The Foreign Service Journal, November 2008

C Y B E R N O T E S 10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8 be widely covered. These are some of the findings in “Middle East and North Africa Think- Tanks,” the latest product of the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Think-Tanks and Civil Societies Program ( www.fpri.org/research/ thinktanks ). The groups were stud- ied over a two-year period through surveys and Web-site analyses that sought to determine their structural orientation, areas of research, re- search priorities and methods of oper- ation. This FPRI program aims to harness the vast reservoir of knowledge, infor- mation and associational energy that exists in public policy research organi- zations so that it can support self-sus- taining economic, social and political progress. For the past six years, the program has worked to lay the basis for a col- laborative effort to establish regional and international networks of policy institutes and communities that will improve policy-making and strengthen democratic institutions and civil soci- eties around the world. Look for the program’s “2008 Global Go-To Think-Tanks Report” in the January-February 2009 issue of Foreign Policy magazine ( www.fore ignpolicy.com ) . A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World A new report, “Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World,” that recommends an overhaul of American strategy toward the Muslim world to reverse the spread of terrorism and extremism is making its way through Congress and political circles in Washington ( www.sfcg.org/Programmes/us/us_ engagement.html ). Significantly, after 18 months of work, the diverse, nonpartisan group of American leaders who examined the deterioration of relations between Washington and the Muslim world during the Bush administration con- cluded that the negative perceptions were generated more by U.S. policies than by Muslim religious or cultural beliefs. If policies shift, perceptions are likely to change, too, the report says. The U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project was supported by Search for Common Ground ( www.sfcg.org ) and the Consensus Building Institute ( www.cbuilding.org ) , two organiza- tions that specialize in building con- sensus on controversial public issues. It included Democrats like former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and two former Republican congressmen, Vin Weber and Steve Bartlett, as well as Thomas Dine, a for- mer executive director of the Ameri- can Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America. The group made four basic recom- mendations: first, rely on diplomacy as the “primary tool”; second, promote better governance in authoritarian Muslim countries that are American allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt; third, help create jobs and economic development in Muslim countries; and, fourth, foster exchange programs to educate people in the Muslimworld about the United States, and vice versa. The report also calls on the next president to use his inaugural address to signal a shift in approach, immedi- ately renouncing the use of torture and appointing a special envoy within the first three months to jump-start nego- tiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Members of Congress and the two presidential campaigns have been briefed on the report, and Senator Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has sent it to his colleagues on the Foreign Rela- tions Committee with a letter saying it contains “constructive recommenda- tions on how we can approach this pressing concern in a bipartisan framework.” RAND/AAD: A Blueprint for Building U.S. Soft Power In preparing for possible future military interventions, the U.S. needs to substantially increase resources for the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Develop- ment, and military-civilian efforts must be integrated from top to bot- tom, according to a new report by a high-level panel of 67 veteran military, Foreign Service, Civil Service and pri- vate-sector leaders. Sponsored by the RAND Corpora- tion, a nonprofit research organization, and the American Academy of Diplo- macy, “Integrating Instruments of 50 Years Ago... L ast year I made quite a lengthy report on the status of the pro- posed television series on the Foreign Service, which I indicat- ed might actually be on the air in 1958. Unfortunately, there have been many delays. ... The pilot film is only now being produced, in Europe. Then negotiations will begin to sign up a commercial sponsor. In short, we still do not know for sure whether there is to be a series of this kind or not. Aside from these practical difficulties, there is the continuing problem of reconciling the commercial TV standard of entertainment with a fair picture of what actually goes on in the Foreign Service. —E. Allan Lightner Jr., Annual Report of AFSA, presented to the associa- tion’s general meeting on Oct. 2, 1958; November 1958 FSJ