On November 10, the House International Relations Committee held a hearing on how to improve public diplomacy throughout the world.
Expressing his concern regarding “the sharp rise in anti-American sentiment around the world,” Chair Henry Hyde (R-IL) said that public diplomacy efforts should include “a permanent campaign aimed at the minds of our estranged audiences. A combative, aggressive, fully engaged political campaign, one that directly counters assertions and distortions by presenting a convincing case for what we’re doing, for countering our enemies’ assertions and lies, and proving our case.” He explained that the effort “must embrace not merely all of the standard and worthy elements of public diplomacy, such as student exchanges and citizen ambassadors, but the sustained attention of those at the top levels of our government, from the President on down. He most of all must be directly engaged in addressing our target audiences and convincing them that our policies have been crafted to achieve certain goals, that we do have reasonable purposes and plans, and that the dark visions of us filling the airwaves are lies.”
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes explained that U.S. public diplomacy efforts are guided by three imperatives: “First, that America must offer a positive vision of hope and opportunity to people throughout the world, a vision rooted in our enduring commitment to freedom. We promote the fundamental rights of free speech and assembly, freedom of worship as one chooses, rights for women and minorities, the rule of law, [and] limits on the power of the state not because we seek copies of American democracy but because these are the universal human rights of all people, men and women, everywhere.” She said that the second imperative is to “isolate and marginalize” violent extremists, adding, “We must contrast the society that people of good will around the world are working toward an expanding circle of freedom and opportunity where diversity is respected and celebrated with the kind of society the terrorists seek a restrictive, repressive conformity. We witnessed that society in Afghanistan under Taliban rule when women were virtual prisoners in their homes and little girls couldn’t go to school or even learn to read.” Finally, the third imperative “is to foster a sense of common interest and common values between Americans and people of different countries, cultures and faiths across our world.”
Ms. Hughes detailed a number of State Department initiatives, which she called the four E’s: engage, exchange, educate, and empower. She explained that through these initiatives “we are focusing on key groups that are influential within their own societies and vital to our interests among them, religious leaders, teachers, journalists, [and] women.” Ms. Hughes also highlighted the Fortune/State Department Women Entrepreneurship Internship, which “will give emerging women business leaders from around the world the opportunity to participate in three-week internships during which they will work with and learn from senior executives in Fortune 500 companies.”
