Journalism professor and director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School Philip Seib (pictured) edited Toward a New Public Diplomacy: Redirecting U.S. Foreign Policy, a recently released book with chapters written by experts from around the world.
"This book is designed to encourage policy makers to take a new look at U.S. public diplomacy — to set aside many old practices and embrace new opportunities," Seib said. "The book's authors underscore the breadth of public diplomacy venues and the options digital media technologies offer."
Toward a New Public Diplomacy explains public diplomacy and makes the case for why it will be the crucial element in the much-needed reinvention of American foreign policy.
"This timely volume is a must-read for everyone interested in international relations, new media, and U.S. public diplomacy," said Holli A. Semetko, Ph.D., Vice Provost for International Affairs, Director of The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning and Professor of Political Science at Emory University. "Philip Seib brings together a distinguished array of experts whose collective contribution is a roadmap for what needs to be done at the start of the Obama era. The book contains valuable insights on the power and limitations of America’s ‘soft power,’ the special contexts of China, Egypt, and Russia, and the diplomacy opportunities in new technology.”
Said R. S. Zaharna, American University, Washington, DC, author of Strategic U.S. Public Diplomacy in a Global Communication Era: “This book is innovative and tackles some of the important — but often ignored--fields that can energize the thinking about public diplomacy beyond its current narrow confines. "The rich insights from the contributors are a much-needed complement to the usual tallying of statistical polling data."
Said Joseph S. Nye, Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard and author of The Powers to Lead: "President Obama has reminded us that ‘our security emanates from the justness of our cause,’ while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says ‘We must use what has been called smart power,' the full range of tools at our disposal. A new foreign policy will require a new public diplomacy, and this important book is tells us how to go about it.”
Table of Contents
Part One: Growing Pains: American Public Diplomacy Today
- Chapter 1: The Case for Soft Power, William A. Rugh
- Chapter 2: How We Got Here, Nicholas J. Cull
- Chapter 3: Lessons of Alhurra Television, Shawn Powers and Ahmed El Gody
Part Two: From the Outside: Appraising American Public Diplomacy
- Chapter 4: The View from Russia, Viktoria Orlova
- Chapter 5: The View from China, Guolin Shen
- Chapter 6: The View from Egypt, Hussein Amin
Part Three: Where We Go from Here
- Chapter 7: Public Diplomacy 2.0, Amelia Arsenault
- Chapter 8: Privatized Public Diplomacy, Kathy Fitzpatrick
- Chapter 9: A Cultural Public Diplomacy Strategy, Neal Rosendorf
- Chapter 10: Public Diplomacy in an Age of Faith, Jennifer A. Marshall and Thomas F. Farr
- Chapter 11: The U.S. Military and Public Diplomacy, Abiodun Williams
- Chapter 12: The Task for Policymakers, Philip Seib
A Sept. 14 event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. features chapter authors Seib, Cull (director of the USC Master of Public Diplomacy program), Farr, Fitzpatrick and Williams, along with an introduction by USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III.
