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Archive
| The Public Diplomacy Council responds to the decision to cut essential VOA programming. |
May 29, 2006:
Public Diplomacy Executive Director Bill Kiehl and PDC Member Dan Kuehl were featured on a panel discussion “Winning the War of Ideas” at the Heritage Foundation May 8.
May 16, 2006
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces the release of the Jazz Ambassadors Program Evaluation, the first of a major Cultural Exchange program at the U.S. Department of State. Click here for the executive summary and here for the one page summary.
May 3, 2006:
Click here to see a new report on public diplomacy released this week by the GAO.
April 17, 2006:
Undersecretary Karen Hughes points to progress in public diplomacy; The Public Diplomacy Council invites comments by email to: pdi410@gwu.edu.
March 24, 2006:
The Public Diplomacy Council is pleased to announce 3 exciting opportunities for student internships. Please click here for more information.
February 15, 2006:
The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs released its International Visitor Leadership Program Outcome Assessment today. Click here for the executive summary and here for a one page summary.
February 11, 2006:
The Office of Managment and Budget has provided a "Report Card" on Public Diplomacy which shows that the State Department is under-performing in this field. For details, click the following link:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/summary.10004600.2005.html
February 6, 2006:
President Bush's FY 2007 budget proposal, released this morning, requests $474.288 million for the educational and cultural exchange programs administered by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the second year in a row the President has proposed an increase for these programs. The President's FY 2007 budget also includes $351 million for the 'conduct of public diplomacy.'
February 6, 2006:
Your comments are solicited by the State Department following the link below. The Public Diplomacy Council suggests that among the skills needed by the Department in stability and reconstruction is that of public diplomacy. Public diplomacy is not public affairs, communications or public relations. Public diplomacy aims at establishing long term dialogue and relationships.
January 25, 2006:
On January 11, PDC Executive Director William Kiehl and Richard Pells, Professor of History at the University of Texas, Austin, spoke to the USINDO forum on U.S. public diplomacy in Indonesia. For a full report on the event, please click here.
January 6, 2006:
PDC Executive Director William Kiehl will be a featured speaker at a United States - Indonesia Society open forum on public diplomacy in Indonesia. Click here for more information and to rsvp for the January 11th event.
January 6, 2006:
The two-day US University Presidents Summit on International Education brought a new year's jolt to public diplomacy. The event was co-hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Click here for a transcript and video of President Bush's opening statement. Read Secretary of State Rice's remarks here and here.
January 5, 2006:
President Bush today launched the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), a plan to "dramatically increase the number of Americans learning critical need foreign languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi, and others through new and expanded programs from kindergarten through university and into the workforce." Click here to read the full statement and funding request.
December 28, 2005:
The U.S. Departments of State and Education will co-host a summit for university presidents on international education January 5-6, 2006 in Washington. The summit will focus on how to attract foreign students and scholars to study in the United States, as well as how to encourage more American students to receive part of their education abroad. Click here for more information.
December 16, 2005:
PDI Director and PDC member Bruce Gregory released the latest version of his public diplomacy newsletter. The e-update is available here, and offers a valuable collection of links to relevant books, articles, and websites.
December 1, 2005:
The U.S. Department of State announced the release of the U.S. Fulbright Student Program Outcome Assessment, conducted by SRI International. For more information, click on the following links:
Executive Summary:
November 14, 2005:
A newly released Open Doors 2005 Report Indicates “Slowing Decline” in International Student Enrollments, Record Number of U.S. Students Studying Abroad. Click here for more information.
November 10, 2005:
The United States House of Representatives Committee on International Relations held a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building: An Around-the-World Review of Public Diplomacy. You can view the transcript of Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes' remarks here, or the video of the full hearing here (requires Real Player).
October 19, 2005:
Public Diplomacy Council member John Hughes writes on public diplomacy and terrorism in the Christian Science Monitor: Spread messages of freedom against terrorist propaganda
October 14, 2005:
On Friday, October 14th, The Public Diplomacy Council and The American Academy of Diplomacy hosted their 2005 Forum, America's Dialogue with the World, on the future of public diplomacy. Thank you to everyone who attended the event. Click here to view photos and details.
September 9, 2005:
President Bush honored Ambassador Karen Hughes at her swearing-in ceremony.
September 2, 2005:
Read the CRS Report for Congress on past public diplomacy recommendations.
"Engaging the Arab/Islamic World Next Steps for U.S. Public Diplomacy"
The Public Diplomacy Council, The Public Diplomacy Institute of The George Washington University, and The Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University presented a forum.
View a summary of the Forum
Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy: 2004 Report
Read Council Member John Brown's latest Public Diplomacy Press Review. Brown's column is part of University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy.
View the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Program Outcome Assessment, released by The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State. One page summary Executive summary
View full text of the Public Diplomacy Council Call for Action on Public Diplomacy
View a statement of dissent on the Call for Action
Send us your comments or feedback on the report
Read the opening statement of Karen Hughes at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 22nd, 2005
Read a summary of the Karen Hughes confirmation hearing from July 22nd, 2005
PDC Board Member Ambassador Bill Rugh spoke before the Senate on Arab broadcasting and U.S. Public Diplomacy. View Rugh's testimony
August 2005: The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the US Department of State announces the release of the "Outcome Assessment of International Exchange Programs in Iowa". Read about the findings
Divided Diplomacy and the Next Administration: Conservative and Liberal Alternatives
This new report, presented by The Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, highlights the different political philosophies and approaches to diplomacy. Read the full report.
Latest ACNielsen Survey Finds Alhurra TV Attracting Millions Of Arab Viewers: 71 Percent Of Viewers Find Alhurra News Reliable
After only six months on the air, Alhurra TV, the new Arabic-language satellite channel, has quickly attracted a large audience in the Middle East with a diverse schedule of news, talk shows, debates, documentaries and entertaining information programs on a wide variety of subjects from sports to fashion to technology. These are among the findings of a series of just released surveys conducted across the Middle East by ACNielsen in July and August of 2004. Alhurra began broadcasting on February 14, 2004. Read full Yahoo News story on Alhurra TV.
U.S. Panel Faults Outreach to Muslims: Coordination of Efforts Urged
U.S. efforts to win over the world's Muslims via news broadcasts, cultural exchanges, and other initiatives to explain American policies to skeptical audiences abroad
are uncoordinated and underfunded, and risk sending contradictory messages about US intentions, according to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Read full Boston Globe story on Advisory Comission Report.
U.S. Department of State Releases Community Connections Evaluation
The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is pleased to announce the release of the Community Connections Program Evaluation, conducted by Lehmann Surveys and Research. The evaluation is based on face-to face interviews conducted between January and May of 2003 with 5,429 Community Connections alumni from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan who participated in the program since its inception in 1994. In addition, 16 follow-up focus groups were held in eleven different cities with 128 alumni.
Overview of Findings
Half of the alumni reported that the fiscal health of their firms has improved as a direct result of the contacts they made on the program or the information they gained. Among those who were not already heading firms or organizations at the time of their exchange, 62% said that their employment status had improved, and 25% said that the nature and scope of their work had expanded. They also reported shifts to a more democratic management style, with 98% agreeing that it is important to take their supervisees opinions into account when making decisions.
The program was clearly instrumental in exposing participants to American political, economic, and social institutions; 69% said that they knew the purpose of the exchange was to create mutual understanding, and the nuanced responses that they gave about the good and the bad in American society reflect a new depth of understanding.
Perhaps most importantly, these alumni became active change agents. Extrapolating from the survey responses, the evaluators estimated that more than 400 thousand members of the participants home communities have indirectly benefited from the program through the innovations and changes introduced by the alumni. Funding one single participant benefits that person and, on average, 36 other members of their home community.
To view a summary of the evaluation, please click on one of the links below:
One Page Summary
Executive Summary
For Those Who Would Like To Know More
The Community Connections Program brings entrepreneurs, government officials, and professionals from key sectors to the United States for 3-to-5 five week homestays and internships in local American communities and businesses. The goals of the program are to expose the partiticpatns to a democratic free-market through practical hands-on training, encourage the implementation of change and the building of private-public partnerships in their home countries, and to create linkages between the host communities and the participants' home communities.
To view summaries of other evaluations, please go to:
NEW TRANSATLANTIC POLL ON U.S. & EUROPEAN ATTITUDES
The latest GAO report on U.S. Public Diplomacy, released in April 2005 is available here.
The 9-11 Commission Report
REFLECTING ON A GENERATIONAL CHALLENGE: Chapter 12 Three years after 9/11, Americans are still thinking and talking about how to protect our nation in this new era.The national debate continues. Countering terrorism has become, beyond any doubt, the top national security priority for the United States. This shift has occurred with the full support of the Congress, both major political parties, the media, and the American people. Full text of 9-11 Commission Report.
Special Meeting on International Broadcasting
The Public Diplomacy Council presented a forum on international broadcasting featuring Alan Heil and Myrna Whitworth on September 17, 2004 at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.
View text from the meeting
U.S. Image Abroad Will Take Years To Improve
Margaret D. Tutwiler, in her first public appearance as the State Department official in charge of public diplomacy, acknowledged that America's standing abroad had deteriorated to such an extent that "it will take us many years of hard, focused work" to restore it. Text of Tutwiler's statement to House Appropriations Subcommittee. Ambassadors' Abshire and Dejerejian remarks also available.
A New Strategic Direction for U.S. Public Diplomacy
in the Arab & Muslim World: Ambassador Edward Djerejian's exchange with Council on Foreign Relations Chairman Peter G. Peterson on Changing Minds, Winning Peace, the report of the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World.
Changing Minds, Winning Peace: In this October 2003 report, an advisory group led by Ambassador Edward Djerejian finds the US lacks public diplomacy capabilities to meet national security threats emanating from political instability, economic deprivation and extremism for new approaches and strategic direction in public diplomacy to the Arab and Muslim worlds. Press release.
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