Saturday, April 25, 2009

Reflections on a PD event

This week I was fortunate enough to attend an event that was quite exclusive. The invite only crowd included people from State, DoD, Congress, academia, and NGO's.
I can assure you, the classic State v. DoD Turf War, with Congress in the middle was most definitely on display.
What struck me most about this event was that the conversation that went on there about the use of public diplomacy, new technology, messaging, and credibility were exactly like the debates we have in class. The main difference is that in class we don't have a stake in one side or another. I think that is a strength. It allows us to see other solutions or at least simplify the matter by not worrying about who conducts the public diplomacy but that it gets done.
I think it is important for all of us looking to become practitioners of PD not to get lost in the turf war and remember that positive action by anyone is better then inaction by all.

No comments:

Post a Comment