Sunday, September 27, 2009

China according to The Global Times

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I read the Global Times fairly regularly. I find it an interesting public diplomacy initiative of the Chinese. The Global Times, the Chinese say, is an attempt to promote an “accurate” image of China abroad since international reporting, especially the Western media, on China is often flawed, lacking in understanding of China and the Chinese culture. Almost Al-Jazeera like, its an attempt to get a share of voice in a world dominated by Western media conglomerates and present the Chinese viewpoint on important developments. Intended for an international audience/readership, the Global Times also tries to allay fears of a resurgent China threatening to disturb the present international order.

Editorials in the Global Times make it very clear that the newspaper has an agenda. Two editorials caught my attention recently: 60 foreigners who helped shape China's 60 years (Sep. 18, 2009) and Editorial: What China can contribute to the world? (Aug. 24, 2009) Both the pieces convey the image of a China that is open, freely engaging with the rest of the world, borrowing ideas to build itself and also actively contributing towards other cultures. Through such writings the newspaper argues China is not a closed society but has always been open and globalised … its just that the political system is unique when compared to the West, of which, the Western world, obviously has no understanding of.

The “60 foreigners” editorial was widely reported in the Indian press because Nehru and Tagore were included in the list of foreigners who helped shape modern China. The list was prepared based on an internet poll by the newspaper. It states, “Looking back on the nation's 60 years of tremendous changes, it's evident that foreigners have been much more than witnesses in the development of the People's Republic of China. Whether intentionally or accidentally, directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, they have become important pieces of the China puzzle – helping shape and globalize the nation… Marx and Lenin enlightened China; Richard Nixon and former Singapore president Lee Kuan Yew promoted China; Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton have impressed generations of Chinese; and Michael Jordan and Bill Gates became idols of young Chinese, to name a few.”

In What China can contribute to the world, the edit clearly aims to reassure the world that a rising China stands for a harmonious world and Chinese culture can enrich other cultures. Unlike Western cultures, Chinese culture is best suited to create “a harmonious world” as unlike Western cultures it doesn’t operate within the binaries of “good” and “evil”. The edit concludes: “The fundamental reason is that Chinese culture is advancing with the times and willing to absorb ideas from other cultures to enrich itself. It is open rather than closed; inclusive rather than exclusive. Chinese culture is part of Asian culture. With the rise of the Asian region, maybe it is time for Chinese culture to make greater contributions to the world. In the 21st century, what China could contribute to the world is probably not made-in-China products, but Chinese culture.”

Recently, there have been a plethora of articles in the newspaper that attempts to portray a China that is open with free flow of ideas unlike Western media’s perceptions of it being a closed society. It’s just a unique culture with a own unique political system that seeks to participate in the new world order based on the 2000 year old Chinese principle of “Harmony in Diversity.” What’s worrisome is the tonality in such articles which tends to assert, very subtly, the superiority of the Chinese culture. In politics it can be dangerous.

Suggestions/Critiques welcome.

Madhur

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Public diplomacy strategy for India

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In a recent speech - Why Foreign Policy Matters - An Indian Perspective, - Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Government of India observed that there is a need to “develop and exploit India’s considerable soft power, by making this integral to the work of (the) territorial divisions” within the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and called for the development of a “coherent public diplomacy strategy” that can bring together efforts of diverse institutions like the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Public Diplomacy Division within the MEA. He called for an effective diplomacy strategy and public diplomacy planning to increase India’s influence abroad. Nirupama Rao, India’s new foreign secretary who took charge in August, too, stated that Public Diplomacy should receive more attention from South Block.

India needs to be seen, heard, felt and India needs to woo, engage and ideate. Policy makers seem to have recognized this. Readers would recollect that I had written about the need for a Public Diplomacy strategy to promote brand India better abroad much earlier. In the 2008 Anholt’s Nation Brand Index India ranked a lowly 27th and was ranked low in all categories like perceptions of culture, tourism, governance, Investment brand etc. At a time when India is aspiring to be a global power and when the focus of India’s military doctrine happens to be “power projection” there is a need to complement these efforts with an effective soft power strategy.

Dr. Tharoor, in his speech, took a limited view of Public Diplomacy and confined it to areas like music, culture, literature, food etc. Any strategy for India, should in fact try to widen this definition of Public Diplomacy and also include elements like foreign aid, bilateral co-operation especially in Southeast Asia, media relations, leveraging Indian media conglomerates, using social media etc. The goal should be to project power and dominate the sphere of ideas and increase mindshare among global audiences.

A limitation for India is the lack of strong think tanks, universities, thinkers practicing Public Diplomacy. The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) too, for long, has operated in silos with lateral entry & exchanges between government and academia being few and far between. Scholars of International Relations and Diplomacy in India have focused overwhelmingly on studying conflict and security rather than public diplomacy, dynamics of north-south relations, developing area expertise other than on Pakistan or South Asia, international relations theory, multilateralism etc. Coupled with this is the lack of good communication schools in India with interdisciplinary focus. The number of communication schools can be counted on finger tips and not all of them are engaged in communications research. If one looks at US, some of the leading Public Diplomacy schools like University of Southern California, Syracuse University etc. run their public diplomacy programs in collaboration with the communication schools in those universities. Indian foreign policy establishment should understand that that the theory and practice of public diplomacy is as much a function of communications as it is a function of diplomacy.

Suggestions/Critiques welcome.

Madhur

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Independent Florida Alligator: News - Demonstrators gather to protest Islam on Sept. 11

The Independent Florida Alligator: News - Demonstrators gather to protest Islam on Sept. 11

A news piece I found while browsing. I have been thinking about the war of ideas between Islam & the West for sometime and wonder if developments such as these are helpful in any way.

With the wide reach of media nowadays (I am sitting in India - a country with the second largest Muslim population in the world - reading about some small towners in Florida protesting against the religion of Islam - 'Islam is of the Devil' - they are saying) I wonder how Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and American allies Saudi Arabia will react to this, considering the fact that the US government is on a mission to 'woo' Islamic nations and prove that it is not at war with Islam.

The bigger question is how will American Muslims react to this? The number of American Muslims is significant - estimated to be 7 million (President Obama's Cairo speech) (The Pew Research Centre however in a 2007 survey estimated it to be 2.7 million instead)

Also, is America a secular democracy or a Christian nation?

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Suggestions/Critiques welcome.

Madhur

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Leveraging Web 2.0 to engage the Indian diaspora

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I have been writing about Web 2.0 and its potential (or the lack of it) as an effective 'engagement' tool. Last week I came across this really interesting Web 2.0 initiative by the Government of India to connect with the Indian diaspora overseas. Its called Global Indian Network of Knowledge (Global INK) which is a web portal for knowledge sharing and collaboration.

India has the second largest diaspora in the world (nearly 30 million strong) which meaningfully contributes to India’s development and progress. The World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, recently found that in 2008, overseas Indians sent home $58 billion in remittances alone to India. Though the remittance flow has been consistent, FDI flows from the diaspora, however, is yet to grow in a substantial manner. The government of India, has woken up to the potential of what the diaspora has to offer, and, the need to build a framework to engage the Indian diaspora proactively to expand their role in India’s growth story. India now has a full-fledged Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MoIA), to look into policy issues and services related to the diaspora. Government of India, has also launched a PPP initiative Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to promote ‘diasporic FDI’ and tap the diaspora’s potential in contributing to India’s economic development.

OIFC, for its part, have launched an initiative called Global Indian Network of Knowledge (Global INK) which is a dynamic and interactive web portal for knowledge sharing and collaboration. The objective of Global INK is provide a platform that, “endeavors to turn into "brain gain" what was for long seen as "brain drain", by drawing upon the knowledge reservoir of the India Diaspora in diverse fields.” The Indian diaspora, especially the one spread across North America and West Europe, comprises of highly educated and qualified professionals, academics and entrepreneurs that can help India ideate, innovate, create and sustain the growth momentum. This potential was partly realized in the tremendous progress India has made in telecommunications and IT/ITeS sector. For example, people like Sam Pitroda were instrumental in the modernization and development of India’s telecommunications sector and was an important advisor in PM Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet. Global INK, therefore, aims to tap into this knowledge base. This is also one of the many initiatives of the government to ‘ready’ India to be a leading player in the knowledge economy drawing upon the skills, experience and knowhow of the diaspora in developed economies. (Another recent measure is the Global Advisory Council constituted in Jan 2009.)


The OIFC website mentions that: “The online web portal, Global INK as it evolves, will be a framework of moderated communities catering to different focus areas. The Communities will provide a context to connect knowledge experts with knowledge seekers. Its key features are:

· It will provide a powerful search engine to connect quickly with the knowledge artifact

· The Communities will provide an array of collaboration tools such as blogs, forums, online resource databases, etc

· It will be equipped with advanced professional networking feature, ‘Connect’”

Its encouraging to see that the government of India seeks to leverage Social media/Web 2.0 and all its elements – search, network, discuss, connect – to engage the diaspora. I also feel this would also serve as the funnel through which OIFC, will eventually bring the diaspora ‘in’ for investments into India. I would be really interested to know if other countries, with a large diaspora, have initiated such measures. Take a look at Global INK’s website www.globalink.in


Suggestions/Critiques welcome

Madhur

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