Queen Bees and Wannabees

Professor Gary Rawnsley, from the University of Leeds, recently posted on his Public Diplomacy blog his thoughts on the recent U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report on Chinese and U.S. public diplomacy. Rawnsley asserts that the report suggests that China is winning a battle of public diplomacy, while the United States is lagging behind and must “catch-up.” “This a peculiar attitude towards public diplomacy and soft power which should be designed around foreign policy objectives, not who is perceived to be more popular or whose public diplomacy is attracting more government resources” (Rawnsley 2011).

After perusing the report, I must agree with Professor Rawnsley. The United States does not have to act the role of the ‘queen bee’ to assert its dominance in the world arena. By turning on the television in another country one can see the far-reaching power of American soft power and public diplomacy. While MTV and Grey’s Anatomy may be in different languages, they are still American television shows and still presenting American values and norms. However, when turning on the television in my apartment in the United States, or my flat in London, or my tiny room in Berlin, I did not encounter any Chinese television shows dubbed in English or German.

This is not to say that China has not been active in its assertion of its soft power or that it has no public diplomacy. Senator Lugar stated in the beginning of the hearing “the United States has only five American Centers in all of China, while China has some 70 Confucius Institutes throughout the United States” (Foreign Relations Committee—Lugar, 15 Feb 2011). Lugar presents this as China’s aggressive push to increase its presence on the world stage. Unlike Lugar, I do not see much in the way of devious intentions behind the Confucius Institutes. The United States does not need to build 70 American Centers in China, but can, as Rawnsley argues, work on its credibility and message in the realm of Public Diplomacy and foreign policy, in general. China has its own Public Diplomacy problems to deal with—mainly its mixed message as a wise and sophisticated ancient culture, while also inhibiting free speech and expression.

There is no need for the United States to engage in competition with China in its Pubic Diplomacy. After all, we have all seen the ending of Mean Girls and know what becomes of the overzealous queen bee—they are hit by a bus and/or are ostracized by their high school and must return to their friends on the math team and both the United States and China can do better than that.

http://wwwpdic.blogspot.com/2011/04/another-us-deficit-china-and-america.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_bee_%28subculture%29