Mapping The Undefinable

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Mapping The Undefinable

• Exchange Programs as an Object
• of Political Analysis

2
Two Main Themes

• Political Intention
• Always present in some form
• Political Effect
• Fragmentary, inconsistent,
• but identifiable?

3
Public Diplomacy

• One nations effort to influence public
• opinion in another through establishing
• channels of communication with specific
• audiences or with the general public.
• Sherry Mueller, US Exchange of Persons
• Programs A Question of Quality, 1986

4
Research Questions

• What are its effects ?
• How can they be analysed in the context of
  international politics?
• How can we expand on existing research?

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PD Two Components

• Information
• Political advocacy, sending a message,
• policy-orientated, short-term
• Cultural Diplomacy
• Cultural communication, establishing a
• dialogue, not directly policy-orientated,
• long-term

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Scale What Are We Talking About?

• 1950 1998
• 100,000 participants in IVP alone
• (includes Americans going abroad)
• 1984
• 90,000 participants in US govt-sponsored
  exchange programs
• (peak year)

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Exchange ProgramsBackground

• 1) Liberalism
• A) Mutual understanding
• - Belief in mutual benefits from increased
  transnational contacts
• B) Political dimension
• - Export of US knowledge economy/moral economy
• - Expression of US as role model/international
  leader
• 2) Psychological Warfare

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Psychological Warfare

• A group of strategies and tactics designed to
  achieve
• the ideological, political, or military
  objectives of the
• sponsoring organization (typically a government
  or
• political movement) through exploitation of a
  target
• audiences cultural-psychological attributes and
  its
• communication system.
• Christopher Simpson, Science of Coercion, p. 11

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Role of Opinion Leaders

• 1) Interpreters of US to their local
  communities (go-betweens)
• 2) Multipliers Contacts / Exposure with
  broad or specific / influential public

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Problems with Evaluation Studies

• 1)Evaluation implies measuring performance
  against a pre-determined goal.
• 2) Too many variables involved
• 3) Difficult to prove rules of behaviour
• 4) In-depth evaluations raised suspicions

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Conclusions of Evaluation Studies

• Qualitative judgements remain valid
• All propaganda had to be avoided
• Most effective in strengthening existing
  perceptions and attitudes, not in changing them

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Where To Go From Here ?

• Examine exchanges as a force for the status quo
  (e.g. in maintaining allies)
• Take a broader view of the political to take in
  the subtle long-term effects of cultural
  relations
• (e.g. Fulbright Program, British Council)
• Emphasise the role of non-state actors
• (e.g. foundations, universities)
• Recognise exchanges as democratic ideology at
  work
• (e.g. free association, open society,
  opportunity, voluntary involvement, etc)

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What Tools Exist For Extending The Analysis Of
Exchanges?
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1) Gramsci and Hegemony

• - The role and influence of transnational
• political, economic, and socio-intellectual
• elites in establishing ideological norms.
• This involves the transformation of sectional
• interests into a general interest that
• overcomes conflicting interpretations of the
• world.

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Value for Analysis

• Offers useful overarching perspective
• But
• 1) Requires differentiation between contexts
• 2) Requires tools for analysing specific
  socialisation processes involved

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2) Regime Theory

• Extension of 1970s interdependence theory
  (Keohane, Nye, Krasner, Rittberger)
• Examines the role of international institutions
  in
• affecting state behaviour
• But
• - Does not challenge the notion of states as
  unitary actors
• - Assumes that all states act as rational units
  in the national interest.

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Value for Analysis

• 1973 State Dept. Concept Paper
• stimulate institutional development in
• directions which favourably affect mutual
• comprehension.
• e.g. International Law community
• But
• Too rigid understanding of the nation-state

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3) Epistemic Communities

• Networks of professionals with recognised
• expertise and competence in a particular
• domain and an authoritative claim to
• policy-relevant knowledge.
• Peter Haas, Epistemic Communities and
  International Policy Coordination, 1992
• Complex understanding of state structures and
• the role of key professional communities in
• policy-making.

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Value for Analysis

• Extremely useful for conceptualising why
• exchange programs target particular
• individuals.
• But
• Requires translation into international
• political context.

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4) Transnational Networks

• Thomas Risse-Kappen
• Transnational as well as transgovernmental
• coalition-building.
• The role of knowledge-based or issue-based
• communities in achieving consensus /
• agreeing on norms of behaviour among
• nation-states.

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Beyond The Nation-State

• Contacts between professionals can lead to
• transgovernmental coalitions that
• involve behaviour of bureaucratic actors
• which could be regarded as disloyal by
• their home governments.
• Shared norms and values in policy-making
• that question narrow version of national
• interest.
• Ninkovich anti-cultural relations

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Value for Analysis

• Political Intent and Political Effect
• Exchange research can be inserted into this
• framework for a specific analysis of how
• increased contacts can lead to the formation of
• informal networks of officials and a
• consequent establishment of transnational
• norms.

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Examples

• Value of US / EU transatlantic exchanges to link
  up bureaucratic counterparts in key policy-making
  areas.
• US Embassy London and British Labour party during
  the 1980s.
• US Embassy The Hague and Dutch foreign policy
  elites during the 1980s.

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And Finally.

• Although the effect doesnt appear to be
• brilliant, it may in fact be a maximum
• expectable effect, and therefore a
• reasonably successful realization of a
• limited potential.
• O.W. Riegel, Residual Effects of
  Exchange-of-Persons, 1953