A new agency, modeled on the National Endowment for Democracy, should be established to restore U.S. standing in the world, a new report on public diplomacy concludes. Like the NED, the USA-World Trust would be governed by a non-partisan board of directors, including members of Congress from both major political parties and representatives of key interests in American society.
The report claims that the changes advocated will aid the fight against terrorism and its associated ideologies, and help build international coalitions to “encourage the wavering to choose democracy and freedom.” It goes on to suggest that “the spread of democracy has changed the global political calculus” in the contest to shape public opinion in authoritarian states as well as democracies:
Though democracy is now faltering in some countries, the number of democracies has nonetheless doubled since 1974. In democracies, leaders suffer domestic political costs-a loss of power or authority-based on how well citizens think leaders have protected the country’s interests. For the United States to attract the support of foreign governments, therefore, foreign publics must accept or at least acquiesce. If such cooperation is politically poisonous for democratically elected leaders, attracting support will be difficult even when interests align. Of note, authoritarian regimes are also sensitive to public opinion, even as they try to limit its influence. These regimes know that publics have more latent power to mobilize opposition than ever before due to unprecedented access to information and the ability to disseminate it cheaply and widely.
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