Public diplomacy politicized the international spread of American popular culture

Evidence

As Liam Kennedy and Scott Lucas have written, “In the promoting of ‘freedom’ to foreign audiences, public diplomacy is inextricably connected with the development and implementation of U.S. foreign policy, charged with the awkward task of reconciling interests and ideas.” In other words, winning the War on Terror and ending the presumed crisis in national security depend on influencing people around the world by promoting American national interests, particularly through popular culture and advertising campaigns. Public diplomacy has “politicized the international spread of American popular culture.” — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1260

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the ‘ideological state apparatus’ thread — popular culture as soft power — linking to the author’s broader media-analysis project.