A Waste of Public Diplomacy? The Performance of Al-Hurra TV among Lebanon's University Students

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Nasser ◽  
Yasmine Dabbous
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Al Jazeera ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Al Arabiya ◽  
Hearts And Minds

AbstractAs part of their 'War on Terror', Washington policy makers launched a massive public diplomacy campaign hoping to 'gain Muslim hearts and minds.' Their efforts, including the production of advertisements and documentaries, culminated with the inauguration of Al-Hurra, a commercial-free satellite station broadcasting in Arabic. Despite the substantial amount of money poured into it, Al-Hurra's success was strongly questioned among media scholars and US policy experts. And yet, Al-Hurra has generated very little academic research testing its effectiveness as an instrument of public diplomacy. This article reports the results of a survey administered in seven Lebanese universities to assess the performance of Al-Hurra among the country's college students. More specifically, it examines Al-Hurra's viewership, credibility, and trustworthiness in comparison to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. The paper also tests the relation between Al-Hurra's viewership and audience attitude toward the United States. Findings show that Al-Hurra's viewership is considerably lower than Al-Jazeera's and Al-Arabiya's. Its credibility is also lower than that of its two Arab counterparts. Finally, Al-Hurra viewership did not predict a positive attitude toward the USA. The study raises questions about public diplomacy tools in general and Al-Hurra in particular.

scholarly journals COVID-TRACK: world and USA SARS-COV-2 testing and COVID-19 tracking

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Emma Zohner ◽  
Jeffrey S. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Web Application ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Dynamic Representation ◽  
Graphical Displays ◽  
The Usa ◽  
User Friendly

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major health and socio-economic disruptions worldwide. Accurate investigation of emerging data is crucial to inform policy makers as they construct viral mitigation strategies. Complications such as variable testing rates and time lags in counting cases, hospitalizations and deaths make it challenging to accurately track and identify true infectious surges from available data, and requires a multi-modal approach that simultaneously considers testing, incidence, hospitalizations, and deaths. Although many websites and applications report a subset of these data, none of them provide graphical displays capable of comparing different states or countries on all these measures as well as various useful quantities derived from them. Here we introduce a freely available dynamic representation tool, COVID-TRACK, that allows the user to simultaneously assess time trends in these measures and compare various states or countries, equipping them with a tool to investigate the potential effects of the different mitigation strategies and timelines used by various jurisdictions. Findings COVID-TRACK is a Python based web-application that provides a platform for tracking testing, incidence, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID-19 along with various derived quantities. Our application makes the comparison across states in the USA and countries in the world easy to explore, with useful transformation options including per capita, log scale, and/or moving averages. We illustrate its use by assessing various viral trends in the USA and Europe. Conclusion The COVID-TRACK web-application is a user-friendly analytical tool to compare data and trends related to the COVID-19 pandemic across areas in the United States and worldwide. Our tracking tool provides a unique platform where trends can be monitored across geographical areas in the coming months to watch how the pandemic waxes and wanes over time at different locations around the USA and the globe.

scholarly journals Assessing wildland–urban interface fire risk

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 201183
Author(s):  
Hussam Mahmoud ◽  
Akshat Chulahwat
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Wildfire Risk ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Calculated Risk ◽  
Reduce Risk ◽  
First Time

Recent wildfire events, in the United States (USA) and around the world, have resulted in thousands of homes destroyed and many lives lost, leaving communities and policy makers, once again, with the question as to how to manage wildfire risk. This is particularly important given the prevalent trend of increased fire frequency and intensity. Current approaches to managing wildfires focus on fire suppression and managing fuel build-up in wildlands. However, reliance on these strategies alone has clearly proven inadequate. As such, focus should be shifted towards minimizing potential losses to communities. Achieving this goal, however, requires detailed understanding of the factors that contribute to community vulnerability and the interplay between probability of ignition, vulnerability and calculated risk. In this study, we evaluate wildfire risk for four different communities across the USA for the duration of May to September to communicate a different perspective of risk assessment. We show, for the first time, that community risk is closely related to wind speed and direction, pattern of surrounding wildland vegetation, and buildings layout. The importance of the findings lies in the need for exploring unique viable solutions to reduce risk for every community independently as opposed to embracing a generalized approach as is currently the case.

scholarly journals Retirement plans and active ageing: perspectives in three countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREA PRINCIPI ◽  
SARA SANTINI ◽  
MARCO SOCCI ◽  
DEBORAH SMEATON ◽  
KEVIN E. CAHILL ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Retirement Plans ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Usa

ABSTRACTThis study explores whether the plans of older workers on the cusp of retirement are in line with the active ageing agenda set by policy makers in Europe. The study was carried out in Italy, England, and the United States of America (USA). A total of 133 older workers who planned to retire within the next 10–12 months were interviewed (55 in England, 40 in Italy and 38 in the USA) between May 2014 and early 2015 using common semi-structured questions. Active Ageing Index dimensions were used to gauge the orientation of older people towards their retirement. The results of the study suggest that, with some differences, retirement plans of interviewees were substantially consistent with the active ageing perspective. However, some challenges were highlighted, including the need for governments to do more to promote genuine freedom of choice in relation to leaving the labour market, and to provide greater support for informal family carers. Findings also pointed to the need to measure active ageing in connection with individual wellbeing,e.g.by including indicators of leisure activities and by considering the re-weighting of employment and informal care dimensions. Companies could also provide more support during the retirement transition, with opportunities for maintained social connection with former colleagues, and help in making and fulfilling retirement plans.

scholarly journals COVID-TRACK: WORLD AND USA SARS-COV-2 TESTING AND COVID-19 TRACKING

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Emma Mariam Zohner ◽  
Jeffrey S Morris
Keyword(s):  
Web Application ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Graphical Displays ◽  
The Usa ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Second Wave

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major health and socio-economic disruptions worldwide. Accurate investigation of emerging data is crucial to inform policy makers as they construct viral mitigation strategies. Complications such as variable testing rates and time lags in counting cases, hospitalizations and deaths make it challenging to accurately track and identify true infectious surges from available data, and requires a multi-modal approach that simultaneously considers testing, incidence, hospitalizations, and deaths. Although many websites and applications report a subset of these data, none of them provide graphical displays capable of comparing different states or countries on all these measures as well as various useful quantities derived from them. Here we introduce a freely available graphical application that allows the user to simultaneously assess time trends in these measures and compare various states or countries, equipping them with a tool to investigate the potential effects of the different mitigation strategies and timelines used by various jurisdictions. Findings: COVID-TRACK is a Python based web-application that provides a platform for tracking testing, incidence, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID-19 along with various derived quantities. Our application makes the comparison across states or countries in the world easy to explore, with useful transformation options including per capita, log scale, and/or moving averages. We illustrate its use by assessing various viral trends in the USA and Europe. Conclusion: The COVID-TRACK web-application is a user-friendly analytical tool to compare data and trends related to the COVID-19 pandemic across areas in the United States and worldwide. Our tracking tool provides a unique platform where trends can be monitored across geographical areas in the coming months to watch how the pandemic waxes and wanes throughout the summer and into a potential second wave in the fall.

scholarly journals AN INVESTIGATION ON THE DETERIORATING SECURITY SITUATIONS OF THE PAKISTAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 105-114
Author(s):  
Zain Ul Abiden Malik ◽  
Hani Fatima ◽  
Aleen Fatima
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Development ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The United States ◽  
Terrorist Threat ◽  
Security Values ◽  
The Government ◽  
Hearts And Minds ◽  
The U.S

Security plays a very important role in the progress of a nation. It is the pillar of a state on which a nation stands. Without security it is very difficult for a nation to survive on the map of world. Since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on terror in September 2001, stability has been heavily affected, and Pakistan has faced many stability challenges since then. With the participation in the “war on terror, the security situation in country” deteriorated within the few years, as army had to carry out a number of operations in its territory against its own people with the aim to disregard the terrorist threat. The war against terrorism has significantly impacted on the overall economic as well as social development of the country. Incidents of 9/11 have divided the nation into American supporters, both pro and unfavorable. Pakistan, the United States helping ally faces more negative security values rather than optimistic ones. This paper addresses Pakistan’s security woes and reasons for the country's worsening security situation. To bring stability to Pakistan, the government needs to take plan to conquer its people' hearts and minds.

scholarly journals Diaspora as a public diplomacy object and subject

2019 ◽  
pp. 92-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykola Trofymenko
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
National Interests ◽  
China And India ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Government

The article studies diasporas of states that turn into a valid actor in terms of international relations and more of ten become subjects and objects of public diplomacy. Governments of states are trying to adjust efficient communication and cooperation with their diasporas facilitating the institutionalization of their associations through the establishment of government agencies embracing the issues of interaction between the government and diaspora. Diasporas are of a special importance for small countries due to the lack of resources the country might use for carrying out their foreign policy and organizing diplomatic missions. For example, diasporas of Israel, Greece, Armenia etc. in the USA significantly influence the formation of politics of the United States toward their historical motherlands contributing to the development of bilateral relations. The author states that the diaspora studies peaked in the late 1990s, when researchers studied the characteristics of the diaspora as a social entity, and raised the issue of the limits of the diaspora. The Irish, Armenian and Jewish diasporas are classic examples of how the diaspora can represent and promote the interests of its homeland in the American government, while functioning as full-on diplomatic actors in bilateral relations. The paper notes that researchers of the diaspora's role in public diplomacy are paying much attention to China and India, due to their audacious initiatives to institutionalize relations with the diasporas, in order to obtain the potential benefits diasporas can bring for bilateral relations (particularly economic ones) as mediators and catalysts. These initiatives include the establishment of ministries and government agencies to engage and coordinate work with the diasporas. Thus, part of the state apparatus works exclusively with the communities of its country abroad. In China and India, the affairs of diaspora are meddled with on subnational levels with the participation of provincial and local governments. Their diaspora ministries and agencies conduct conferences on diaspora issues within the respective countries and send missions and delegations abroad to organize communication with their diasporas. Diasporas are primarily perceived as a source of information and advice, as well as a means of civic engagement for embassies and ministries/ departments.The author draws the following conclusion: first, today states involve diasporas in fulfillment of their diplomatic targets in terms of public diplomacy to promote national interests and reaching their personal goals; second, the notion of diaspora and diplomacy have been significantly widened lately and third, representatives of different diasporas often address diplomatic practice in official way by appointing honorary consuls or in an unofficial way through the activities of citizens-diplomats. Keywords: public diplomacy, diaspora, diaspora diplomacy, diaspora associations, receiving state, sending state.

U.S.-Thai Public Diplomacy

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-87
Author(s):  
P. Michael Rattanasengchanh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The People ◽  
United States Information Agency ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Hearts And Minds

During the Cold War, u.s. and Thai leaders invested in public relations programs to win the hearts and minds of the people of Thailand. Changes in Thailand between the years 1957 and 1963, which gave rise to Thai General Sarit Thanarat and King Bhumibol Adulyadej to positions of political authority, strengthened u.s.-Thai relations. To project their power, Washington and Bangkok relied on practicing public diplomacy through the United States Information Agency (usia) to demonstrate the benevolence of the United States, the army’s paternalism, and the god-like image of the king. The period from 1957 to 1963 saw the beginnings of a strong u.s.-Thai relationship and the creation of a stable anti-Communist, military-monarchical government that lasted until the end of the Cold War.

Using humanitarian aid to ‘win hearts and minds’: a costly failure?

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (884) ◽  
pp. 1035-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie A. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
The United States ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Costly Failure ◽  
The Military ◽  
Hearts And Minds

AbstractThis article contends that the integration of humanitarian assistance in efforts to ‘win hearts and minds’ in counter-insurgencies has not been successful, and that the costs, both operational and legal, clearly outweigh any benefits. It demonstrates how such manipulation of humanitarian assistance runs counter to fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. In addition, a growing body of research suggests that the use of short-term aid and relief programmes as part of counter-insurgency has been ineffectual, and that, in places such as Afghanistan, it may even have undermined the overall military goal of defeating insurgents. With the United States and NATO military operations winding down in Afghanistan, it is time for the military and policy-makers reviewing ‘winning hearts and minds’ as a counter-insurgency strategy to draw the lessons and recognize the importance of a neutral and independent space for humanitarian aid.

The 1980s: Developing Hostility and the Origins of the Islamic Republic’s Nuclear Programme

2018 ◽  
pp. 62-91
Author(s):  
Steven Hurst
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Iranian Revolution ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Major Constraint ◽  
Hostage Crisis ◽  
The Usa

Chronologically, Chapter Two focuses on the 1980s, but the main theme of the chapter is the development of mutual antipathy between Iran and the United States. This development is traced through an examination of their interactions from the 1953 coup to the Iran-Iraq War. The chapter emphasizes how the experiences of the 1953 coup in Iran, the Iranian Revolution and subsequent hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq War contributed to the development of a profound and widespread mutual hostility between the two countries that would subsequently come to act as a major constraint on policy-makers on both sides. The chapter also examines the origins of the IRI's nuclear programme and its connection to the emerging conflict with the USA.

scholarly journals Anti-Culture Machine: The War on Terror and its Effects on Pakhtuns and their Culture

2016 ◽  
Vol I (I) ◽  
pp. 299-313
Author(s):  
Abdul Shakoor
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
The People ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
Hearts And Minds

This study critically evaluates the continuing campaign against terrorism. It especially discusses the counter-terrorism policies of Pakistan and the United States of America, which affects Pakhtuns and their culture. Figures show there has been a surge not only in the number but the activities of militants in the Pakhtun region after the inception of the war on terror. It is very important, therefore, to know the effects of the war on terror on Pakhtuns culture. Mostly relying on secondary data and interviews with experts in the area, the study is a qualitative analysis of the counter-insurgency campaigns and the resultant response of the local population in the area. The analysis shows two interrelated facts. The first is that ignoring cultural values in counterinsurgency campaigns can seriously undermine the efforts of combating terrorism. The second is that engaging tribes is a useful strategy in fighting terrorism. Analysis of the war on terror further reveal that disregarding facts on the ground and ignoring strongly-held cultural and religious traditions, in other words, indifference towards Pakhtunwali, has alienated the local population, thereby strengthening the militants cause. It is recommended, therefore, that simply ignoring or deliberately targeting cultural traits can seriously undermine counter-terrorism efforts. For the counterterrorism campaign to be successful, it is necessary to gain the support of the local population. In other words, winning the hearts and minds of the people is required.

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