38 OCTOBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A retired Senior Foreign Service officer and a former executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Vivian S. Walker, PhD, serves as chair of The Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board, an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s MSFS degree program, and a faculty fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Previously she taught at the Central European University’s School of Public Policy, the National War College in Washington, D.C., and the National Defense College of the United Arab Emirates. Three new books make a powerful case for reimagining the practice and the power of public diplomacy for the digital age. BY VIVIAN S. WALKER REIMAGINING Public Diplomacy for the Digital Age What is public diplomacy? Why does it matter to the conduct of foreign policy? How can it effectively promote state power and legitimacy in a competitive—and increasingly disruptive—digital environment? These questions of function, relevance, and effect have consistently beleaguered and occasionally undermined the practice of public diplomacy, defined here as a state’s effort to inform and influence foreign audiences in the service of its national interests. FEATURE Uncertainty about the nature and value of public diplomacy (PD) has contributed to the perception that it is an afterthought rather than integral to diplomatic practice. Former State Department Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Charlotte Beers noted that during her tenure, public diplomacy was viewed as a “barnacle on the ship of State.” Legendary U.S. Information Agency Director Edward R. Murrow had famously harsh words for the failure to include public diplomacy professionals at the policy “takeoffs” as well as the “crash landings.” PD’s Origin Story Three new books from practitioner, policy, and academic perspectives make a powerful case for reimagining the practice for the digital age, offering explanations and assessments of its potential while tempering expectations about outcomes. Multidisciplinary and expansive in their definition of key actors and practices, these studies reevaluate influence management in a highly contested media environment. Bruce Gregory’s American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension: Practitioners as Change Agents in Foreign Relations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) fills a critical knowledge gap about the history, evolution, and nature of American public diplomacy, giving it an origin story and a philosophical foundation. Drawing ISTOCKPHOTOT/WIRESTOCK
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