International Education: The Neglected Dimension Of Public Diplomacy.

• Author: Brown, John

International Education: The Neglected Dimension Of Public Diplomacy: Recommendations for the Next President http://www.nafsa.org/_/Document/_/public_diplomacy_2008.pdf"

By NAFSA: Association of International Educators

Reviewed by John Brown

In 1966, the philosopher Charles Frankel, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs during the Johnson administration, published his often cited volume, The Neglected Aspect of Foreign Affairs: American Educational and Cultural Policy Abroad. Now comes a new report on this subject, International Education: The Neglected Dimension of Public Diplomacy: Recommendations for the Next President by NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

The nine-page NAFSA report forcefully argues that narrowly conceived security measures taken since 9/11 have resulted in a loss of America's international legitimacy. In order to overcome this dire situation, harmful to U.S. national interests, NAFSA recommends that American public diplomacy develop "the long-term relationships through which the world most fundamentally 'knows' Americans and forms its core assumption about what America 'is.'"

This goal can be achieved, the report argues, by a major presidential education initiative that should have three objectives:

* The internationalization of higher education in the United...