Pulling back the curtain on “21st century statecraft”
When US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Japan in April, the US Embassy in Tokyo made sure the Japanese public got plenty of face-time with him: he led a roundtable with young entrepreneurs and students, he gave a press conference, he delivered his first major policy speech outside of the United States and he even surprised families out for a Sunday stroll by dropping by Zojoji Temple for some sight-seeing.
This made for great press. But these activities were not really about optics; rather, they were part of a long-term strategic effort to use public diplomacy (PD) to advance American interests and strengthen the vital US-Japan relationship – including the enormously important business and economic ties between our two countries.
PD has been popularized by the term “soft power”, but with all due respect to Harvard professor Joseph Nye, its coiner, I’ve never been fond of the phrase. It is too easily misinterpreted to mean activities that are “nice” or “cute” but which are somehow neither strategic nor “hard”.
