Source: Current History
In a recent Current History article, Joshua Kurlantzick argues that failures in America’s public diplomacy have resulted in the decline of America’s soft power. He explains although that the decline began under the Clinton administration, which cut the State Department’s public diplomacy budget and severely weakened the United States Information Agency; the actions following September 11th further compounded these mistakes. As a result, America’s soft power has diminished significantly and the United States must increasingly resort to the use of force and coercive measures to achieve the ends it desires.
Kurlantzick provides insightful advice on what it will take to repair America’s international image in this article that orginally appeared in Current History, December 2005.
Joshua Kurlantzick is a visiting scholar in the Carnegie Endowment’s China Program. Also a special correspondent for The New Republic, Kurlantzick is assessing China’s relationship with Southeast Asia, particularly in the context of China’s relationship with other parts of the developing world and the United States.