Global Issues Discussion
Question one
Based on the video, Simon Anholt: Which country does the most good for the world? (TedTalk, 2014), what is the “good” you see the United States doing in one of the categories?
Question two
What could we as individuals, and as a country (United States), do to be more empathetic and move ourselves up on the list?
Readings for this week:
Only Connect…” The Goals of a Liberal Education
The following article by William Cronon describes the meaning of a liberal arts education. As you read and reflect on the article, consider how you have grown in the characteristics of a liberally educated person as he describes them. http://www.williamcronon.net/writing/only_connect.html
Middle Powers. Who They Are. What They Want
The second issue of Public Diplomacy provides a unique review of the role “Middle Powers” play in shaping international policy and public diplomacy. This issue includes case studies that review how different countries practice their public diplomacy as “Middle Powers” (Tatevossian, 2009). All-to-often hegemonic powers (United States, Russia, China, Germany) receive the bulk of attention in the international arena and shape international diplomacy as they see fit.
Beginning your reading on page 88 of Public Diplomacy Magazine (use hyperlink below), Simon Anholt adds to our discussion with his valuable insight and experience in nation branding. Anholt reminds us that image is a valuable commodity to all nations because with “a good national image…public opinion is relatively cheap and easy; with a negative or weak image, everything is a struggle” (as cited in Tatevossian, 2009, p. 88).
Please read the entirety of Anholt’s piece beginning on page 88.
http://publicdiplomacymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/summer_2009.pdf
The marketization of foreign cultural policy: The cultural nationalism of the competition state
Somogy Varga presents a cogent assessment on the importance of foreign cultural policy through the prism of Germany’s Goethe-Institut. Varga’s (2013) research provides a “sustained theoretical examination of this particular tool of policy and a close look at its historical origins, development, and current transformations” to “uncover vital aspects that are at risk of being ignored by foreign policy researchers” (Varga, 2013, p. 442). Varga’s presentation tactfully takes you through the shifts in German foreign cultural policy as Germany’s economic dominance grows as a competition state.
