies and values, to promote U.S. “liberal democracy” and free market economy and to maintain its global supremacy. Thus, despite advertising “mutual trust and respect” as the principle underlying public diplomacy, as long as the U.S. maintains its bullying nature and does not abandon hard power diplomacy, the effectiveness of public diplomacy is likely to be limited.

(Zhou Wenzhong was the Secretary-General of the Boao Forum for Asia, previous Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and editor of “Public Diplomacy Quarterly” [Chinese journal]; Wang Baodong is the press counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. Article has been abridged.)

(Editor: Heng Xiaojing)