Credibility is Key

In a recent post by Marc Lynch, he writes about U.S. public diplomacy in the Arab countries and towards the Muslim population in general. Lynch discusses how the U.S. has been successful in their PD efforts, which is quite a positive view in my opinion because more often I have heard negative feedback from the wake of the post-Cairo speech agenda. The U.S. is due some credit because we have taken strong steps by way of engaging youth, focusing on entrepreneurship and science and technology promotion in Arab nations. As Lynch indicates, “there are pockets of progress, but overall public diplomacy in the region has been distressingly weak”, thus what is the next step for the U.S.?

Recently, at the U.S. Islamic-World Forum, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, set forth her vision on how to deal with the changes that resulted from the uprisings. In her speech, Clinton stated that the United States would stand firm with the people of Tunisia and Egypt to ensure their rights and liberties, which is an important message for the people within those countries to hear. It is important for our PD efforts to say this, but words are not the only important thing. Rhetoric only goes so far. Like with Obama’s groundbreaking Cairo speech, which promised new beginnings, there needs to be significant action behind our rhetoric to ensure we maintain the credibility of our PD. Credibility is vital because without the efforts of the U.S. mean nothing. Post-Cairo speech, there was disappointment because many felt that the U.S. had not lived up to Obama’s many promises. The U.S. has made strides in engaging the Arab and Muslim world, but there is still a lot that needs to be done. Thus Secretary Clinton’s words are powerful, but there needs to be visible action behind them if the U.S. really wants to make progress in the Middle East.




Related Links:

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/04/160642.htm

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/14/135405357/foreign-policy-how-the-us-got-arab-diplomacy-right