*EPF502 04/05/2002
U.S. Interest in World Affairs up Since Sept. 11, Fulbright Speakers Say
(Conference focus is myth vs. reality in views of U.S. abroad) (1510)

By Ralph Dannheisser
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The tragic events of September 11 have refocused U.S. attention on international affairs, speakers have told Fulbright scholars assembled for a conference here.

Some 125 foreign academics and professionals gathered together from their exchange research and teaching positions at colleges and universities throughout the country to attend four days of speeches, discussions and site visits sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

The theme of this year's meeting of the Fulbright scholars, who are participating in one of the world's most prestigious academic exchange programs, is "The Images of the U.S. Around the World: Myths and Realities" -- and exchanges at the sessions exposed significant differences of opinion as to which is which.

The issue of a renewed interest in international affairs was first raised by Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, in a stage-setting talk April 4 on public opinion surveys taken both in the United States and abroad.

Kohut said surveys have shown that "the attacks of September 11 ended the post-Cold War era mindset" in this country of a retreat from world affairs, with recent polling showing a trend toward greater commitment to a role around the globe. Those polled have favored a greater degree of involvement by a two-to-one margin, he reported.

But Kohut said the results suggest that a focus on terrorism may actually have reduced public interest in items of international importance that are not related to that issue: such matters as the fight against AIDS, global warming and world hunger, for example.

The polling expert reported that Pew is preparing a major worldwide survey involving 20,000 interviews in 40 nations on the issue of America's image around the world, to be conducted in May and June with final results to be released next year.

Kohut said he already has some "pretty strong hunches" as to what the survey results will be.

"I think we're going to find that the United States is not seen the way Americans think it's seen," he told the Fulbrighters, predicting it will show "a lot of frustration with the United States even among our oldest partners" and, specifically, "a resentment of U.S. power."

An earlier Gallup poll showed that the United States is "seen by many as overreacting to the events of 9-11," and uncovered "a view that it was good the U.S. (now) knew what it was like to be vulnerable," he said.

Similarly, a survey of opinion leaders worldwide suggested that America "is resented because it is so powerful" and "because of its policy toward Israel," and that American policies are viewed as contributing to a growing gap between rich and poor nations, Kohut reported.

On the positive side, he said, two thirds of the opinion leaders said they admired the United States because of its technological prowess and, even more so, because it remains a "land of opportunity."

The themes of overseas resentment of a United States that finds itself "the world's only superpower" and of a shift in U.S. attitudes since the September 11 terrorist attacks dominated a panel discussion by international journalists as well.

Andre Sitov, Washington bureau chief of Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency, drew chuckles when he advised his audience, "I'm here to tell you that Americans are not all bad," and Betty Brannan Jaen, Washington correspondent for Panama's La Prensa, deemed Panamanians "very fond of Americans."

But, Jaen said, they had "learned long ago to distinguish" between the American people and the values they hold on the one hand, and U.S. policies on the other. "What we do question: Does the United States really stand for these values in its foreign policy?" she asked.

Chidanand Rajghatta, Washington bureau chief of the Times of India, said heavy Indian emigration to the United States in recent years has changed Indian perceptions of this country. "Less and less American flags are being burned, and more and more Nikes are being bought," he observed.

A "love-hate relationship with the United States" among Egyptians was reported by Thomas Gorguissian, Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Wafd. He advised his U.S. hosts "America has to be strong enough to be criticized."

And the issue of shifting U.S. attitudes in the wake of last year's terrorist attacks recurred in the comments of David Kaplan, a senior editor of U.S. News & World Report.

"Unfortunately, most Americans do not go about their daily lives thinking about the rest of the world," Kaplan said, noting that U.S. voters ranked foreign affairs no higher than 20th in importance among issues in the 2000 election. But, he said, "This has changed since 9-11."

"The one good result of 9-11 is that it has shaken Americans out of their complacency.... The world does matter," he said. U.S. audiences are now showing "the biggest interest in foreign news since the Berlin Wall came down," he said.

Addressing the group at a luncheon session April 4, Patricia Harrison, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, also talked of the changes wrought by the terrorist attacks.

One result is that the focus has switched from movie and rock stars to more legitimate heroes in the police and fire services and other public service fields, she argued. "Reality has replaced myth.... The reality is that these wonderful people have been among us all the time," she said.

Declaring that "this can be a time of great despair or great opportunity," Harrison said her own attitude is one of hopefulness, particularly upon finding in the Fulbright group she was addressing "so many people who really want to be a catalyst for good."

"You are replacing ignorance and fear with understanding and knowledge," she told the visiting scholars, and said that in that role they effectively become ambassadors for their countries.

Harrison said that she had taken, as her mission statement, a comment by a Syrian exchange student to the effect that "in the end, educational exchange is the ultimate solution to global terrorism." Since September 11, she said, she has focused on the task of "building civil societies through an educated society."

While progress has been made, she said, "we've got to do much, much more" -- particularly in moving exchanges beyond the intellectual elites so as to "reach younger and wider and deeper."

"We've got to work to educate, to inspire, and to increase opportunity for young men and women," she said.

When an Indian participant said, during a question period, that it had been shortsighted for the U.S. government to "disable" the former U.S. Information Agency -- an agency he said had been "doing a commendable job" for many years in representing the United States in India and around the world -- Harrison responded, "You are right.... Right now, everyone's looking at 'where did those things go?'" USIA was absorbed into the State Department in 1999.

Harrison assured him that "the secretary, undersecretary and I are very, very interested in enhancing, restoring the effectiveness of public diplomacy."

Juliet Sablosky, an adjunct professor of liberal studies at Georgetown University, shared concerns that public diplomacy and cultural outreach efforts had been allowed to wither with the end of the Cold War. But even in the best of times, "We have not made this a high priority in our country," in part because many Americans "have feared involvement of the central government with anything to do with the mind," she said.

Sablosky, who once served as deputy director of academic exchanges for USIA, insisted the effort is a vital one. "Expanding boundaries and finding shared values is what cultural diplomacy is about, and it has an important role to play in our international relations if we will let it," she said.

Through programs like the Fulbright exchanges, practitioners of cultural diplomacy are "trying to widen the circle of ... influential interpreters of the U.S.," she told the group.

"That's what you are," she noted.

Barry Fulton, another former USIA official who now is director of George Washington University's Public Diplomacy Institute, echoed Harrison's view of a broadening role for public diplomacy, declaring, "We need to go from the elite to the street."

Fulton said the role of public diplomacy is to "provide context ... when the headline doesn't say it all." In this effort, he said, its practitioners "have to have credibility, we must be believable." And, Fulton said, "We need a civilization of the dialogue ... one where we don't throw charges at each other, but where we listen to each other. We need a marketplace of ideas."

When an African scholar complained during a question period that the United States devotes insufficient attention to countries in the developing world, Fulton agreed only in part. "I wish my country would reach out much more to the developing world. I don't think we do our share. On the other hand, I don't think you do your share" in forging such a dialogue, he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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