The title to this post comes from 20th century literary and rhetorical critic Kenneth Burke. It suggests the capacity of language to constrain our actions. It’s a pragmatic stance on the power of language to shape what we can and should do, that how we talk about things sets up expectations for the future. The insight is foundational for scholars of foreign policy that pay attention to things like “discourse.” Meaning, we can learn a lot about a state’s strategic thinking by the way they frame issues in policy texts, public speeches, and in internal organizational communication. The power of the text is not just a fixation for textual scholars – it’s what policy-makers and practitioners use to talk to each other and make sense of what they are doing. If ...
So I’m still trying to digest all that I learned from this year’s International Studies Association annual convention. For the first time, there was simply no way to attend all the panels pertaining to public diplomacy and strategic communication. That’s a good thing. I also learned that issues central to public diplomacy and strategic communication studies – information and communication technologies, the politics of information, and the mediatization/mediation of politics – are being eagerly studied across a range of related fields of international studies. I felt the sneaking suspicion that public diplomacy studies, in particular, needs to “get with the program” or else be left behind by more traditional forms of international studies research. ...
On Tuesday, February 1, 2011 I had the privilege of speaking to Dawn McCall, the Director for the Bu...
At their September 28 meeting, the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy announced a report the...
Quick take on the July 29 New York Times article about the twitterific musings of the State Departme...
I had the good fortune to attend a discussion last week between Alec Ross, the Senior Advisor for In...
The title to this post comes from 20th century literary and rhetorical critic Kenneth Burke. It sugg...
So I’m still trying to digest all that I learned from this year’s International Studies ...