The Foreign Service Journal, February 2007

52 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 7 A True Exchange of Views America’s Dialogue with the World William P. Kiehl, ed., Public Diplomacy Council 2006, $19.95, paperback, 208 pages. R EVIEWED BY K AY M AYFIELD America’s Dialogue with the World compiles papers presented at an October 2005 forum at The George Washington University. Essays by 12 current and former practitioners of public diplomacy are divided into “The Substance of the Dialogue” and “The Nature of the Dialogue” — essentially, addressing both strategic and tactical considerations. The authors, including editor William P. Kiehl, executive director of The Public Diplomacy Council at GWU, revisit issues of longstanding debate within PD circles: what tools are and should be in the public diplo- macy toolkit; how to evaluate program results; and how to reach audiences in an information-saturated environment that lacks many of the traditional fil- ters separating rumor from fact. As ever in public diplomacy, the contributors have differing approach- es to defining which tools are most effective. Public diplomacy’s equiva- lent of “men to match my mountains” must be “people to match my policy” — whether those people are profes- sional diplomats targeting a specific audience with a specific message, or everyday American citizens living out their values before the eyes of exchange visitors whose notions of the United States had previously been informed by car-crash movies with bad subtitles. Throughout the book runs the valuable but possibly provocative theme — provocative, at least, to those who believe that public diplo- macy means choosing a message and sticking to it — that a dialogue has two sides, and the United States doesn’t get to define both of them. A true exchange of views allows both parties to establish their bedrock positions, listen to the other side, ask clarifying questions and seek points of mutual agreement (or at least intersecting interests). With this in mind, several contributors make compelling cases for the “ability to listen to other visions of freedom” that “may come in different forms in different countries.” Contributor Dan Sreebny, now the public affairs officer in Ankara, makes an important point that should be required reading for those who feel that cultural and educational activities are luxuries rather than an essential part of a dynamic relationship: “Every successful public diplomacy program also includes some activities that are not designed for short-term engagement and advocacy of policy. Instead, they are created to build a close and positive relationship be- tween the United States and other nations. These activities are not sim- ply nice things to do; they demon- strate that the United States wishes to have a full-fledged relationship with the citizens of other nations. [They] create the potential for positive con- nections, which help establish a more congenial environment for those times when we must discuss specific poli- cies, explain immediate actions or counter accusations. For this reason, programs for building long-term rela- tionships are in the direct strategic interest of our nation.” Another theme running through many of the essays is the challenge of addressing the impact of American popular culture around the world. At issue is an ongoing tension between culture and Culture; but simply believing that reaching small audi- ences of elites will somehow speak louder than the messages millions get on their MP3 players is a narrow kind of thinking we can no longer afford to indulge. Fortunately, several contrib- utors give thoughtful attention to technology and how to apply it in a meaningful way in a changing market- place of ideas. The heart of the debate over how to define and deploy public diplomacy B OOKS This book makes the case that public diplomacy’s equivalent of “men to match my mountains” must be “people to match my policy.”