Tara Sonenshine and Public Diplomacy:
Tara Sonenshine recently spoke on
October 17th, 2012 at American University about collaboration and public
diplomacy. She is the US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy &
Public Affairs and was the first speaker for the new Public & Cultural
Diplomacy Forum at American University. This week she spoke about the importance
of public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and collaboration. She defined cultural
diplomacy as “using cultural relationships to build trust overseas” and touched
on some key issues affecting US public diplomacy today. Her talk started by pointing
out the similarities between public diplomacy and Hollywood. Both Hollywood and
public diplomacy are dependent on collaboration, teamwork, talking with each
other while relying on partnerships to produce a viable product. With regards
to national security she quoted Hillary Clinton that the world, “village”, must
be intricate, interconnected and international.
The
talk gave emphasis to the importance and relevance of social media technology,
where soon there will be six billion users. Social media create an environment where
traditional diplomacy and nation state politics are limited by physical, social
and financial barriers. The power of the individual is crucial where Tweets,
texts and messages have a reciprocal relationship. This brings to mind a key
point in the concept of social media information transmission, whether
resending a message gives individuals increased agency, and whether social
media allows the participant to be an agent. Tweeting, Facebook, Tech Camps, and
i-EARN, creates a collaborative environment which brings the world together. I-EARN,
for example, is a non-profit organization which utilizes the communicative power
of ICT’s and consists of over 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more
than 130 countries. The aim is to have students and educators work on
collaborative projects to create common goals and currently have over 2 million
global participants.
Ms.
Sonenshines highlighted collaboration and how, although portrayed negatively in
the presidential campaigns and in new media, the US and China have invested in each
other. She gave an example of the recent Chinese investment in Peach Tree,
Georgia and the importance of “moving from a monologue to a dialogue and
finally to collaboration.” She also pointed out a program run by Islamabad and
MIT called the GIST, Global Innovation in Science and Technology. The GIST
program is a tech based entrepreneurship, “to accelerate technology
commercialization and entrepreneurship in the MENA and Asia regions through
global networking, entrepreneurship skill-building, mentorship and strategic
funding.” These programs create norms of reciprocity where collaborative
diplomacy helps public diplomacy. Ms. Sonenshine also warned of how public
diplomacy must avoid groupthink, the endless cycle of conversations without
conclusions, and “recycled” public diplomacy. The most poignant point during
this talk was the emphasis that we “must move away from ignorance to awareness.”
Thanks for your informative blog post on Under Secretary Sonenshine's presentation. I was unfortunately unable to attend the event and appreciate the summary you provided. The comparison she drew between public diplomacy and Hollywood was particularly interesting. I'm interested in exploring the crossroads between the entertainment industry and public diplomacy, and it is both helpful and thought-provoking to hear from the Under Secretary that the two fields share some crucial similarities in structure and execution. Her call to avoid groupthink and move away from "recycled" public diplomacy also caught my eye. Greater, less confined collaboration with non-governmental actors and the private sector in the planning and implementation of public diplomacy may offer a step forward toward reducing groupthink and "recycled" PD--two symptoms I'm afraid a federal bureaucracy may find harder to avoid.
ReplyDeleteHi Alex, it was great to see you at the event this week! Yes, Under Secretary Sonenshine highlighted several exciting new public diplomacy initiatives that involve a number of state and non-state actors, such as the GIST program. The State Department has done a wonderful job of connecting entrepreneurs, techies, and skilled diplomats with ordinary citizens seeking to do extraordinary things. This is evident with the clean cookstove initiative, Youth Tech Camps and more.
ReplyDeleteIt shocked me to learn that the United States currently ranks 34 out of 35 countries -- beating only Romania -- for children living in relative poverty. (Data provided by UNICEF: http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc10_eng.pdf.) This fact surely presents a U.S. public diplomacy officer with a quandary when it comes to talking to foreign audiences to explain U.S. domestic policies on eliminating poverty. It is fascinating to learn about how "America Ranks" in comparison with the rest of the world (great blog here: http://rankingamerica.wordpress.com/).
In light of reading recent data on U.S. rankings, however, it is interesting to consider how the United States can going beyond on involving non-state actors such as our educational institutions and NGOs in these exciting projects, but how we can learn from other countries that have accomplished greater milestones in say, reducing energy consumption per person of child poverty. How can we bring about a more collaborative approach to public diplomacy? Perhaps our cohort of public diplomacy practitioners can proceed by fostering programs that don't just send U.S. experts out into the world, but seek increase the number experts from other countries that may have solutions to collaborate on how to improve conditions in the United States.