Winning Hearts and Minds in the Information Age at ISA

There will be a healthy (and impressive) number of panels and roundtables at next week’s Annual Convention for the International Studies Association (ISA) in San Diego.  These include: Understanding Public Diplomacy in Different Contexts: Issues of Culture, Science and Power;  Public Diplomacy 2.0; Public Diplomacy and New Media in the Information Age; and others.

I’ll be at ISA Sunday through Tuesday.  Besides attending various panels, I will be the discussant for one, “Winning Hearts an Minds in the Information Age.”  This panel starts at 8:15a Tuesday, April 3, in the Hospitality Suite #1501.  About the panel:

In the new information environment world leaders are finding that they must communicate—effectively—with multiple audiences. This panel considers the range of approaches governments are using to meet this public diplomacy imperative as well as the diverse objectives behind these efforts. Hayden provides a comparative framework for analyzing how various power mechanisms are adapted to fit specific strategic requirements. Hanson focuses on one particular new approach, the use of social media, of one country, India. The main target audiences are youth at home and abroad, and the primary objective is to provide vehicle for Indian soft power. Corman focuses on changes in the information and communication environment that require a reconceptualization of public diplomacy and a reformulation of policies. Finally, Cull considers emerging trends and provides recommendations for the conduct of public diplomacy in the new information environment.

The panel chair is Robin Brown (PD Networks). The panel discussant is your author.  The panelists are:

• Emily Metzgar: Building a Public Diplomacy Network: One JET at a Time
• Craig Hayden: Audience, Mechanism, and Objective: A Comparative Framework for Soft Power Analysis
• Betty Hanson: India Would Like to Be Your Friend: New Initiatives in Indian Public Diplomacy
• Steve Corman: New Concepts of Audience for Public Diplomacy in the Information Age
• Nick Cull: The Future: Tracking Forward Trends in Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy

If you’re there, stop by.

To single one of the many fine discussions that will take place, “Public Diplomacy and Power: To What End?” should be interesting.  Phil Seib chairs a discussion with Kathy Fitzpatrick, Ali Fisher, and Craig Hayden.  Scene settings questions include:

• If public diplomacy is viewed as an extension of power over others, then how does relationship building fit within such a construct?
• What does power mean in a collaborative public diplomacy context?
• What influence does the relative power of nation-states (or other international actors) have on cross-border relationship building?
• What moral aspects should be considered in discussions of power in public diplomacy?
• Do links between public diplomacy and power define (or mask) public diplomacy’s purpose and value to nations and other international actors, as well as to global society?

See alsoDebating the Theory vs Practice of Public Diplomacy