Mending the “Unhinged Alliance” in the 1970S: Transatlantic Relations, Public Diplomacy, and the Origins of the European Union Visitors Program

Abstract

This article examines in depth the foundation of the EU's one explicit example of public diplomacy, the European Union Visitors Programme. The narrative covers the historical background to the EUVP, the main individuals involved, and its significance for the development of the EU as an international actor. Public diplomacy relies on personal contacts, and the intention here is to demonstrate the importance of this petit histoire. The contribution of the EUVP towards establishing a transatlantic "community of values," as demonstrated by the support it received from the U.S. diplomatic representation in Brussels, is an important extra dimension. The article concludes that the EUVP, while offering a potential model for the EU to project its "soft power" and world-view internationally, remains limited in scope and unable to fulfill its potential.

Mapping the Undefinable: Some Thoughts on the Relevance of Exchange Programs within International Relations Theory

“…This opportunity provided these leaders with the means to become channels to transfer political techniques and styles across the Atlantic and utilize them for the modernization of the Labour Party. Many of these politicians willingly seized the opportunity offered (Scott-Smith 2006). These examples illustrate both the political intent behind targeting specific professional groups either directly involved in or close to a policy-making environment and the possibility for measuring political effect, in terms of the contribution of exchanges toward changing the patterns of individuals' beliefs, through empirical evidence (interviews, public statements, policy decisions, career paths, etc).…”

“…Therefore, if a certain level of curiosity about cultural affinity with the host country already exists, it can be successfully nurtured by exchanges. The IVLP, for instance, has been most effective as an accessory for maintaining the U.S.-European transatlantic alliance (Scott-Smith 2008). The utility of exchanges within regime-change scenarios was applied and tested in the democratization of postwar Germany, and the results were favorable.…”

“…5 More recently, the Fulbright Program and the IVLP were greatly expanded in the Netherlands during the 1980s in response to the high level of resistance among the Dutch public against the placement of cruise missiles on Dutch soil. Looking to establish a platform for the future, the coordinated effort focused on the members of the so-called "successor generation" of upcoming scholars, with the strengthening of American Studies at Dutch universities a central goal (Scott-Smith 2007b). Many other examples could be given (see Horwitz 1993).…”

“…The complexities involved in achieving any level of "intellectual and moral leadership" by means of consent in a democratic society make hegemony necessarily a multilayered, multifaceted coalition of social forces, its components and alliances changing through time in line with the evolution of forces in the economy. Although Gramsci himself did not apply his approach to the international realm, other scholars have constructed an understanding of hegemonic power by highlighting the influence of international organizations, transnational social elites, and their role in establishing and maintaining norms of behavior in the "general interest" (Cox 1983;Pijl 1984;Augelli and Murphy 1988;Gill 1990;Scott-Smith 2002).…”

Private Foreign-Affiliated Universities, the State, and Soft Power: The American University of Beirut and the American University in Cairo

“…The competition for such state funds and the lobbying efforts expended by the universities highlight their reverse university soft power. Reverse university soft power vis‐à‐vis the US government and US pursuit of national soft power through these universities are intertwined and not contradictory (see Scott‐Smith 2005 for example of complementary US and European public diplomacy policies). The USA continues to seek socialization of future leaders (national soft power).…”