U.S. Public Diplomacy Towards Iran During the George W
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U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS IRAN DURING THE GEORGE W. BUSH ERA A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of PhD to the Department of History and Cultural Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin by Javad Asgharirad Date of the viva voce/defense: 05.01.2012 First examiner: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ursula Lehmkuhl Second examiner: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nicholas J. Cull i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My greatest thanks go to Prof. Ursula Lehmkuhl whose supervision and guidance made it possible for me to finish the current work. She deserves credit for any virtues the work may possess. Special thanks go to Nicholas Cull who kindly invited me to spend a semester at the University of Southern California where I could conduct valuable research and develop academic linkages with endless benefits. I would like to extend my gratitude to my examination committee, Prof. Dr. Claus Schönig, Prof. Dr. Paul Nolte, and Dr. Christoph Kalter for taking their time to read and evaluate my dissertation here. In the process of writing and re-writing various drafts of the dissertation, my dear friends and colleagues, Marlen Lux, Elisabeth Damböck, and Azadeh Ghahghaei took the burden of reading, correcting, and commenting on the rough manuscript. I deeply appreciate their support. And finally, I want to extend my gratitude to Pier C. Pahlavi, Hessamodin Ashena, and Foad Izadi, for sharing with me the results of some of their academic works which expanded my comprehension of the topic. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI ABSTRACT VII INTRODUCTION 1 STATEMENT OF THE TOPIC 2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY AND QUESTIONS 2 LITERATURE SURVEY 4 UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY:DEFINING THE TERM 5 Public Diplomacy Instruments 8 America’s Public Diplomacy 11 CHAPTER OUTLINE 14 1. CONTEXTUALIZING AMERICAN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY TOWARDS IRAN 16 1.1 EARLY CONTACTS: THE OFFICIAL INDIFFERENCE PERIOD (1830S-1940S) 16 1.2 COLD WAR YEARS: THE ALLIANCE PERIOD (1945-1979) 18 1.3 THE POST-REVOLUTION IRAN AND THE DIVERGENCE PERIOD (1979-PRESENT) 22 1.3.1 Responding to the Anti-American Revolution 23 1.3.2 Khatami, the United States, and the Wall of Mistrust 24 1.3.3 George W. Bush, 9/11, and the U.S. Approach towards Iran 26 2. U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTS TO IRAN 35 2.1 VOICE OF AMERICA:THE OLD GAINS GROUND 36 2.1.1 Inception of VOA Persian 38 2.1.2 VOA Persian after the Islamic Revolution 39 2.1.3 VOA Persian after 9/11 41 2.1.4 VOA TV Content 43 2.1.5 Problems of VOA Persian 45 2.2 RADIO FARDA:THE LEGACY OF THE COLD WAR 48 2.2.1 The Bush Administration: from Radio Azadi to Radio Farda 50 2.2.2 Radio Farda Content 52 2.2.3 Staff and Audience for Radio Farda 53 2.2.4 Radio Farda's Problems 53 2.3 IRANIAN EXILE NETWORKS 55 2.4 THE DIGITAL AGE: U.S. BROADCASTS THROUGH THE INTERNET 57 2.5 THE IRANIAN RESPONSE TO U.S. BROADCASTS 61 2.6 BROADCASTING IN RETROSPECT 63 3. U.S.-IRAN CULTURAL DIPLOMACY 66 3.1 THE GOOD 150 YEARS (1830-1979) 67 3.2. THE 1979 REVOLUTION: THE COLLISION COURSE 69 3.3 REFORMISTS RESUME CULTURAL DIPLOMACY 71 3.3.1 Iranian Art in America 73 3.3.2. Preserving the Environment Together 76 3.3.3 Iranian Natural Disasters and U.S. Aid diplomacy 77 3.3.4 Educational Exchange for Change 79 3.3.5 International Visitor Leadership Program for Iran 88 3.3.6 Sports Come to the Arena 89 3.4 US-IRAN CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN RETROSPECT 102 4. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN IRAN 108 4.1 A BACKGROUND FOR U.S. DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN IRAN 109 iii 4.2 DEMOCRACY PROMOTION AFTER THE REVOLUTION 111 4.2.1 Clinton and Democracy Promotion 112 4.2.2 NED's First Beneficiaries in Iran: ITA and FDI 113 4.2.3 The 104th Congress and Regime Change in Iran 117 4.3 GEORGE W. BUSH AND DEMOCRACY PROMOTION 117 4.3.1 Formation of the policy 118 4.3.2 Implementation and Institutions of Reform 119 4.4 IRANIAN RESPONSE TO U.S. DEMOCRACY PROMOTION 129 4.5 DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN RETROSPECT 133 CONCLUSION: PATTERNS OF A NEW COLD WAR 137 SOURCES AND LITERATURE 144 APPENDICES 163 iv LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES TABLES Table 1: American Public Diplomacy Programs 14 Table 2: Funding for Public Diplomacy and Democracy Promotion 33 Projects in Iran Table 3: List of VOA TV Programs 42 Table 4: Coverage of Iran, United States, and the World in VOA TV 43 Table 5: Major Themes in VOA's Iran-related Content 44 Table 6: Major Themes in VOA's U.S.-related Content 44 Table 7: Major Themes in VOA's World.-related Content 44 Table 8: Views about the VOA 45 Table 9: U.S. Government Media Initiatives in Support of the War on 51 Terrorism Table 10: Issues discussed in Radio Farda's programs (July 2007) 53 Table 11: Comparing Traffic Rank of Websites in Iran (2009) 59 Table 12: Historical Timeline for VOA Radio/TV Performance 64 Table 13: Peace Corps in Iran and other Middle Eastern Countries 69 Table 14: U.S. Government's Overall Earthquake Assistance to Iran 78 Table 15: List of Western Institutions Outlawed by Iran's Intelligence 105 Ministry in 2009 FIGURES Figure 1: Internet Users in the Middle East (2009) 58 Figure 2: Number of Iranian Students in the U.S. (1955-2010) 80 Figure 3: IRIB's Weekend Movies (Only July 2011) 140 IMAGES Image 1: VOA Persian interviewing Jondollah's leader 46 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABF Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation BBG Broadcasting Board of Governors CIPE Center for International Private Enterprise CPI Committee on Public Information FLTA Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship IBB International Broadcasting Bureau IEE International Educational Exchange IELTS International English Language Testing System IIE Institute of International Education IRIB Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting MEPI Middle East Partnership Program MKO/MEK Mojahedin Khalq Organization NAFSA National Association of Foreign Student Advisers NED National Endowment for Democracy NIAC National Iranian American Council OWI Office of War Information RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty SFCG Search for Common Ground TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language USAID United States Agency for International Development USIA United States Information Agency USIS United States Information Service VOA Voice of America VOAPNN Voice of America's Persian News Network vi ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I will argue that the administration of George W. Bush, during its 8 years in office, approached Iran with what it later called a "two- clock strategy". That is, the U.S. government directed its policies at fulfilling two objectives: changing both Iran's behavior and its government through instruments of hard and soft power. The change in behavior dealt with curbing Iran's nuclear program. Worried about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, U.S. government tried to slow down/reverse this clock (e.g., change the behavior) through economic and political pressure. On the other hand, it tried to speed the clock of regime change through instruments of soft power. The focus of the present work is on the soft power aspects of U.S. foreign policy. I will mostly concentrate on the U.S. government's public diplomacy programs (from 2000 to 2008) targeting Iranians to create this change. I examine Congressional records, diplomatic presence communications, institutions' press releases, newspaper archives, personal accounts and interviews, and secondary resources (both in Farsi and English) in order to discuss the relevance, content, and achievements of such programs. I will conclude that, in breach of the 1981 Algiers Accord between Iran and the U.S., based on which the United States pledged not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs, American government, particularly during the Bush administration, has concentrated heavily on changing Iran's political climate by following a cold war pattern in its public diplomacy programs. American soft power, however massive, has so far failed to bring immediate results. Nonetheless, like the Cold War rivalries, such policies will have long term implications for both Iran and the future relations between the two countries. vii U.S. Public Diplomacy towards Iran During the George W. Bush Era INTRODUCTION The twenty-first century began with the shocking events of 9/11. It altered the paradigm of U.S. national security. After the bygone hotness of the Cold War, it was now more than ever, the Middle East that emerged on the spotlight of U.S. foreign policy. Attacks of 9/11, President Bush's policy of democratization and military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his administration's commitment to tackling the danger of Iran are all tangible proofs for this change of focus from the old Europe to the present Middle East. Because of the 9/11 attacks, there was a huge amount of sympathy for America at the beginning; but later on, after 8 years, the legacy of George W. Bush was little short of a downgraded approval rating for the U.S. government. It also resulted in wounded transatlantic relationships and raging anti-American sentiments generally throughout the world and particularly in the Middle East. In just one case, for example, the favorability rating of the United States in Germany fell from 60% in 2002 down to less than 30% in 2008. Such a downward spiral was even more prevalent in the Muslim countries of the Middle East.1 To fix America's image and save it from further attacks, the 9/11 Commission report, had emphasized (among many remedies) on enhancing public diplomacy and U.S.