Exploring U.S. Public Diplomacy’s Domestic Dimensions: Purviews, Publics, and Policies (2022)

The ACPD is a bipartisan panel created by Congress in 1948 to formulate, assess and recommend policies and programs to carry out the Public Diplomacy (PD) functions vested in U.S. government entities, to include the Department of State. This special report examines the use of USG public diplomacy programs and resources to engage domestic audiences.

In October 2021 the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy convened a virtual workshop for 45 public diplomacy practitioners, scholars, policy experts and journalists to explore the role that public diplomacy might play in advancing Americans’ understanding of the domestic impact of U.S. global engagement.

The following report features essays by three thought leaders in public diplomacy that offer practitioner, historical, and social research perspectives on the domestic public diplomacy concept. The report also offers key takeaways about the scope and authorities of public diplomacy’s domestic dimension, the identification of key domestic audiences, stakeholders, and potential partners, and the policy and resource implications of a focus on domestic public diplomacy.

This report is intended to serve as framework for informed inquiries into public diplomacy’s domestic dimension for practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. It is also meant to provide a platform for a sustained and productive dialogue on these issues.