The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

in danger of severe budget cuts within the next few years. Advancing Freedom Through Commercial Diplomacy Since the 9/11 attacks, there has been virtually no dis- cussion in the foreign affairs community of commercial diplomacy, let alone its central role in a foreign policy that seeks to advance and defend freedom and actively oppose tyranny. Yet earlier this year, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice each gave addresses that provide an argument for putting renewed emphasis on the relevance of free markets and the substantial contribution that a vigorous and forward- leaning commercial diplomacy program could make to the achievement of this worthy goal. Indeed, it is not going too far to argue that commercial diplomacy should once again be treated as one of the two or three most important components of overall American diplomacy. In his second inaugural address, President Bush was clear in spelling out how our basic national interest is forever entwined in global developments. He declared that: “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.” He went on to conclude: “This is not pri- marily the task of arms.” In her confirmation hearings, Dr. Rice left no doubt in identifying these next years as “the time for diplomacy. … Our task and our duty is to unite around a vision and policies that will spread free- dom and prosperity around the globe.” Fine as those sentiments are, what is most striking to me about them is the lack of any specific recognition of the role played by our global economic and commercial interests. Harry Kopp, a retired Foreign Service officer and author of a must-read new book on the topic, Commercial Diplomacy and the National Interest (American Academy of Diplomacy/Business Council for International Understanding, 2004), defines the issue as follows: “Commercial diplomacy involves business and government overseas in cooperative efforts to achieve C O V E R S T O R Y 26 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 5