The U.S. Public Diplomacy In Middle East After "9·11"

Public diplomacy is a kind of diplomatic mode, the characteristic of which is that a state government and its representative agencies try to influence foreign public opinions through various public actions such as communicating and providing information, etc., aiming at successfully realizing the national interests of the state. The theory of "Soft Power" by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is the theoretical foundation of public diplomacy.Public diplomacy has gone through a long process of development in the United States. During the period of Cold War, it is thought to have played an important role in the drastic changes of Eastern Europe and the disintegration of Soviet Union. Afterwards, the position of public diplomacy has declined. But after the "9·11" incident, the situation has changed. Because that all the staffs who have taken part in the attack come from the Islamic world, the United States once again pays more attention to public diplomacy, and enhances the intensity of it in response to the global spread of anti-American trend, while much importance is attached to the Islamic world. As the core district of the Islamic world, Middle East is naturally regarded as the key-point in the U.S. public diplomacy.The United States has adopted a series of policy measures with a purpose of improving the deteriorating U.S. international image, and safeguarding U.S. national security and interests. For example, mainly through domestic legislation, adjusting departments and agencies and increasing the input of resources, the United States has strengthened the intensity of the public diplomacy in Middle East. In Middle East, the United States develops the public diplomacy mainly by means of media diplomatic activities and educational cultural exchange activities. Meanwhile, special attention was paid on communication skills, cooperation between various departments and adequate recognition of ordinary people, esp. women. The reason why the United States has adopted public diplomacy in Middle East after the "9·11" incident is closely related with three aspects: the international antiterrorism, geo-strategies and energy interests. Although the United States has made various efforts to restore its image in Middle East, public opinion poll shows that the public diplomacy has not achieved the desired results. Actually, the own deficiencies of the U.S. public diplomacy, the negative impact of the U.S. government diplomacy on public diplomacy and the un-eliminable cultural differences existing between the United States and Middle East directly lead to the limited effects of the public diplomacy.The innovation of this thesis lies in analyzing U.S. public diplomacy in Middle East, which is more concrete than other studies on public diplomacy in China; dividing public diplimacy into media diplomacy and educational cultural exchange activities, using new materials and literature on public diplomacy in home and abroad, combining theories and methods of history, diplomacy and communication.The research on how to strengthen public diplomacy has important academic and practical significance. Analysis of American experience on public diplomacy can help us to deliberate about and draw lessons from that, which will undoubtedly have a positive effect on promoting the development of China's public diplomacy, enhancing China's "Soft Power" and enhancing China's international image continually.