US Public Diplomacy in the Middle East: Prospects and Concerns

Today public diplomacy is fast replacing traditional diplomacy in bridging gaps between cultures and nations. Public diplomacy refers to the use of media and culture as well as other unofficial channels of communication, to enhance relationships between peoples of the world. Since the September 11th attacks, US had realized it suffers a severe image problem; hence, it resorted to public diplomacy in an attempt to remedy it. Thus, it has launched a campaign to win hearts and minds of the predominantly Arab and Muslim Middle East. As part of its campaign, it had created the Arabic speaking Al-Hurra television network, radio Sawa and the former Hi magazine, amongst others. This book will research and asses Americas success in its public diplomacy campaign in the Middle East, through a combination of wide literature review and field research. It will document past trends and attempt to predict future ones.