International exchanges as an instrument of american public diplomacy

It has become clear that the development of international situation will be determined by several trends: transformation of the world order, crisis of American global leadership and confrontation between the great powers. All three are intertwined since the primary reason for confrontation is the disagreement between the great powers about how they envision the future of world order: as continuation of “rule-based order” with American leadership or as a new model, for instance, a multipolar world. Thus, the importance of methods aimed at influencing international public opinion, such as public diplomacy (PD), has increased significantly. Among the U.S. PD instruments international exchanges have always been the “crown jewel” - a slow long-term but nevertheless effective strategic tool used to gradually create a dominating global worldview beneficial for American national interests. This article examines the place the international exchanges hold within the systemic organization of the U.S. PD, identifies the main types of exchanges as well as three key focus-groups of their target audiences. Applying the transformative education’s theory author analyzes the mechanics of influence projected via the exchanges. At the end, putting together American PD systemic crisis and recent negative trends concerning participation in exchanges the article concludes that further monitoring will be required in the future.

public diplomacy, soft power, U.S, exchange programs, International Exchanges, EDUCATIONAL exchanges, cultural exchanges, CULTURAL imperialism