Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy Series editors: Kathy Fitzpatrick, Quinnipiac University, USA Philip Seib, University of Southern California, USA Advisory Board: Nicholas J. Cull, University of Southern California, USA Teresa LaPorte, University of Navarre, Spain Donna Lee, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom Jan Melissen, Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, Netherlands Abeer Najjar, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates William A. Rugh, Former US Ambassador to Yemen and United Arab Emirates, USA Cesar Villanueva Rivas, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico Li Xiguang, Tsinghua University, China At no time in history has public diplomacy played a more significant role in world affairs and international relations. As a result, global interest in public diplomacy has escalated, creating a substantial academic and professional audience for new works in the field. This series examines theory and practice in public diplomacy from a global perspective, looking closely at public diplomacy concepts, policies, and practices in various regions of the world. The purpose is to enhance understanding of the importance of public diplomacy, to advance public diplomacy thinking, and to contribute to improved public diplomacy practices. The editors welcome submissions from scholars and practitioners representing a range of disciplines and fields (including diplomacy, international relations, international communications, public relations, political science, global media, marketing/ advertising) and offering diverse perspectives. In keeping with its global focus, the series encourages non-us-centric works and comparative studies. Toward a New Public Diplomacy: Redirecting U.S. Foreign Policy Edited by Philip Seib Soft Power in China: Public Diplomacy through Communication Edited by Jian Wang Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in East Asia Edited by Sook Jong Lee and Jan Melissen The Practice of Public Diplomacy: Confronting Challenges Abroad Edited by William A. Rugh
The Decline and Fall of the United States Information Agency: American Public Diplomacy, 1989 2001 Nicholas J. Cull Beyond Cairo: US Engagement with the Muslim World Darrell Ezell Collaborative Public Diplomacy: How Transnational Networks Influenced American Studies in Europe Ali Fisher Religion and Public Diplomacy Edited By Philip Seib
Religion and Public Diplomacy Edited by Philip Seib
RELIGION AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY Copyright Philip Seib, 2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-29111-0 All rights reserved. First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-45074-9 DOI 10.1057/9781137291127 ISBN 978-1-137-29112-7 (ebook) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: June 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C ONTENTS Acknowledgments List of Contributors vii ix Introduction 1 Philip Seib One Why Religion Still Matters in the World 9 Brie Loskota and Richard Flory Two Pope John Paul II, Radio Free Europe, and Faith Diplomacy 27 Daniel Hall Three Vatican Diplomacy in China and Vietnam 57 Lan T. Chu Four China s Faith Diplomacy 75 Juyan Zhang Five Public Diplomacy and Transnational Cases of Blasphemy 99 Najeeba Syeed-Miller Six Muslims Online Faith Diplomacy 113 Mohammed el-nawawy Seven The Minaret Referendum and Switzerland s Proactive Public Diplomacy 133 Johannes Matyassy and Seraina Flury
vi Contents Eight Capturing the World s Attention: Buddhist Media Diplomacy in Myanmar 157 Diane Winston Nine Shaping the Narrative of Religious Freedom 181 Liora Danan Conclusion The Future of Religion and Public Diplomacy 215 Philip Seib Index 221
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS This book came about as part of the Faith Diplomacy Initiative begun in 2011 by the University of Southern California s Center on Public Diplomacy. The initiative has included a conference, at which some of this book s contributors were participants, and numerous online and print publications. This is an ongoing project that we hope will lead to additional material that will be of use to scholars and policymakers. At the heart of this effort has been the staff of the Center on Public Diplomacy: Sherine Badawi Walton, Stacy Ingber, Naomi Leight, and Vikki Hsieh. This team s collective intellect and energy have made possible our work on the connections between religion and public diplomacy. As editor of this volume and director of the Center, I owe them great thanks.
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C ONTRIBUTORS Lan T. Chu is associate professor in the department of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College. Her work on the Catholic Church has been published by Politics and Religion, Democratization, the Journal of Vietnamese Studies, and BBC Vietnam. Her chapter on the Vietnamese Catholic Church has appeared in the edited volume Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia (Routledge 2009). Liora Danan is an adjunct fellow with the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, and has served as director of Special Projects with the Middle East Program at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) at the University of California. She has also served as a fellow and researcher at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mohammed el-nawawy is Knight-Crane endowed chair and associate professor in the School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte. He has authored and coauthored books including Islam dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace ; Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that Is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism ; and The Israeli-Egyptian Peace Process in the Reporting of Western Journalists. He is the founding and senior editor of the Journal of Middle East Media and serves on the editorial boards of Media, War and Conflict and Global Media Journal. Richard Flory is director of research at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and associate research professor of Sociology at USC. He is author of Growing Up in America: The Power of Race in the Lives of Teens ; Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation ; and GenX Religion.
x Contributors Seraina Flury is an official at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. Daniel Hall Daniel Hall is a staff member of the Soka Gakkai International-USA Buddhist Association where he directs awarenessraising initiatives centered on the U.N. Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. He received a Master of Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California. Brie Loskota is managing director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. She is a member of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Johannes Matyassy is Switzerland s ambassador to the Republic of Argentina and was head of public diplomacy at Presence Switzerland. Philip Seib is professor at the University of Southern California and is director of USC s Center on Public Diplomacy. His recent books include Toward a New Public Diplomacy, Al Jazeera English, and Real-Time Diplomacy. Najeeba Syeed-Miller is assistant professor of Interreligious Education at the Claremont School of Theology. Her research and writing focus on conf lict resolution and women as agents of peacemaking. Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California. She is editor of Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion and The Oxford Handbook on Religion and the American News Media, and is author of the forthcoming Heartland Religion: The American News Media and the Reagan Revolution. Juyan Zhang is assistant professor at the Department of Communication, University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Zhang has published scholarly articles on public diplomacy and international communication in peer-reviewed journals such as Public Relations Review, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, and International Journal of Communication.