Lessons from the Past - USC Center on Public Diplomacy

<strong>Lessons</strong> <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Past</strong> 27
Diplomacy and Exchange Diplomacy within <strong>the</strong> British Council.
Both models have <strong>the</strong>ir limits but <strong>the</strong> centrifugal forces within <strong>the</strong>
U.S. system, and especially <strong>the</strong> tensions between advocacy and
mutuality-based exchange on one hand and journalistically-based
international broadcasting on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r proved wasteful and often
crippling. While an element of strategic direction is necessary to
maximize <strong>the</strong> utility of public diplomacy for <strong>the</strong> state which is picking
up <strong>the</strong> bill, this has to be handled with care to avoid compromising
<strong>the</strong> perceived integrity of each element of PD work.
3.1 The Golden Rule of Public Diplomacy
The most potent voice for an international actor is not what it
says but what it does, and history is full of examples of international
actors who found <strong>the</strong> best PD to be no substitute for a bad policy.
Hence, <strong>the</strong> most important link in any PD structure is that which
connects research to policymaking and ensures that <strong>the</strong> impact of
an actor’s decisions on foreign opinion is weighed in <strong>the</strong> foreign
policy process. There is also a need to coordinate between each
element and elements whose role could be considered ‘PD by deed’
such as an international development agency. It is possible for good
policies to make no difference to a nation’s ‘soft power’ if <strong>the</strong>y
are not publicized or coordinated with PD. This was, at times, <strong>the</strong>
fate of some U.K. aid projects run by Department of International
Development. 13