From Monologue to Dialogue?: U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Post-9/11 Era John Robert Kelley Department of International Relations London School of Economics and Political Science Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of London 2007 UMI Number: U615654 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615654 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY I certify that the thesis presented by me in 2007 for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the University of London is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others, and that the extent of any work carried out jointly by myself and any other person is clearly identified in it. Signed ^ (I \Miuy John Robert Kelley 3 August 2007 2 iritish Library of Political ABSTRACT In comparing a considerable amount of the reportage, analysis and candor preceding this study, there is one conclusion that virtually all evaluations on United States public diplomacy after September 2001 would agree on: the consolidated efforts of the U.S. government to inform, influence and engage with foreign publics in pursuit of its national interest are deeply flawed. This gloomy outlook is borne out by identified deficiencies in strategy, coordination and organization, which have furthermore attracted intense scrutiny in response to opinion polls showing consistently low favorability towards the United States by foreign populations. A wide range of observers has drawn attention to various aspects of the overall diagnosis, and consequently formed an active segment of the general scholarship on public diplomacy. What enriches the discussion on the U.S. case is when the focus turns to positing solutions, as the ensuing debate invokes historical, theoretical and futuristic perspectives on the processes, roles, and activities considered within public diplomacy’s scope. This study isolates two broad explanations for the failure of post-9/11 U.S. public diplomacy. The advocacy model represents the American public diplomacy ‘tradition’ of campaign style, one-way information flows, while the advisory model represents a two-way, ‘dialogic’ mode that has been championed by proponents of the ‘new’ public diplomacy. This study views American public diplomacy as situated at a crossroads as it solves the riddles of its failures - to further embrace tradition or adopt a new path. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of Academic Integrity............................................................................................. 2 Abstract 3 Table of Contents ................. 4 List of Tables............................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................6 Introduction ......................................................................................................................10 Research Structure.............................................. 15 CHAPTER 1: A New Era for U.S. Public Diplomacy.....................................................21 1.1 Foreign Policy and the Public..................................................................... 23 1.2 The Information Catalyst.............................................................................24 1.3 Conversations with the W orld .................................................................... 25 1.4 A New Era for U.S. Public Diplomacy.......................................................27 1.5 Post 9-11 Criticisms of U.S. Public Diplomacy........................................31 1.6 Foreign Policy and Public Opinion .............................................................34 1.7 Theory of Soft Power: Attraction over Coercion .......................................39 1.8 Between the Tradition and the Future of U.S. Public Diplomacy .............43 1.9 Toward a Theory of Public Diplomacy and Foreign Policy.....................47 CHAPTER 2: Understanding Public Diplomacy ............................................................... 50 2.1 Models and Approaches ...............................................................................52 2.2 Public Diplomacy Dimensions................................................................... 61 2.3 U.S. Public Diplomacy Institutions............................................................73 CHAPTER 3: The Decline of U.S. Public Diplomacy, 1991-2001..................................81 3.1 Power Transitions and Changes in the American Foreign Affairs Institutions ....................................................................................................84 3.2 Anatomy of a Decline..................................................................................89 3.3 Fighting for Survival, 1991 to 1995............................................................93 3.4 The Final Years of USIA, 1996-1998 .......................................................102 3.5 Relocation into the State Department, 1999-2001 ...................................110 3.6 To 9/11 and After ....................................................................................... 114 CHAPTER 4: Rediscovery in the Post-9/11 Era.............................................................. 115 4.1 Birth of a ‘Battle’....................................................................................... 116 4.2 An Old Formula for a New Era ................................................................. 119 4.3 Charlotte Beers and ‘Brand America’ ............................ .........................123 4.4 Losing Ground in the ‘Battle for Hearts and Minds’ ...............................133 4.5 Between Beers and Hughes: Instability and Uncertainty ....................... 143 4.6 Karen Hughes’ Rapid Response ............................................................... 147 4.7 Approaching the Present: Whither U.S. Public Diplomacy?..................153 CHAPTER 5: Keeping with Tradition: U.S. Public Diplomacy and the Cold W ar... 160 5.1 Benchmarking the Cold War ............................... 161 5.2 The Making of a Success Story?............................................................... 163 4 5.3 Defining “Success” .................................................................................... 171 5.4 Measuring Success..................................................................................... 181 5.5 Debating the Advocacy Tradition of U.S. Public Diplomacy................187 CHAPTER 6: Moving towards Dialogue? ‘Listening’, Soft Power, and the ‘New’ Public Diplomacy......................................................................................190 6.1 Problems of the New Public Diplomacy...................................................197 6.2 ‘Listening’ and Dialogic Communication ................................................198 6.3 Soft Power Incompatibility....................................................................... 208 6.4 ‘Traditional’ and ‘New’ Public Diplomacy: Moving towards Dialogue?.. 211 CHAPTER 7: Disorder from Order: Organizational Obstacles to Dialogue ............... 217 7.1 The Right Skills?............................................... 222 7.2 Public Diplomacy Organizations and Proximity to Policy.....................230 7.3 Coordination Challenges ........................................................................... 240 7.4 Effects upon Strategy............................. 246 7.5 Catalysts for Change..................................................................................250 CONCLUSION : The Limits and Limitations of Public Diplomacy ................................ 255 8.1 Cultural Constraints ...................................................................................265 8.2 Revisiting Foreign Public Opinion and U.S. Foreign Policy ................. 268 8.3 Future Directions and Future Scholarship ...............................................271 Appendix A: List of Acronyms .......................................................................................276 Appendix B: Summary Recommendations of CRS Reports, 1999-2005 .....................277 Appendix C: U.S. Public Diplomacy Budget 1991-2001 .............................................279 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 280 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Old versus New Forms of Public Diplomacy...................................................... 196 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project is the continuation of research first begun at American University in 2003 under the guidance of Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer, who first exposed me to public diplomacy as a combination of International Relations and International Communications aspects that most intrigued me. It was at this point that