Obama, the "Softy" of World Politics?

Vast improvements of ICT and the spread of democracies enabled the media and other non-governmental organisations of society to communicate and reveal information about governments and their actions constantly. As Nye argued “information is power, and today a much larger part of the world has access to that power” (Nye, 2004, 105). In this context it has become crucial for governments to work on their reputation and to put more emphasis on soft power in order to enhance the image of their country for the domestic and foreign audience. Soft power does not include the use of force. Quite the opposite, through constant communication and the development of long-lasting relationships governments try to frame an “enabling environment for government policies” (Nye, 2004, 1007). The idea is that states are more likely to affiliate with another state when that state is appealing or attractive to them, creating a desire to be alike by following the same policies. Public diplomacy in one of the means through which soft power is applied. The aim of public diplomacy is to influence foreign governments by reaching out and win over foreign public opinion bypassing their government.

Especially since the events of 9/11 the US government recognised the need for public diplomacy. There was this overwhelming question “Why do they hate us?” and an attempt to answer it by a new approach: the long-term transformation of the Middle East. However, as Nye argued political leaders often mistake culture differences for a lack of information (Nye, 2004, 111). He argued it is crucial to understand the audience; therefore listening can sometimes be more effective than sending out a message. Even though Condoleezza Rice stated in her speech after her nomination as state secretary “If our public diplomacy efforts are to succeed, we cannot close ourselves off from the world... public diplomacy will be a top priority for me”, during the Bush administration the budget devoted to producing soft power remained only 4% of the national’s international affairs budget (Nye, 2004, 123). This was probably mainly because the Bush administration counted on close relationship only with the leader of states.

However, the real change to American public diplomacy came about by President Barack Obama, who is impersonating the soft power approach. He is addressing the public in foreign countries directly bypassing obstacles that the US government might have with foreign governments. Obama's address to the Iranian people on Nowruz, the Iranian new years, is an example of his approach to public diplomacy. In his speech, Obama is making a clear difference between the people and leaders of Iran. Whereas he highlights the communalities between American and Iranian culture in the value of family and the importance of religious holidays, he reminds the Iran leaders of their responsibilities to cooperate in order to engage in the international community.

In its public diplomacy the Obama administration is also using all the new means of communication brought about by the revolution in ICT. The White House has now a Facebook account , a Twitter account and a youtube account. So the public does not even have to buy a newspaper to get the latest on Barack and Michele Obama’s visit to India.

Even though, Obama most certainly has broaden the reach of his messages in terms of the audience and the means of communication, the benefits and the impact of his public diplomacy remain uncertain.

Public diplomacy by all means has its limits. If public diplomacy is not coherent with the policies of a country, the audience will quickly see through that and the country will lose its most important good in nowadays: credibility.

As Joseph Nye suggested, Obama has changed the tone of American policy, but the problems such as Afghanistan are not yet solved (see bbc-link). If his soft power approach will be successful in the long-run remains to be seen. In nowadays where it is almost impossible to keep information secret, public diplomacy is doing first and foremost one thing: it is making governments more accountable and more credible to the picture they are trying to create and sell to their own people, as well as to the foreign audience.

BBC Radio: Is soft power working for Obama?

A German Newspaper "created" Facebook profiles for Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Silvio Berlusconi and Mahmud Ahmadinedschad (to see the other profiles, just click on the picture):

http://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/statisch/fakebook/1