How Russia, China, and Other Countries Use Public Diplomacy to Compete with the US
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BACKGROUNDER No. 2698 | JUNE 21, 2012 Challenging America: How Russia, China, and Other Countries Use Public Diplomacy to Compete with the U.S. Helle C. Dale, Ariel Cohen, PhD, and Janice A. Smith Abstract he circumstances that surround- Competing aggressively with the Ted President Barack Obama’s Talking Points United States for the “hearts and nomination last November of yet minds” of people around the world, another Under Secretary of State for ■■ The U.S. government is showing many state and non-state actors are Public Diplomacy were symptom- signs of fatigue and disinterest funneling significant resources into atic of a problem that has plagued in public diplomacy—a develop- ment that must be reversed if their public diplomacy strategies. America’s efforts to explain itself the United States is to maintain a The Chinese government announced to the world since the end of the global leadership position. in 2009 that it would spend almost Cold War. The nomination came ■■ Today, more people around the $7 billion on a “global media drive” after the position had been vacant world believe the “global balance to improve its image. The Russian for four months, and it would take of power” is shifting away from government allocated $1.4 billion for another six before the nominee, Tara the United States. international propaganda in 2010. Sonenshine, was sworn in. ■■ Many state and non-state actors Meanwhile, in the U.S., a confluence In all, the position has been are competing aggressively of issues, tightening budgets, and vacant 30 percent of the time since with the U.S. for the “hearts and changing foreign policy directions President George W. Bush created it. minds” of people around the compound the challenges that Sonenshine has assumed a mission world. Russia and China have Americans face. The purpose and marred by confusion since Secretary launched expensive and sophisti- priorities for U.S. public diplomacy of State Madeleine Albright closed cated media campaigns to fill the are being pulled in many directions. the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) ideological void. The result of this misalignment is that in 1999 and folded its resources and ■■ Most Americans do not have today, more people around the world personnel into other parts of the access to the public diplomacy believe the global balance of power is State Department. programs broadcast by their own shifting away from the United States. That reorganization in the late government, which is perhaps one of the reasons they often find 1990s was misguided. It failed to it hard to explain U.S. policies. consider the potential challenges to This paper, in its entirety, can be found at ■■ What is needed in Washington http://report.heritage.org/bg2698 America in a world that is far more is more focused commitment to Produced by the Douglas and Sarah Allison complex than it was during the Center for Foreign Policy Studies public diplomacy, prioritization Cold War ideological battle between of programs, better organization The Heritage Foundation supporters of liberty and the totali- 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE of instruments, better trained Washington, DC 20002 tarians. For example, though the and experienced personnel, and (202) 546-4400 | heritage.org threat to Europe from the Soviet stricter oversight of resources. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily Union had dissipated, all 22 officers reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill who had covered European nations before Congress. for the USIA were assigned to the BACKGROUNDER | NO. 2698 June 21, 2012 State Department’s bureau oversee- Russian government allocated $1.4 by power diffusion, technologi- ing European affairs. According to billion for international propaganda cal advances, networks, and an a former State Department official, in 2010.4 empowered global public. The the bureau responsible for U.S. poli- Meanwhile, in the U.S., a conflu- sum total of these changes means cies at the United Nations and other ence of issues and changing pri- that addressing the world’s major international organizations received orities compound the challenges foreign policy challenges…will not even one USIA official. presented by tightening budgets and require soft power approaches. The result of this misalignment entrenched anti-Americanism. The Driving international affairs is that today, more people around purpose and priorities for public in the 21st century will rest the world believe the “global balance diplomacy are being pulled in many on shaping narratives, setting of power” is shifting away from the directions with U.S. military opera- international norms, mobilising United States. In over two-thirds of tions in Iraq and Afghanistan wind- trans-national networks, and the countries surveyed in 2011 by ing down, a “pivot” away from the winning the battle for global pub- the Pew Research Center, either a Middle East and toward Asia, an lic opinion. This is not to say that majority or a plurality of people said intentional downgrading of concerns soft power alone will always win that China would replace, or already over terrorism, and a “reset” of rela- the day, but its relative strategic has replaced, the U.S. as the lead- tions with Russia, to name a few. importance compared to hard ing superpower. That response was power will continue to grow…at widespread in countries where the THE GROWING EMPHASIS ON a time when the world’s estab- U.S. is popular as well as in those PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BY COUNTRIES lished powers are chipping away where anti-Americanism runs high.1 at their own capacity to operate THAT DISAGREE WITH AMERICA’S This holds true despite the fact that under the changing conditions of the U.S. has spent well over $15 bil- VALUES AND POLICIES PRESENTS international politics. Taken in lion on public diplomacy since 1999.2 A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE, BUT this context, the results of [this] Even more challenging is the fact SIMPLY FUNNELING MORE MONEY TO index beg the question: how long that many state and non-state actors will historical trends sustain the PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BUDGETS IS NOT are competing aggressively with the soft power hegemony of tradi- U.S. for the “hearts and minds” of THE ANSWER. tional Western powers?5 people around the world. Seeking greater influence and access, they are The independent Institute for One need not agree with this funneling significant resources into Government in the United Kingdom assessment of the role of soft power their own public diplomacy strate- explained the challenges for pub- to understand that, in an age of gies. The Chinese government, for lic diplomacy in its “2011 Global increasing interconnectedness and instance, announced in 2009 that Ranking of Soft Power”: new media, the ability to make a per- it would spend almost $7 billion on suasive case for its values, policies, a “global media drive” to improve International politics are under- and goals improves the likelihood China’s image in the world.3 The going a fundamental shift, driven that a nation can secure its interests. 1. Pew Research Center, Global Attitudes Project, China Seen Overtaking U.S. as Global Superpower, July 13, 2011, http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/07/13/chapter- 1-the-global-balance-of-power/ (accessed May 21, 2012). 2. U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, Fiscal Year 1996–Fiscal Year 2012), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=BUDGET&browsePath=Fiscal+Year+2012&searchPath=Fiscal+Year+2012&leafLe velBrowse=false&isCollapsed=false&isOpen=true&packageid=BUDGET-2012-TAB&ycord=1018 (accessed May 21, 2012). 3. Vivian Wu and Adam Chen, “Beijing in 45b Yuan Global Media Drive,” Morning China, January 13, 2009, http://www.wsichina.org/morningchina/article. asp?id=3962 (accessed May 23, 2012). 4. Luke Harding, “Russia Today Launches First UK Ad Blitz,” The Guardian, December 18, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/18/russia-today- propaganda-ad-blitz (accessed May 23, 2012). 5. Jonathan McClory, “The New Persuaders II: A 2011 Global Ranking of Soft Power,” Institute for Government, December 1, 2011, p. 24, http://www. instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/new-persuaders-ii (accessed May 22, 2012). 2 BACKGROUNDER | NO. 2698 June 21, 2012 That is U.S. public diplomacy’s essen- responsibility for public diplomacy of Defense, the U.S. Agency for tial task. lies with the White House, the State International Development, the The growing emphasis on public Department, and the Broadcasting National Endowment for Democracy, diplomacy by countries that disagree Board of Governors (BBG), but the and the Departments of Agriculture, with America’s values and policies Department of Defense also plays a Commerce, Education, and Labor, presents a significant challenge, but key, though sometimes controversial, also reach out to foreign publics. simply funneling more money to role. Engaging foreign publics wher- Section 2732 of the U.S. Code lays public diplomacy budgets is not the ever the U.S. military is deployed is a out the two purposes of public diplo- answer. matter of necessity: Informing civil- macy: first, increasing foreign publics’ Today, there is too little coordi- ians about the U.S. mission can gain knowledge of the United States and nation of public diplomacy efforts support and lessen the threat of vio- its foreign policy and, second, articu- among U.S. agencies. Too often, oper- lence. Yet the objectives of the mili- lating the values and principles upon ational decisions are constrained tary’s strategic communications and which the United States government by bureaucratic misinterpreta- psychological operations (“psyops”)— and its foreign policies are founded. tions of the U.S.