Public Diplomacy in Information Age: Towards the Idea of Soft Power!

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Over the years, image of diplomatic community has been largely driven by what American Editor Caskie Stinnett said, “A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.” The times are changing, they would certainly do. To describe what lies ahead for Diplomacy of the 21^st century we will be guided by what Robert Frost said in 19^th century, “A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.” In understanding shift in these two subtle quotes lays the emerging transition of diplomacy. Today we are debating whether death of Ambassador, of Foreign Correspondent and of an Editor is imminent or not. The embassies across the world are reinventing to engage the national citizens, Virtual Communities of respective Diasporas and groups mobilizing Public Opinion on vast cyberspace. So where we are heading? Is it really a border-less world as some religious proponents of globalization think? On the contrary, are we living in multiple concentric borders of social, economic and cultural spheres within the sovereign nation state which itself are subject to the vicious campaign of state and non-state actors through the strategies of war, humanitarian intervention and latest being the Public Diplomacy? 

Public Diplomacy is a seamless web which travels across different exercises of Public Affairs, Public Relations and Public Understanding of the Foreign Policy. Considering this phenomena thriving on democratic virtues, governments across the world representing the public which elect them to office cannot move on to exclude the massive energy, wisdom and emotions of the people they rule. On the other side, governments cannot afford to lose the opportunity to influence, engage and interact with the citizens of foreign country in which the foreign policy is being directed at. It is assumed that in the modern world like us, people should have freedom of expression which in a way includes right to know, right to disagree and right to share the ideas, goods and civilization values for which they stand for. So, relevance, interest and comprehension of the issues surrounding the livelihood of the citizens are taken into account to sustain the survival of the strategic priorities of the nations they represent. This process helps governments to connect to the key institutions, communities and nations in the outer world to form the core operational framework of the Public Diplomacy in the Information Age. 

Is Public Diplomacy another name for Propaganda? Hard power is exercised and soft power is evoked. If we are to understand the concept of soft power can we neglect how the hard power is exercised? End of cold war created the hope that now the Peace will prevail. Instead, we witnessed wars in Iraq, Kosovo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Georgia and at many other places. Increasingly states are using the ‘force multiplier ‘of humanitarian intervention to achieve the goals embedded in the strategic doctrine. Still, nations are feeling the urgent need to reach out to the civil society which constitutes the Public Opinion. So, increasingly engaging this significant public opinion which can create Public Pressure through mass media, social media, social platforms, institutional think tanks, academic institutions and cultural exchanges can certainly change the way foreign policy is conducted; from hard to soft ways. 

Governments are considering that Public diplomacy is public good for ‘Public Good.’ The success of it depends on clarity and persuasion of the information and argument. Challenge lies in real time interaction, advocacy and communication of the facts. We are witnessing dynamic media seeking relentless cooperation from the governments for true, comprehensive and sensitive feedback from time to time. We are flooded with the hyperactive mobilization of the anger and frustration due to the sudden events recorded and proliferated through Facebook, Youtube, Orkut, LinkedIn, and MySpace etc. World has witnessed enormous increase in mobile users.

 After developed countries, developing and least developed countries are fast catching up with the internet penetration. Direct to home technology is giving the citizens of the world the ease to access any news channel and source of dynamic developments at their remote doorsteps. There are more journalists outside media organization in the form of citizen journalists. It is interesting to note that in the times when Corporate India contend that privacy laws are being subverted by publishing tapes related to 2G scandal, in the outer world Jullian Assenge has stood for Whistle-blowing and went ambitiously ahead to expose the secret diplomatic conversation which he believed was within public interest. 

Well, Public Diplomacy is no abstract term. It is the same traditional the foreign policy practice with new packaging. It is about listening. After all, listening to the grievances, aspirations and thoughts of the people inside and outside the country is hallmark of this engagement. It is about planning the capacity building to anticipate and response to the events in the making. It is about avoiding the delays; because delayed message is lost message. To identify the source of the information creating the tensions and thus to locate the human and other logistical resources to respond to that information flow is the priority in this exercise. It is about advocacy and statesmanship. It is about promotion and strengthening of cultural bonds between two countries. It is about fostering the mechanisms of exchanges whether in commerce, education, research and development. It is about state supported news dissemination.
 
Even though scholars believe that Public Diplomacy term was invented by USA diplomat Edmund Gullion, it is noteworthy to note what legendary US reporter Edward Murrow said: “Truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.” Murrow worked in London for few years during the years of Second World War. Historians say that Murrow was only foreign correspondent who was allowed to report war from the rooftops when Germans were bombing London. Some even guess that Churchill deliberately supported Murrow to get the point across to USA so as to compel them to join war at the earliest. 

So, pyramid of Public Diplomacy comprises Advocacy, Profile raising and Relationship building. The new context of PD includes new players: International Organizations, Non Governmental Organisations, CEOs, Non State Actors, new social media, Scientists, Artists, Vice Chancellors of reputed Universities, Authors of legendary literature, thinkers, social activists, innovators, environmentalists and everyone who can influence this communication for definite purpose. When India launches campaign ‘!ncredible !ndia’, the credibility of the image of Indian society which can host, which can sustain the values of liberty, fraternity and equality with wide diversity of language, regions and cultures is at the stake. There is new vocabulary of Branding being cooked up outside there. But it comes with the emphasis on openness in sophisticated attitude, global perspective and political behavior. The new multilateral partnerships are being forged on the old limits of bilateral cooperation. New theory of soft power is being tested in the context of uncompromisable and unforgettable hard power reality. 

So, which are the things which matter for Public Diplomacy? Public Opinion matters because that holds the capacity to shape the social changes, create demand for particular action by the national government. Communicators need to spend more and more resources for that. Listening matters. Diplomat, bureaucracy surely do not have most answers. The expertise in the open society must be consulted and asked for advice. Transparency in the transactions of the communication is must prerequisite. Timing and coordination of delivery of the messages is most significant. Public diplomacy is all about relationships, so individuals matter. Connecting individual to address their interests can create stronger bonds rather than just harping on the rhetoric of power.

Diasporas matter because they are the virtual countries outside the sovereign boundaries. They represent the values the native land stand for. They propagate the assets, strengths, food habits, heritage and culture of the country they come from. They carry out messages. They are the biggest broadcasters of this diplomacy. Initiatives in the information dissemination matter because lack of it may create confusion and may lead toward creeping in of rival point of view which may not be of the interest of the country.

 Understanding, respecting and accommodating the spirit of dissent matters because it gives a strong message of democratic ethos beyond the borders. Dissent represents plurality, diversity of views in best way. Celebration of dissent is a best statesmanship. Mutuality matters because it leads towards reinforcing sympathetic and sensitive recognition of co-existence. Partnerships matters, by all means. Issues of development cannot be solved without partnerships. Policy matters as they are the backbone of what governments stand for. Small stories of the people interest matter because they magnify the realities of the rude world in a delicate manner. After all, eventually success matters, so efficient execution of the programs, initiatives and debate of the issues of interest to the concerned stake holders. 

Economic development, education opportunities, relation building across the borders, business ventures, transnational alliance for R&D are some of the powerful elements of Public Diplomacy keeps going. Architecture, Aesthetics and Beauty of the ancient, medieval and modern heritage remain the icon of this engagement. Pristine nature and exotic environment in the tropical countries are appealing for the tourism so as to consolidate the gains of being undeveloped so long. Emerging cities based on success of free market mechanism are en- cashing the fruits of globalization so as to attract talent and investment for their own sustenance.

 The discussion about Public Diplomacy inevitably leads towards that of quest of soft power. The term of Soft Power is coined by Joseph Nye who originally contributed to the idea of neoliberal institutionalism. Soft power has quality of attractiveness. It embraces media to explain change. It projects moral forces like His Holiness Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and others. When exercising hard power is becoming extremely hard roots of the soft power can be discovered in the culture people of the country live. In conveying the status of soft power, it is more important to express “Who we are...” rather than “What we want to show...” Other point of views also exists. Some believe that power cannot be soft at all. Soft power is a matter of projecting influence of self. ‘Cultural Diplomacy’ is a better way to put it. People anyway interact with each other, across the borders. But governments have the resources to achieve it in smooth manner. French invented the Public Diplomacy through celebration of their culture. Today Public Diplomacy seems more than relevant when there are ideologies are declining and state speech is becoming more and more blur. It may not substitute traditional diplomacy but it will certainly lead towards creating the vision of the new world in coming days ahead of us. 

Public diplomacy is not only about the conversation about the issues outside the country to people inside country or vice versa. Existence, sustenance, progress of the country depends on the country`s ability to address to the core pressing issues of development inside the country. So when NY Times reported that in the decade when USA should have been chasing China to compete with it, USA was chasing Al-Qaida. When President Obama comes India, biggest foreign policy issue for him was not nuclear energy or permanent seat in Security Council for India but the jobs, health care and the tax cuts back in the country. Everything is related to everything. So, when we attribute the mess in J&K to Pakistan, chaos in North East to Bangladesh & China, war waged by Maoists to Red corridor going through Nepal and further; are we convinced that we have solved all the domestic challenges and it is only famous ‘Foreign Hand’ which is involved in the conspiracy towards destabilizing India. Real Public Diplomacy starts with listening, talking to domestic speakers, dissent, anger and dissatisfaction about government and nation at large the constitution of which starts with the words “We, The People of India...!”

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Knowledge and Diversity: Founding Principles of Partnership between Democracy and Economy !!!

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“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

                                                                                   

Above lines by Tagore has become epitome of the existence of the mission towards which have to relentlessly strive for. Let us remember these words to understand the it`s relation with the diversity. “Plurality of thinking is the bedrock of the Indian experiment of democracy and the successful implications for the diverse communities for their co-existence in India in last sixty years."  Dr. Abid Hussain  was speaking at the Nehru Memorial Lecture at JNU on 30th November 2010. He greatly engaged audience with the founding ideas of the perseverance in the quest of knowledge and tolerance in the search of harmony when we discuss Knowledge and Diversity in the Indian context. “It is the mind which propels us in the 21st century but it is the mindset which keeps us in the 15th century." He was asserting the crucial uncompromising position of the mindset of the coming generation when we deal with the emerging challenges and problems. 

 Three virtues remain pivotal for the sustained maintenance of experiment forged by Indian democracy:

A) Ability to recognize, assimilate, forge common bonds with the diverse opinions.

B) Ability to question the elderly schools of thoughts in a humble, mature and dignified way.

C) Ability to usher with the new interpretation of the classic common sense available in the history for the contemporary scenario.

Dr. Hussain greatly emphasized the significance of the place of the university like JNU for engaging in the ideas worthwhile for the conservation of the diversity and the creation, dissemination of new knowledge. He identified the role of students, researchers and scholars as being indispensable for the nation as a whole because they are away from the worldly obligations and responsibilities, which in a sense; limit the capacity to innovate the perspectives for the betterment of the situation in front of us. So, he appealed to the students to debate, question and initiate on their own for the dreams they deem useful for the coming times. After all, Empires of the future are empires of the Mind.  Dr. Hussain regretted that, in these days of globalization and proliferation of knowledge networks, it is the educated mind which is falling prey to the wrong beliefs and lies compared to the innocent and ignorant brains of the uneducated persons. So, it is the educated mind of the students which is going to rescue the sliding attention of the leaders who claim themselves to be at the helm of affairs.

While Dr. Hussain greatly focused on the role of university in a subtle way, a recent contemplation by Dr. Betteille (Béteille, André. Universities at the Crossroads. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.) greatly deals with this aspect of role of university in realizing the goal of Inclusion and the Knowledge creation.  

 While upholding the location of university he says, “The modern university provides a setting for a new kind of interchange not only between men and women but also among persons belonging to different castes and communities. The barriers of language, religion and caste can be overcome relatively easily in such settings, although here identity politics can also reinforce the boundaries between communities instead of softening them. No large and complex society can reconstitute itself without experiencing conflict and disorder, and if the universities appear embattled, it is partly because they are in the forefront of this reconstitution.” 

On the other hand, Dr. Andre greatly exposes the contradictions in the experiment of inclusion when it comes to Knowledge Creation. He says, “Pressures to accommodate new classes and communities have lead to rapid and sometimes reckless expansion of the institutions of the learning. While a modern university must strive actively and continuously to be socially inclusive, it must be academically discriminating in the treatment of its members. We cannot wish out of existence the real and pervasive tensions between the demands of social inclusiveness and those of academic excellence. The democratization of the Indian university has always lead to the unanticipated consequences for the pursuit of study and research. New undergraduate colleges, new postgraduate departments, and new universities have been opened without the consideration of the resources available for their proper functioning. Academic standards have been relaxed, sometimes abruptly and even arbitrarily, in the name of equality and justice through decisions taken outside the universities by persons with little experience or knowledge of science and scholarship.”

This year, India is celebrating the 150^th year of birth of legendary poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). He was a transforming thinker and poet, educationist and cultural icon of not only Modern Bengal but also whole Indian subcontinent. He was poet of devotion, love, integration and nature; and has rare honor of scripting national anthems of two countries of India and Bangladesh. Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member of Planning Commission, Govt. of India recently authored a book about the diversity of the poems Tagore`s genius gifted to this world. He said, “The lines  of Where the knowledge is free…song of Tagore should have been selected as National Anthem.” When we discuss the knowledge and diversity, the lines in the current national anthem Jana, Gana, Mana… by Rabindranath are true mirror of what he envisages about knowledge when he asserts that “Where the world has not been broken up into fragments, By narrow domestic walls.” 

As we move along, (There is arrogant fashion in this contemporary world to quip “ The world has moved on!”), we forget the legacies, diversities, heritage and rich plurality of thoughts we inherit. Rabindranath again in his cautionary voice alerts us:

“Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers. Thou knowest how to wait.
Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.
We have no time to lose, and having no time, we must scramble for our chances. We are too poor to be late.
And thus it is that time goes try, while I give it to every querulous man who claims it, and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.
At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut; but if I find that yet there is time.”

(Gitanjali, 82.)

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