There's this great scene in "My Fair Lady" where Eliza Doolittle launches into a musical tirade against her new suitor with the following lyrics:
" Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do?"
She follows with a plea to be shown his feelings via actions instead of just his talking about how he feels about her.
That's how I imagine those who are the intended targets of our Public Diplomacy-fueled-Soft Power-"Winning Hearts and Minds" campaign feel, albeit with much less humor or forgiveness.
It seems all we do is talk. So we jaw on about is it "soft power" or "hard power" or is it "smart power" ---personally I vote for "sneaky power", or "snarky power", given our policies those seem more accurate.
But what it all comes down to is whether or not we can muster consistancy in our actions that evidences respect for those different than us without our insisting we have to win anyone's heart or mind.
What would that kind of power be called?
Comments (3)
Dignified Power.
Posted by DM | February 4, 2007 12:32 PM
Posted on February 4, 2007 12:32
Couldn't agree with your more YS... I'm convinced that U.S. public diplomacy will not succeed until it is truly used a means of not only speaking to the world - but also listening to it. Until the day arrives when the U.S. considers all voices/opinions that hav a stake in policy decisions, public diplomacy efforts will largely be a waste (again, lipstick/pig thing).
Problem is, we're still years away. States will do what they think is in their interest. It is THIS reality that makes the study of smart power so critical.
Posted by Ted | February 4, 2007 8:59 PM
Posted on February 4, 2007 20:59
Absolutely! But that's all that the Bush Administration has left. It's squandered the goodwill built up over two hundred years, spent all the money on grabbing the Oilfields for Dick and his friends, and "lost" billions of dollars to fraud, which would have solved the diplomacy problem, with a pile of change left over to give health insurance to millions.
But on the positive side there are those of us who have studied public and corporate diplomacy for over twenty years. Problem is that it's the rest of the world that want's to hear about the way forward. The US only wants everyone else to follow and embrace their narrow definition of diplomacy, which appears to most as total surrender to Big Oil and the military. Hmmmm......Has Karen Hughes ever listened to anybody?
Posted by Alan J Simpson | February 12, 2007 10:41 AM
Posted on February 12, 2007 10:41