The Bush administration’s latest budget contains a significant increase in spending on ”public diplomacy” — government-sponsored programs to communicate with the citizens of other countries through the media and cultural and educational exchanges. The increase has been met with a sigh of relief from foreign policy watchers who believe public diplomacy is an essential pillar of American ”soft power” and have watched that pillar slowly crumble since the end of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the U.S. Information Agency led America’s public diplomacy assault, broadcasting Radio Free Europe to Soviet Bloc states, broadcasting the Voice of America throughout [...]
