Yesterday, Secretary Clinton spoke at NYU’s commencement. Speeches at college are generally idealistic and all about changing the world, and this one is no different. That being said, she has some interesting things to say on participatory foreign policy.
Now, when I was graduating so many years ago, diplomacy was the domain of privileged men working behind closed doors. Today, our diplomats are not limited, and our diplomacy is no longer confined to the State Department or our embassies. We are laying the foundation for 21st century statecraft. Where? In the classrooms of NYU, in the board rooms of the businesses of this great city, in the halls of academia, in the operating rooms of our great hospitals. We are looking for those personal commitments and connections, and that is where all of you come in.
The biggest challenges we face today will be solved by the 60 percent of the world’s population under the age of 30. And already, young people, like all of you, are using their talents and ingenuity to help fashion their own brand of service and diplomacy…
So we need to figure out ways to prepare all of our institutions of government, including and especially the State Department, to harness the efforts of those who do not enter the Foreign Service but still engage in your own type of foreign service. Our State Department personnel are skilled, dedicated, passionate, and effective. And for those of you still looking for jobs, we are hiring a new generation of diplomats.
I hope many of you will join our ranks in the Foreign Service and the Civil Service, but I know that not all will choose to become professional diplomats, and I also know that the State Department alone cannot tackle these great problems. So my message to you today is this: Be the special envoys of your ideals; use the communication tools at your disposal to advance the interests of our nation and humanity everywhere; be citizen ambassadors using your personal and professional lives to forge global partnerships, build on a common commitment to solving our planet’s common problems. By creating your own networks, you can extend the power of governments to meet the needs of this and future generations. You can help lay the groundwork for the kind of global cooperation that is essential if we wish, in our time, to end hunger and defeat disease, to combat climate change, and to give every child the chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.
Basically, social networking is going to save the world.
Ok, that was a bit sarcastic, but I think she’s largely right. The U.S. can no longer spread propaganda overseas. Younger generations have better b.s. filters, and overseas audiences and domestic audiences have merged on the internet. Soft power has always been difficult to harness; the U.S. government doesn’t control movies, music, or television. Maybe mobilizing our younger generation is going to be the only way to reach the younger generations in other countries. Click here to read her entire speech.
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If Secretary Clinton is actually committed to soft power public diplomacy, maybe we’ll see the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy position filled soon. So far we’ve been without one for 118 days — http://comops.org/journal/2009/04/10/introducing-the-pd-chief-count-up-clock/
After re-reading it, that last comment is somewhat misleading. Although the President nominated an Under Secretary for PD on April 14th, she’s still awaiting confirmation. So we’ve been without one for 118 days, but that’s not entirely the fault of the President or Secretary Clinton. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-4/14/09/
I think it also means getting diplomats out of the embassies… There are some “American Corners” and Virtual Presence Posts; how about some places where they have a handful of local staff and a visiting contingent of Americans to come by and meet with local officials and participate in local events?
Which is why I’ve been saying that nation states are on the way out. National governments themselves are going to be less effective at pursuing their own agendas.
@Mamuka: I think that you’ve hit on a good point there. I think that one of the keys of the future of diplomacy is accessibility. Right now, when people think “diplomat”, they think of a man in a suit sitting behind a desk in a building surrounded by thick walls and barbed wire. That is not a productive image for diplomacy, I think. As an expat, I would *love* to see diplomats and embassy staff more engaged with the community they represent. I know that there used to be a bunch of “American Centers” around the world, but that most of them have closed down or are mostly inaccessible. I think we need to look into reopening these centers, or starting something similar. Right now the image of America abroad is, I think, largely a closed one, and how can we really expect countries to greet us with open arms if we shut ourselves off behind walls the moment we get there?
For example, here is a web page for the American Corners program in Tajikistan:
http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/ac.html
There are three sites; two are far from the capital. Part of the reason for doing this is the heightened security at Embassies.
The US Center for Citizen Diplomacy has an initiative that parallels what Secretary Clinton spoke about at the NYU ceremony. The Initiative on Global Citizen Diplomacy includes a Call to Action, Letter to the President, and a full report. All this information can be found here: http://www.uscenterforcitizendiplomacy.o...
The Call To Action was announced to encourage Americans of all ages and backgrounds to join with the President and become citizen diplomats of the highest order for their communities, our country and the world.
There is vast and overwhelming evidence that America’s greatest global asset is its people. Unfortunately, resources for mobilizing and capitalizing on that asset are meager and shrinking. Opportunities for mutually beneficial interactions between Americans and the peoples of other nations have been reduced. Additionally, Americans’ knowledge about the world is woefully inadequate at all ages, especially at the K-12 level.
America needs a new and compelling CALL TO ACTION that will energize and motivate its citizenry to become globally engaged—to become citizen diplomats. This CALL is akin to a Marshall Plan for the 21st Century that will sow the seeds of a new mentality in the collective American psyche.
The US Center for Citizen Diplomacy is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that is dedicated to increasing citizen involvement, inspiring global partnerships, honoring diplomatic accomplishments, and expanding international education.
We also have a petition that can be signed by everyone! We are collecting signatures to connect with the Letter to the President to show citizens are involved and care about our policy and image abroad. You can sign it here: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/IGCD2509/p…?
Thanks!
I am personally annoyed by some of these calls to action. I already had a great deal of interest in the Peace Corps and, now that I know it exists, the Foreign Service before Obama or anyone else made it one of their goals to double, triple, explode, whatever, the size of these programs. But now I feel like if I join either I unwillingly give them a hat tip.
I’d rather not become a shiny new statistic to be used, wrongfully, to attribute growth to a politician. And that is what will happen if Peace Corps participation does grow, even though the real reason for growth is probably hard working people you’ll never hear about and self motivated citizens.
Hillary Clinton definitely has the right approach here. It is so much more effective than statements on the campaign trail to increase xyz some arbitrary amount. Statements of the latter nature really turn me off.
I think you are misinterpreting the Call to Action. The Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is simply using these stats to show that yes we do have great organizations and citizens that already do amazing work, but they are small relative to our country’s size and could have a bigger and better impact. The mission of the Center is to equip citizens with the tools they need to engage in citizen diplomacy and become ambassadors for the U.S. instead of sticking to the “Ugly American” stereotype. By overcoming this stereotype, we are able to effectively participate in programs such as the Foreign Service and Peace Corps. The Call to Action is simply saying we need more people engaged in activities that promote goodwill toward all citizens of the globe, become informed, learn a language, respect others cultures, etc. The overarching goal of the Center is to conduct research on the impacts of these programs and citizen diplomacy as a whole on the U.S. side and global side. In a perfect world it would be great if we could rely on everyone taking it upon themselves to participate in these programs, but reality is that there is so much information and opportunities out there right now that the Center tries to make it as easy as possible to gather all the information needed to make an impact and get involved. The numbers are needed to track progress and the impacts of citizen diplomacy, not just to label people as a shiny statistic. The Peace Corps will grow because of these people, but the again numbers, people are applying in record numbers to join the Corps, but funding is the biggest issue right now. Since there isn’t any money to place volunteers, the Peace Corps can’t grow. By letting politicians know we care about these issues and other relating to citizen diplomacy, foreign policy, int’l relations, etc, we can bring these hard working people to the forefront to show their impacts and great work in order to increase the opportunities for others to do the same.
Another component of the Center is to recognize and award citizens who exemplify citizen diplomacy. In 2008 the awardees included Greg Mortenson, Anjali Bhatia, Tarik Daoud, Khris Nedam, Jillian Poole, and Donna Tabor…people who 90% of the US are unfamiliar with, but work hard every day for the causes they believe in. You have to be involved in all aspects of what you are working to achieve in order to be successful. Do more research on the Center and you will realize this isn’t something meant to bolster a politician, but an organization dedicated to helping citizens change the world one handshake at a time.
Thank you for the comment and I would love to discuss this with you further if you have any questions!
Thanks!