40 OCTOBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL of soft power, “a perfect idea for the post–Cold War world,” has run its course. The era of “benevolent unipolarity” has been overtaken by the “return of fullfledged power competition in a media-saturated age” and weakened by unprecedented and disruptive developments in information technologies. In this environment, Cull argues, the unilateral “beauty pageant” of soft power attractiveness that focuses exclusively on the positive aspects of national values and policies cannot protect relatively unknown countries against the corrosive effects of a fractured information space in which a country’s shortcomings can easily become a strategic vulnerability. Enter Cull’s transformational reformulation of soft power attractiveness—reputational security, or “the idea that if and when a country is well thought of and seen as relevant by international audiences, it fares better in moments of crisis than states that are unknown.” States with reputational security are “more likely to find allies” and to have their behaviors in the international arena seen as credible and worthy of support, especially when a challenge emerges. Indeed, much of Cull’s inspiration for Reputational Security derives from “the shock of 2014”: “Ukraine’s loss of territory with little response from the global public—serves as an object lesson of exactly what can happen to a country if its national narrative is not known.” Ukraine has since made dramatic improvements to its image projection, positioning itself in 2022 as the champion of democracy on the front lines of freedom. Other striking examples include Taiwan’s effort to build and preserve its reputation in the face of Chinese aggression, and Kazakhstan’s affirmation of pluralism as an antidote to external perceptions of its social and economic inequities. In addition to filling critical knowledge gaps about a country, a successful reputational security campaign can address perceived shortcomings in its behaviors and policies, or, as Cull says, “accentuating the positives while eliminating the negatives.” Chapters on counterpropaganda, media development, information disarmament, diaspora engagement, and cultural relations offer comprehensive and accessible pathways to the enhancement of reputational security. In truth, the concept of reputational security works best when applied to countries appealing for support during a clearly defined existential crisis such as an invasion or environmental disaster. Cull is correct that a “secure national reputation requires policies that protect the integrity of the most admirable elements of that nation, akin to the quality control mechanism of a corporation.” But a country is not a business. There is no “quality control” when it comes to policy outcomes—or how publics perceive them. By arguing that efforts to improve public perceptions of a country’s image can be improved by positive changes to national policies, Cull sets an impossibly high bar for the practice of PD. Public diplomacy can explain and contextualize a country’s policies, but it can’t alter them. Moreover, like Gregory, Cull has no ready solution for the functional integration of reputational security management into existing public diplomacy institutions. He writes: “There is no clear strategy in play and certainly no vision of the kind necessary to rally the U.S.” in the global imagination. Exploring New Trends While Cull and Gregory seek policy and practitioner-driven approaches to the definition, legitimization, and institutionalization of public diplomacy, Eytan Gilboa looks at these issues from a scholar’s perspective. His Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023) offers a carefully curated overview of recent trends in PD scholarship, teaching, and practice, while also establishing a research agenda for the next decade. Acknowledging the “considerable” gap between theory and practice that has long frustrated practitioners and scholars, Gilboa seeks to establish a “common language” for public diplomacy while mapping out the boundaries of the discipline. Although academic in focus, this collection of essays by emerging and established scholars is refreshingly accessible Nothing is more damaging to U.S. soft power than public perceptions of the gap between its values and its actions.
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