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Public Diplomacy Counterterrorism: Beating Terrorists at Their Own Game
As terrorist entities and non-state actors increasingly use the internet as a means to market themselves and attract potential recruits, the U.S. government’s monitoring of, and engagement with, terrorist websites have come under fire. Actions like...
Twitter Feuds: Digital Diplomacy on the Fritz
Thanks to digital diplomacy, it’s possible to reach and engage domestic and foreign constituencies using the Internet. This form of virtual communication presents an opportunity for the U.S. to reveal and defend its foreign policy (as has been the...
Soccer: Battleground for Identity
The high-profile cases of regional soccer celebrities rising up to lead social change movements in the Arab Spring have thrust to the fore the importance of a highly-regarded sport in a highly contentious region (see Strategic Social’s earlier post...
Crisis in the Sahel: Bitter Fruit of the “Arab Spring”
Though terrorist activity has threatened the Sahel region since the rise of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) in 2002, the Arab Spring of 2011 and the instability caused by the overthrow of longtime dictatorships has increased the possibility of...
Digital Diplomacy: Engaging in a War Zone
The U.S. State Department has focused increasingly on moving beyond traditional government-to-government diplomacy to improve its communication and direct engagement with international publics. This communication focus is particularly evident...
Soccer: Battleground Against Authoritarianism
The Arab Spring of 2011 resonated across the Middle East and North African societies in unexpected ways. Despite the propensity of the news media and blogosphere to jump on social media as the enabler of the region’s revolutions, many researchers...
Digital Diplomacy: Overcoming Contentious Relations and Expelled Ambassadors?
At a recent eventat the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, panelists discussed how the rise of social media has fundamentally altered how governments interact with their citizens and the way states manage the relationships associated with...
Elections in Egypt: Opinions from the Street
Egyptians are lining up at polling stations across their country this week to cast votes in their country’s most free presidential election in decades. They are, however, doing more than choosing a leader. The successful completion of this election...
Hip Hop Diplomacy: Strengthening Global Relationships
My colleague recently wrote about the five major areas of interest in the State Department’s FY2013 budget request. In this Strategic Social Exchange entry, he stressed the importance of strengthening partnerships abroad, writing: “...
The Big Picture from the Hill
This past Tuesday and Wednesday, the heads of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and Special Operations Command (SOCOM), General James Mattis and Admiral William McRaven, respectively, appeared before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees...
On WikiLeaks: How dangerous is al-Awlaki?
The Department of Justice Attorney General Eric Holder described the Yemeni-American-born radical cleric Ayman al-Awlaki as “He would be on the same list with bin Laden[1].” Al-Awlaki officially and legally is not affiliated with al-Qaeda yet his...
Wikileaks Part 2: Yemen’s al-Qaeda Policy
Much has been said in the past week about the potentially troubling diplomatic relations which will result from Wikileaks’ leaked State Department cables, but despite all the attention given to the Arab world’s rhetorical hatred of Iran, Qaddafi’s...
