Christopher Ross
Public Diplomacy
Comes of Age
Copyright © 2002 by The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Washington Quarterly • 25:2 pp. 75–83.
THE WASHINGTON QUARTERLY ■ SPRING 2002
75
Christopher Ross is special coordinator for public diplomacy and public affairs at the
U.S. Department of State. He is a former ambassador to Syria and former coordinator
for counterterrorism at the State Department.
Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, the nature
and role of public diplomacy have been debated more vigorously than at any
time in recent memory. A foreign affairs specialty that was once the prov-
ince of a relatively small number of professionals has suddenly—and quite
properly—taken its place in the wide-ranging discussion of national security
in which the U.S. population is currently engaged. The growing consensus
that the time has come for the United States to rethink, reinvigorate, and
reinvest in not just traditional diplomacy but also in the public dimension of
the government’s overseas presence has been encouraging. I am delighted
with the burgeoning recognition that how the U.S. government communi-
cates abroad—and with whom—directly affects the nation’s security and
well-being.
Yet, what is this art that people call public diplomacy? It is not traditional
diplomacy, which consists essentially of the interactions that take place be-
tween governments. The practitioners of traditional diplomacy engage the
representatives of foreign governments in order to advance the national in-
terest articulated in their own government’s strategic goals in international
affairs. Public diplomacy, by contrast, engages carefully targeted sectors of
foreign publics in order to develop support for those same strategic goals.
Global Changes Affecting Public Diplomacy
The practice of public diplomacy by professionals, including U.S. ambassa-
dors, has changed dramatically with the proliferation of communications
l Christopher Ross
THE WASHINGTON QUAR