This project examines how social media is being used by individuals within the State Department engaged in public diplomacy and how the use of these technologies may or may not represent a paradigm shift in diplomatic operation. Assessments of social media and government in popular culture argue a fundamental shift has taken place in government operations. Yet this argument calls for theoretical examination using communication theory and via examination of organizational praxis. Using Ammon's criterion for paradigm shift in communications technology and diplomacy, I evaluated State's current program of social media and public diplomacy called 21st Century Statecraft. I conducted a content analysis of organizational Twitter feeds and also interviewed actors within the organization working with public diplomacy and social media. I also examined historical accounts of State's Voice of America radio program, and compared current organizational uses of social media with the appropriation of radio in the second half of the 20th century. The results suggest that paradigm shift has not yet occurred despite the uses of the new technologies. In many cases, social media is being used akin to technologies from previous paradigms due in part to the constraints of organizational structures. Twitter platforms were used as spaces to push information and policy to the masses, similar to the ways in which radio was used after World War II and throughout the Cold War. Organizational actors characterized social media as a tool to accomplish public diplomacy, not as the change agent those outside of the organization have argued it to be. They described organizational challenges of incorporating social media including questions of voice, information control, and doing 'in-reach' inside the organization. Finally, they described aspects of the interaction that took place as an opportunity to create dialogue amongst interested citizens around the world and to come into face-to-face contact with individuals outside the embassy. Although anomalous practices have begun to emerge as a result of new media's use in the State Department, we have not reached what Kuhn would term a 'critical mass, ' necessitating a shift in worldview and practice.

From civilisational frontier risks associated with new challenges like disruptive technologies, to the shifting nature of great-power conflicts and subversion, the 21st century requires a new approach to statecraft. In 21st-Century Statecraft, Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan proposes five innovative statecraft concepts. He makes the case for a new method of geopolitical analysis called ‘meta-geopolitics’, and for ‘dignity-based governance’. He shows how, in an interdependent and interconnected world, traditional thinking must move beyond zero-sum games and focus on ‘multi-sum and symbiotic realist’ interstate relations. This requires a new paradigm of global security premised on five dimensions of security, and a new concept of power, ‘just power’, which highlights the centrality of justice to state interests. These concepts enable states to balance competing interests and work towards what the author calls ‘reconciliation statecraft’. Throughout, Professor Al-Rodhan brings his philosophical and neuroscientific expertise to bear, providing a practical model for conducting statecraft in a sustainable way.

Communication provides the basis of social cohesion, issue discussion, and legislative enactmentcore features of political activity and governing in the United States. Denton and Kuypers, experts in the field of political communication, synthesize materials and sources from political science, communication, history, journalism, and sociology to demonstrate how communication intersects with these fields to formulate political beliefs, attitudes, and values. Conventional categories of political activitycampaigns, activity in Congress, the courts, the mass media, and the presidencystructure the discussions. Theoretical and applied concepts drawn from firsthand sources and classic historical works, plus extensive use of contemporary examples, enrich understanding. Written in an engaging, accessible style that is geared to an undergraduate audience, the text ignites readers awareness that the essence of politics is talk or human interaction. Such interaction is formal and informal, verbal and nonverbal, public and privatebut always persuasive in nature, causing audiences to interpret, to evaluate, and to act.

In the Quadrennial Diplomacy & Development Review (QDDR) issued by the U.S. State Department in 2010, there is a stated commitment to expanding interaction with foreign populations. Through statements made by other officials in various venues, it is clear that social media is seen as having a part in this aim. But how effectively are officials now using social media to connect? Are they managing to achieve "two-way dialogue" or are they underutilizing the medium? This paper attempts to start to answer and analyze this question through a review of the existing literature and theories as well as original research and data collection.

This book offers a detailed investigation of naval diplomacy, past and present, and challenges the widely accepted Anglo-American school of sea power thought. Despite the acknowledgement of the importance of the threat or use of force in the pursuit of policy since the dawn of strategic thought, the utility of seapower in operations other than war is poorly understood and articulated. Theorists have invariably viewed seapower in peacetime through the lens of hard power effects such as coercion and deterrence. Commentaries on engagement, interoperability and the forging of friendships are largely conspicuous by their absence. This book considers how all these strands of international politics can be better understood for use in the 21st century. The book explains and defines naval diplomacy, with existing theoretical frameworks being critically analysed. It reviews over 500 incidents from the post-Cold War era, drawing on this empirical evidence to determine that naval diplomacy remains a potent means of 21st century statecraft. It finds that existing understanding of naval diplomacy is insufficient and offers an alternative model, drawing on basic communication and stakeholder theories. The implications of the book relate directly to national security: naval deployments could be more effectively targeted; foreign activity at sea could be better understood and, if necessary, countered; finally, the ability of non-state actors to support national interests from the sea could, potentially, be better harnessed. This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, maritime security, strategic studies and International Relations.

This book examines media events and advance in political communication from Kennedy through Obama by exploring the way media events are conceived and staged, the strategy and tactics advance staffers use to manage the news media, the functions of media events, the implications of politically communicating by media event, and the way scholars and students can analyze media events.

First published in 2014. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book exposes the anxieties of loss of control and missed opportunities for freedom of expression resulting from changes in technologies and geopolitics.

Lady Thatcher, a unique figure in global politics, shares her views about the dangers and opportunities of the new millennium.

This book examines the complex and multidimensional relationship between culture and social media, and its specific impact on issues of identity and social movements, in a globalized world. Contemporary cyber culture involves communication among people who are culturally, nationally, and linguistically similar or radically different. Social media becomes a space for mediated cultural information transfer which can either facilitate a vibrant public sphere or create cultural and social cleavages. Contributors of the book come from diverse cultural backgrounds to provide a comprehensive analysis of how these social media exchanges allow members of traditionally oppressed groups find their voices, cultivate communities, and construct their cultural identities in multiple ways. This book will be of great relevance to scholars and students working in the field of media and new media studies, intercultural communication, especially critical intercultural communication, and academics studying social identity and social movements.