The Foreign Service Journal, October 2006

become supportive and opponents are defeated or undermined by doubt. The violently defeated usu- ally vow to undo the damage as soon as possible, and those blind- sided by the elite-to-elite aspects of secret or traditional diplomacy may feel less than bound by agreements that seem unfair. But it’s hard to repudiate a deal to which you’re a knowing and willing party. Even friends take persuading, as the present Bush administration discovered in seeking allies for the second Iraq War. In several instances, governments were inclin- ed to join the coalition of the willing, but their publics were less happy about going to war. A robust public diplomacy effort conducted by a seasoned corps of respected and self-respecting Foreign Service profes- sionals (not advertising whiz kids, not PR people, not MBAs), with cutting-edge tools and carefully cul- tivated communications networks, might have generated more enthusi- asm for the cause, but we’ll never know. America’s public diplomacy agency had already been disman- tled, its professionals disdained and dispersed. Public diplomacy plays a yet more critical role in gain- ing support for American interests in countries whose leaders are suspicious, hostile or simply indifferent to U.S. interests. A nudge from below can have beneficial results even in undemocratic states. Outreach provides the opposition with intellectual ammunition, and when action is dangerous or impossible, it keeps ideas and hope alive. And finally, there’s the challenge of being prepared for change. Public diplomacy allows for continuity of contact when revolutions, coups or upsets of one kind or another displace valued contacts at the top of the hierarchy. What happens? A ready and waiting set of friends assumes responsibility. In short, America’s public diplomacy must reflect the vitality of political, social, economic, intellectual and cul- tural debate in such a way as to support current policy, yes, but also to provide a basis for America’s continuing influence in an unpredictable, multipolar world, whatev- er the ideology of the party in power. Though many of our examples in this article are drawn from the USIA era, we do not argue here for the agency’s reincarnation. We do advocate an effective PD presence around the world. We also contend that public diploma- cy, like trustworthy intelligence gathering, must be pro- tected from short-sighted political strong-arming, must be generously funded and must be factored in at the highest levels. Keeping Allies Cooperative Although the U.S. is powerful today — absolutely and comparatively — we still need friends and allies. The truth is that even old friends do not always see things the way we do. To gain and retain their support, America must convince them, not once but continuously, that U.S. interests are also theirs. Friends, personal or interna- tional, must never be taken for granted. F O C U S 28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 Public diplomacy isn’t about coercion, bluster or manipulation, but persuasion. Patricia H. Kushlis was a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Information Agency from 1970 to 1998. She moved to NewMexico after retiring from the Foreign Service and is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. She authored an instructor’s manual on comparative politics for Wadsworth Learning (2005), managed Voter News Service’s coverage of New Mexico’s elections in 2000 and 2002, and co-founded the World Affairs Forum, a foreign affairs discussion forum based in Santa Fe. She regularly posts on the foreign affairs and national security blog WhirledView (www.whirledview.typepad.com ) which Cheryl Rofer, Patricia L. Sharpe and she created in 2004. Patricia Lee Sharpe was an FSO with USIA and State from 1978 to 2001. A former Fulbright lecturer in Pakistan, she has a Ph.D. in American literature and has worked in journalism, advertising/public relations and academia. Since retiring to Santa Fe in 2001, she has devoted herself to writing fiction and poetry, publishing two books: The Deadmen and Other Poems (Writer’s Workshop, Calcutta, 2003) and Four Walls and a Veil (Oxford, 2004), her translations from the Urdu of the poems of Pakistani feminist Fahmida Riaz. She is cur- rently preparing a volume of short stories entitled The Natalie Tales for publication. In addition to addressing current affairs through the WhirledView blog, she has been an occasional visiting lecturer on South Asia at the University of New Mexico.