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March 10, 2005
Information-based public diplomacy
As was previously noted in this space, our Canadian neighbors to the north have opted out of the U.S. missile defense shield. Given the history of U.S.-Canadian cooperation in North American defense (most concretely through NORAD), this decision was by no means a foregone conclusion. It resulted in perhaps understandable consternation on the part the United States.
Most unexpected, however, was the blistering shot fired at Condoleeza Rice by Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian foreign minister and current president of the University of Winnipeg. In a column constructed as an open letter to Rice, Axworthy did much more than attack the merits of ballistic missile defense. He struck directly at the Bush administration:
Your boss did not avail himself of a[n] … opportunity to visit our House of Commons during his visit, fearing, it seems, that there might be some signs of dissent. He preferred to issue his diktat on missile defence in front of a highly controlled, pre-selected audience.
Such control-freak antics may work in the virtual one-party state that now prevails in Washington. But in Canada we have a residual belief that politicians should be subject to a few checks and balances, an idea that your country once espoused before the days of empire.
Them's fightin' words, for sure. Unexpectedly for Axworthy, his "Missile Counter-Attack" became hit among web-savvy, liberal, blogger-types south of the 49th parallel. The popularity of his open letter was based not just on its content -- most in this demographic already opposed the missile defense shield and praised Canada when it opted out of the program. Rather, its tone -- so honest, so unrestrained, so ... unpolitical -- spoke directly to bloggers' hearts. Whether Axworthy knew it or not (and he most likely did not), he had just blogged in print.
But Axworthy's no dummy. In a follow-up, rhetorically tighter column, he recounts his blog revelation as it developed through a storm of supportive email:
Most striking is the volume of messages sent by Americans from every part of that vast and diverse country, and most particularly the tone and substance of those messages. What most are saying is that they appreciate receiving a point of view from Canada that is different from that offered by their own government -- and one that is rarely seen or heard in their own media.
Clearly, there are many in the United States who share the same serious misgivings about missile defence as do the majority of Canadians, but who can't find anyone to stand up and represent their concerns. There is a sense of frustration among many "Dear Condi" correspondents that debate on issues in the U.S. is too narrow-gauged, without a choice of options.
As one put it, most succinctly: "There are many here in the U.S. who agree with you. We're just locked in a soundproof room."
And in his revelation, Axworthy sees an avenue for Canada:
... Canada has an opportunity to substantially transform the way we approach our relations with Americans by investing in information-based public diplomacy. The scope and span offered by the Internet presents a platform for Canadian-based information, analysis and ideas. Perhaps an online newspaper presenting a daily compendium of articles, think-pieces, commentary and debate, drawn from Canadian sources, would attract the interest of many Americans -- in fact, many from around the world.[emphasis mine]
Blogging as decentralized mode of national foreign policy? You bet. The medium is explicitly designed for the informal and organic exchange of ideas. Even in countries that consider themselves the archetypes of representative democracy, ideas go unnoticed and voices go unheard. Agents duly nominated and confirmed as the personification of foreign policy only represent a discrete, filtered agenda that itself may never have been tested through the ballot box. It is already widely accepted that international civil society, using electronic media and blogs as its connective tissue, is perhaps the most genuine venue and outlet for decentralized public diplomacy. Blogs -- chaotic, uncontrolled and uncontrollable, vibrant, and unruly -- are quintessentially public.
It is noteworthy, however, that Axworthy harnesses blogging to Canadian national interest. For those intimately familiar with (or mildly amused by) Canadians, this is a quaint and proper assertion. It is, of course, by no means exculsive -- blogs by definition are open-source, free to be used by any and all, for ill or for good, in any number of conceivable capacities. What is remarkable, however, is not that Axworthy is but the latest non-blogger to discover the potential of the medium. Rather, he is perhaps one of the first of high-level diplomatic caliber to connect blogging (a non-traditional means) to state diplomacy (a very traditional end). In much the same way that this Watsonblogs community seeks to connect the blogosphere with the academy, Axworthy may have inadvertently taken the first steps to connect the blogosphere with diplomacy. While blogging has long been an obvious fit with international civil society, perhaps one day it will be an equally obvious fit with national governments. One cannot predict precisely how this would come about (Foreign Ministers blogging? State Department-hosted blogging? Transnational networks of government officials communicating via blogs, in the spirit of Anne-Marie Slaughter's recent work?), but it's exciting to ponder.
Where will Axworthy's comments lead? In and of themselves, probably no where. But his experience -- a blog revelation in a formal, diplomatic mind -- will hopefully become commonplace among former, current, and future ministers of state and foreign service types. At the same time, access to and awareness of blogging and electronic media will grow among everyone else, even among those with no apparent stake in diplomacy, and the geographic borders that divide states will inexorably melt away. Gradual and imperceptible, perhaps, but the change will come.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 05:46 PM to Americas,
