This book presents the first-ever close and up-to-date look at how American diplomats working at our embassies abroad communicate with foreign audiences to explain US foreign policy and American culture and society. Projecting an American voice abroad has become more difficult in the twenty-first century, as terrorists and others hostile to America use modern communication means to criticize us, and as new communication tools have greatly expanded the worldwide discussion of issues important to us, so that terrorists and others hostile to us have added negative voices to the global dialogue. It analyzes the communication tools our public diplomacy professionals use, and how they employ interpersonal and language skills to engage our critics. It shows how they overcome obstacles erected by unfriendly governments, and explains that diplomats do not simply to reiterate set policy formulations but engage a variety of people from different cultures in a creative ways to increase their understanding of America.

The conduct of public diplomacy is carried out as much abroad, by Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) stationed at U.S. embassies, as it is in Washington. This book focuses on what FSOs do in actual practice in field operations. In a series of analytical case studies of public diplomacy operations in different regions of the world, the authors explain how the foreign publics in different countries view America and how FSOs deal every day with misconceptions and distortions of America's image and policies. Every country is unique, so public diplomacy must be tailored to fit local conditions. The authors also discuss how their work is being impacted today by various developments such as the rise of terrorism, the spread of the Internet and the cell phone, or the election of Barack Obama. This book focuses on field operations and goes beyond broad generalizations and theory, presenting information about actual operational challenges and the best practices used today in working abroad.

This book presents the first-ever close and up-to-date look at how American diplomats working at our embassies abroad communicate with foreign audiences to explain US foreign policy and American culture and society. Projecting an American voice abroad has become more difficult in the twenty-first century, as terrorists and others hostile to America use modern communication means to criticize us, and as new communication tools have greatly expanded the worldwide discussion of issues important to us, so that terrorists and others hostile to us have added negative voices to the global dialogue. It analyzes the communication tools our public diplomacy professionals use, and how they employ interpersonal and language skills to engage our critics. It shows how they overcome obstacles erected by unfriendly governments, and explains that diplomats do not simply to reiterate set policy formulations but engage a variety of people from different cultures in a creative ways to increase their understanding of America.

The conduct of public diplomacy is carried out as much abroad, by Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) stationed at U.S. embassies, as it is in Washington. This book focuses on what FSOs do in actual practice in field operations.