Lessons from the Past - USC Center on Public Diplomacy

<strong>Lessons</strong> <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Past</strong> 25
3. Fig. 2. Taxonomy of Time/Flow of Information/Infrastructure
in PD & PsyWar
Type of PD Timeframe Flow of Information Typical Infrastructure
I Listening Short &
long-term
Inward to analysts
and policy process
Monitoring technology
& language trained staff
II Advocacy Short term Outward Embassy press office,
foreign ministry strategy
office
III Cultural
diplomacy
IV Exchange
diplomacy
V International
broadcasting
Long-term Outward Cultural <strong>Center</strong> and/or
library
Very longterm
Mediumterm
Inward & outward Exchange administrator,
Educational office
Outward but <strong>from</strong> a
news bureaucracy
News bureaus,
production studios,
editorial offices, and
transmitter facilities
PsyWar Short-term Outward Printing facilities,
covert. Broadcasting
facilities, covert network
Like all forms of communication <strong>the</strong> effectiveness of each form
of PD hinges on credibility, but here <strong>the</strong> fields radically diverge. Each
finds its sources of credibility in a different place and hence each
ideally requires <strong>the</strong> appearance of a wholly different relationship to
government in order to flourish. International broadcasters know
that <strong>the</strong> impression of an editorial connection to government runs
counter to credibility; cultural organizations are able to flourish in
places where a formal arm of <strong>the</strong> state would have no credibility and
any hint of a connection between psychological warfare and PD is so
damaging that <strong>the</strong> whole subject is excluded <strong>from</strong> PD discussions.