Excellent piece this week by Nancy Snow on the Huffington Post:
A Surfeit of America: Engaging the World in a Time of Excess
Full Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-snow/a-surfeit-of-america-enga_b_498516.html#comments
My Comments:
I am in violent agreement with Nancy's entire post, especially in light of the latest public diplomacy strategy report released last week. Two critical areas that I hope people take note of: 1) the need for further engagement and partnership with the private sector and 2) her call for a Ministry of Culture or some similar equivalent.
The whole of the private sector -- business, NGOs, academic institutions -- should be engaged and leveraged for public diplomacy goals in EVERY region of the world. They should also be brought into public diplomacy planning and strategizing at the outset so that their lessons learned, market research and insight can be part of the process from day one.
The Ministry of Culture concept is one that I also think deserves some deep consideration. Nancy's point about Chinese public diplomacy efforts should not go unnoticed. The Chinese have been investing heavily and strategically in public diplomacy efforts over the past several years and their focus on culture is one that is having resonance as more and more people around the globe are not only learning Mandarin but also the Chinese heritage and mindset. This is critical ground the US should be competing on.
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