It's All About the Strategy!

Zahara asks if US public diplomacy should focus on telling its story or building relationships. Is this even a real question? There are plenty of stories to tell, from wiping out the Native Americans to the War in Iraq –most of which would probably not help us create trusting relationships with the countries of the world. How to build relationships should be the focus of US PD efforts; however, in order to do this we must gain more credibility from foreign audiences and show that we actually want to help someone other than ourselves. The PD focus of countries such as China and Cuba is on developmental, medical and educational aid in developing countries; and while the US is the number one country that gives humanitarian aid, these efforts are not as efficient and publicized. In my opinion, US PD should focus more on listening to the issues of other countries and responding with action.

Zahara argues however, that even with a basis on relationship building, strategies would still be ineffective as a result of not fully understanding “the overarching strategy or grand strategy that conditions both strategy and tactics” (157). More professionals in the field of communication should be included in policy decision making so that this idea of grand strategy is not overlooked. Botan outlines four grand strategies: the intransigent, resistant, cooperative and integrative (157-159). I find this idea very interesting and useful, and like Zahara, agree that implementing any of these strategies is still pointless if the environment hasn’t been analyzed to gauge which strategy can be most effective. One would think that the importance of having a strategy would be the first step to implementing pd to foreign audiences, however it would appear that this has not been the case. While US PD reports that two way communication and listening are what is most important, communications theory is not truly being analyzed or implemented to reach these goals.

In order to do more than just ‘tell our story,’ the US government must recognize the importance of cross-cultural and communications research to include in PD efforts and implement them with a clear strategy in mind. It is hard to estimate the result of a PD initiative; however, the US is capable of doing a much better job gaining credibility by first taking these steps.

Source:

R.S. Zahara “Grand Strategy: From Battles to Bridges” in Battles to Bridges: US Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy after 9/11 (2010)