Archive for 'Diplomacy'
Hillary’s View of Statecraft One Year Ago
by Steven R. Corman
With news that the Hillary Clinton pick for Secretary of State is final, I thought it might be useful to summarize what she had to say one year ago in her essay for Foreign Affairs (subscription link). Of course, these were her priorities as an erstwhile president, and the Secretary of State [...]
Posted: December 1st, 2008 under Diplomacy, Government, Image.
Comments: none
State Dept. Blogging One Year Later (Part 4): State Department 2.0
by Nicholas Brody
This is the fourth part of a five part series on about the one-year anniversary of the State Department’s Dipnote blog. In Part 1 we focused on reviewing DipNote management and processes. In Part 2 we looked at what the State Department bloggers were writing about. In Part 3 we conducted [...]
Posted: November 25th, 2008 under Analysis, Diplomacy, Media, strategic communication, technology.
Comments: 4
Moving beyond the obvious: Zawahiri on Obama
by ZS Justus
A recent audio recording from al-Qaeda #2 Zawahiri sends a series of “messages” to President-elect Barack Obama. News outlets have quickly grabbed one of the more provocative excerpts from the recording, Zawahiri’s labeling of Obama as a “house negro.” Several blogs have followed suit including hotair, gateway pundit, commentary magazine, the moderate voice, [...]
Posted: November 19th, 2008 under Afghanistan, Diplomacy, Iran, Islam, Politics, strategic communication.
Comments: 1
Strategic Communication for an Administration-in-Transition
by Bud Goodall
The headlines from WatchAmerica show worldwide optimism and support for President-Elect Obama. Yet, despite this large and welcoming window of public diplomacy opportunity, there are still 10 weeks to go before President Obama is sworn in and can officially represent America. In the meantime, we have a world waiting to see if we [...]
Posted: November 10th, 2008 under Diplomacy, Media, Politics, strategic communication, technology.
Comments: 2
Strategic Communication vs. Public Diplomacy vs. Dialogue
by Bud Goodall
In today’s “Blogger’s Roundtable” with Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, James K. Glassman, Matt Armstrong from MountainRunner asked a really good question about the relationship of strategic communication to public diplomacy. Under Secretary Glassman provided a detailed and thoughtful response that distinguished public diplomacy, which is aimed at various publics [...]
Posted: October 28th, 2008 under Diplomacy, Government, strategic communication.
Comments: none
Got a Question for Sean McCormick? Here’s Your Chance
by Steven R. Corman
I guess if it’s good enough for Queen Raina, then it’s good enough for State Department Spokesman Sean McCormick. He will be taking your questions via YouTube video. All you have to do is go to the State Deparment YouTube Channel and post your question.
According to a video statement by McCormick, this [...]
Posted: October 22nd, 2008 under Diplomacy, Government, Media.
Comments: none
Diplomacy on the Cheap
by Steven R. Corman
On Thursday the American Academy of Diplomacy released a new report on the dismal state of funding for U.S. diplomacy and public diplomacy efforts, compiled by a Task Force of 14 former senior foreign service officers. They reckon that the diplomatic capacity of the United States has been “hollowed out” since the [...]
Posted: October 18th, 2008 under Diplomacy, Government.
Comments: 1
Debate Scorecard on Public Diplomacy: Obama 0.5, McCain 0
by Steven R. Corman
You would think that any presidential debate on foreign policy would have to spend a lot of time talking about how American policy is perceived and how its perception influences our ability to project power, pursue our strategies, and achieve our goals.
You would be wrong.
In the entire 90 minute presidential debate last [...]
Posted: September 27th, 2008 under Analysis, Diplomacy, Image, Politics.
Comments: none
Glassman: America Branding Alive and Well
by Steven R. Corman
Earlier today I paticipated in a bloggers’ roundtable with Assistant Undersecretary of State James Glassman. My question for him was whether the U.S. National Strategy for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication (NSPDSC) is still in force.
I asked this because Glassman has made comments in multiple appearances, like his speech at the Council [...]
Posted: September 17th, 2008 under Diplomacy, Image.
Comments: 2
Public Diplomacy Lessons Learned
by Steven R. Corman
Bruce Gregory has just released a new essay at Small Wars Journal that should be of interest to COMOPS Journal readers. In it he identifies five lessons learned from recent experiences in U.S. Public Diplomacy:
Abandon message influence approaches
Drop the “war on terror” language
Leverage civil society
Emphasize net-centric perspectives
Rethink media strategy
The teaser for the [...]
Posted: August 15th, 2008 under Diplomacy, strategic communication.
Comments: none




