Engaging the Arab and Islamic Worlds Through Public Diplomacy

Perhaps no aspect of American diplomacy has received more attention in the period since 9/11 than public diplomacy, conducted by the Department of State since the 1999 demise of the U.S. Information Agency. There is widespread agreement that the state of our public diplomacy is seriously inadequate in all respects. The congressionally created Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World, chaired by retired Ambassador Edward Djerejian, issued a scathing critique, including detailed recommendations, in October 2003. Like the 9/11 Commission, the study called for significantly greater funding, but also recommended structural changes and greatly increased, trained human resources. Now another group of public diplomacy experts, comprised largely of retired USIA officers, has joined the debate. The Public Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 and with close ties to the USIA Alumni Association, adds in this report a professional analysis of the means to conduct successful public diplomacy and an action plan to implement such a program. The study is edited by former ambassador and USIA officer Dr. William A. Rugh, who has written extensively on the subject. Leading off the six-part report, Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, sets the political stage, noting, as have others, the collapse of Arab trust in the United States, particularly in the first term of President George W. Bush. He identifies the Arab-Israeli issue as the "prism of pain" through which Arab audiences judge the United States, even though the region has many other problems. He makes the telling point that much resentment aimed at the U.S. is based on the perception that the U.S. does not care about the views and concerns of others. Telhami also adds support for authoritarian governments and the information revolution as other significant factors in the growth of Arab resentment. He judges that public opinion in the region is playing an increasingly relevant role and is increasingly independent of Middle East governments. In the study's second part, three public affairs officers (Kenton Keith and Barry Fulton, retired; James Bullock, active-duty) give the reader a hands-on analysis of the daily demands of the job, stressing respectively the indispensable use of personal contact, the need to make effective use of rapidly changing technology, and the day-to-day challenges facing public diplomacy in the field. One thread running through these contributions is the muddled lines of control and the new bureaucratic burdens created by the USIA merger into the Department of State, a merger many observers now consider ill-advised. The report's third section, with much less consensus, deals with U.S. international broadcasting, directed by the presidentially appointed, nonpartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors. Broadcasting to the Arab World and Iran has been completely reorganized in recen

The personal touch By Sol Schindler ENGAGING THE ARAB & ISLAMIC WORLDS THROUGH PUBLIC DIPLOMACY Edited by William A. Rugh, Public Diplomacy Council, $19.95, 181 pages. Public diplomacy is the new phrase designating what used to be called international information and cultural affairs - that is, a country's efforts to persuade the people of other countries through mass media and other channels of its friendly, worthwhile intentions. This collection of essays, edited by William A. Rugh - author of the book "Arab Mass Media" and former ambassador to Yemen, and later the United Arab Emirates - attempts an examination of our efforts in the Muslim world pointing out how we could do better. The title of the book, "Engaging the Arab & Islamic Worlds Through Public Diplomacy," encapsulates the book's thesis by the use of the word engaging. It is not enough to reach somebody, to deliver a message or, even worse, to send a signal. It is necessary to engage him in a mutual endeavor where through both intellectual and emotional exchange, true understandings can be reached. Will Congress Pass Medical Liability Reform? President Bush agrees the only way to stop this crisis is for Congress to pass common-sense medical liability reform now! Save the U.S. Healthcare System. Click here. Kenton Keith, also a distinguished former ambassador, in his contribution emphasizes this point. He states "the reality [is] that the most effective public diplomacy tool has always been one that engaged Americans personally with citizens of a particular country." He gives examples from his own experience in Syria, where personal relationships were of significant assistance in establishing a cultural agreement and a large educational exchange program. No one in the diplomatic establishment will deny the merit of Mr. Keith's position, but as James L. Bullock points out if one is chained to his desk answering requests from Washington or doing administrative work that the bureaucracy demands, there is little time to nurture those relationships Mr. Keith describes. The current public affairs officer is short of both staff and funds as a result of decades of downsizing, and accordingly, cannot perform as well as his predecessors of 20 or 30 years ago. The post of undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs has been vacant for months on end, and we desperately need someone with proven experience and sufficient dynamism to give our programs the leadership they require. From these general comments which can apply to our entire public diplomacy effort, the work becomes specific to the Arab scene by having three essays devoted to Arab radio and television. Alan Heil, former deputy director of the Voice of America, gives us a history of the VOA in Arabic, and laments its passing. Norman Patriz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, discusses Radio Sawa, the radio channel that replaced the VOA, and Al-Hurra, the new U.S. fu

At long last there is a book by public diplomacy practicioners and Middle East experts who really understand how and why the United States must engage with the Arab and Islamic worlds. Ambassador Rugh, the editor, and 10 essayists, most of whom have lived and worked in the region and who have a first person understanding of the importance of public diplomacy, have produced a first rate book that any student of the either the Arab and Islamic worlds or of public diplomacy/strategic communication would find invaluable.