Diplomacy by Other Means

If Western governments really want to persuade reluctant allies in the Muslim world that the war against terrorism is not a war against Islam, they need to change their style. Forget the airdrops of anti-Osama leaflets and windup radios tuned to the BBC and Voice of America. Try using Britney Spears, Amnesty International, and a little truth, empathy, and understanding.

During the Cold War, the United States created a robust array of cultural and intellectual instruments to spread American values behind the Iron Curtain and plead the U.S. case to nonaligned nations. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States gradually dismantled many of these propaganda and information tools, emasculating the United States Information Agency and paring the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe down to almost residual proportions. Other countries followed suit, such as when the British initially slashed the budget of the bbc World Service and the Germans scaled back their efforts at cultural promotion by closing down branches of their Goethe-Instituts all over the world.

Ironically, the end of the Cold War has made public diplomacy--the task of communicating with overseas publics--more important than ever. The spread ... // 96% Remaining