U.S. Public Diplomacy Towards China Exercising Discretion in Educational and Exchange Programs

This book aims to understand public diplomacy by examining its practice. In particular, it focuses on the implementation of educational and exchange programs by the US Departments of State and Defense toward China. Implementation is the focal point of this study and is utilized both as a practical process and a methodology. It refers to the process of translating a public diplomacy policy goal—the specific order given to a governmental institution in order to achieve a general foreign policy objective—into public diplomacy practices and impact. In addition, it refers to a research method that centers implementation and accepts the prerequisite of discretion from studies of policy implementation. This book maps out where and by whom implementation discretion is exercised in public diplomacy. It argues that public diplomacy is in the eye of the beholder, and that its meanings can vary significantly according to different actors.

1. Implementation Discretion in Public Diplomacy: An Introduction.- 2. Programs at Departments of State and Defense.- 3. Implementation and Public Diplomacy.- 4. Mixed Impacts of Organizational Culture.- 5. Public Diplomacy becomes Measurable Outcome.- 6. Public Diplomacy Constrained by Limited Resources.- 7. Public Diplomacy in the Eye of the Beholder.