I just wrapped up a 10-day speaking tour for the US State Department. I was participating in the department's public diplomacy programme, which sends folks to speak to universities, think-tanks and public forums. This trip took me to Vladivostok and Sakhalin in eastern Russia, and to Hanoi, where I delivered two or three lectures a day to various audiences; I spoke to more than 500 people during the trip.
Public diplomacy is one of the lesser known options in the foreign policy tool kit. That is unfortunate, because it can play a key role in foreign policy by helping shape public opinion in foreign countries. Public diplomacy is defined as 'the cultural, educational and informational programmes, citizen exchanges or broadcasts used to promote the national interest of the United States through understanding, informing and influencing foreign audiences'. Crudely put, it is, as one of the students in Russia bluntly said, 'propaganda'.
According to the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, in the short term, the programme seeks to influence opinion in ways that support US interests and policies. In doing so, it usually focuses on issues. Over the long term, however, it focuses on values by promoting dialogue, the sharing of ideas and the promotion of institutional and personal relationships.
Real public diplomacy is a two-way process. A country does not just send out its message. Listening is also required, since that is the best way to gauge opinion in the host country. The questions and answers that follow a speech are always the most interesting part of the programme, as they zero in on the audience's real concerns. Some of the sessions can get hot, but even my most hostile questioners have been friendly, afterward.
The US has not appreciated its public diplomacy programme. In fact, it was almost gutted a few years ago, courtesy of Senator Jesse Helms. In 1998, the State Department absorbed the US Information Agency (USIA), the principal agency for public diplomacy. It has been a rocky marriage, with USIA fitting poorly into the State Department.
The US spends only about US$1 billion on public diplomacy - 4 per cent of the country's international affairs budget. This contrasts with about US$25 billion spent on traditional diplomacy and more than US$30 billion on intelligence and counter-intelligence. From 1993 to 2001, funding for educational and cultural exchange programmes fell more than 33 per cent and from 1995 to 2001 the number of participants in exchange programmes dropped from about 45,000 to 29,000.