In the earlier centuries, foreign policy experts were taught to see the world as a chessboard, analyzing the decisions of great powers and anticipating rival states’ reactions in a continuous game of strategic competition. The world today has gone much beyond this primitive diplomacy. We are living in a well-connected global village where, as described by Richard Haas, “very little stays local; just about anyone and anything, from tourists, terrorists, and refugees to e-mail, disease, dollars and greenhouse gases can reach almost anywhere. The result is that what goes on inside a country can no longer be considered the concern of that country alone”.
Whilst the today’s world is full of opportunities, challenges and prospects of peace and security, trade and commerce, economic connectivity and prosperity, technical and technological cooperation, aid and assistance for poverty alleviation and promotion of education, it is simultaneously the world of “terrorism; of drugs, arms, and human trafficking; of climate change and declining biodiversity; of water wars and food insecurity; of corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion; of pandemic disease carried by air, sea, and land”, as aptly described by another American author, Anne Marie Slaughter. ‘The essential fault line of this digital age is not between capitalism and communism or democracy and autocracy but between the open and closed societies’, she adds.
Many Western and Asian countries have transformed their Missions into economic outposts.
This is the world we are living in, described so scholarly by these American authors. We have to take this world as we find it, not the world we would like it to be. This world could hardly support the absolute concept of state sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of independent states. These are the stark realities of our age. These realities redefine the objectives of diplomacy and inter-state relations.
Today, populations living in far distant continents know about each other better than in the recent past of world history. In both domestic and international politics, perceptions have come to be more challenging than what is actually on the ground. We have more problems on this count. We have been weak in dispelling misperceptions created by adversarial forces about our state and its policies. So, one of the most significant roles of diplomacy today should be to correct misperceptions about a state or country created by enemies or by their wrong policy decisions. This, as the writer of the Currency of Influence: Economic and Public Diplomacy: Ambassador Dr Ahmed Ali Sarohi says, could only be done through continuous interaction, constant connection and communication and dialogue with the international community. Pakistan needs to undertake this kind of vigorous exercise more consistently today than the earlier years given the growing divergence of views that we have developed with our neighbours and the sole superpower on several regional and international issues.
“Review of The Currency of Influence: Public and Economic Diplomacy by Ambassador Ahmed Ali Sarohi”
This small book which is in our hands is a very comprehensive treatise as far as the Public and Economic Diplomacy, its parameters, strategies and tools to achieve success are concerned. It could serve as a guideline for Foreign Service Academies for the training of young officers. The concepts of this kind of diplomacy have been clearly defined, objectives and strategies comprehensively outlined and an extensive array of tools has been prescribed in this 100-page book. The author has persuasively dealt with the subjects of Public and Economic Diplomacy. He has contained the river into a pitcher. This shows his scholarly grip on the subject and his skilful control of the diction and dictionary which characterize inter-state dialogues, diplomatic exchanges, talks and negotiations. This could not be the forte of every author.
It is very easy to read and grasp the book. I read it from cover to cover just in one sitting. It is spread over multiple small chapters of two-three pages with sub-titles described in 5-6 sentences. These chapters are well-connected and gradually take the reader to the culmination of the subject. For the sake of clarity, he has dealt with Economic Diplomacy separately which needs more stakeholders on board, more inter-agency coordination and cooperation and home-based support to achieve success. He has aptly described Economic diplomacy as the most important task of our Missions abroad. However, the chronic lack of resources the painful negligence of the governmental agencies and the unique mindset of our exporters have always been our Achilles’ heel.
The Public Diplomacy also needs home-based support in terms of financial resources to register some success. Our neighbour India has long realized the importance of garnering goodwill through public diplomacy. Their Ambassador in Khartoum confided to me that he had an allocation of $150,000 to spend in his host country. He used to travel a lot within his host country; and suggested small projects to his Ministry of External Affairs. It released funds for their implementation. When I was posted as Ambassador in Kyrgyzstan, I suggested a donation of $25,000 for the SOS village and school of the First Lady, Meerim Akaeva during her participation in the Summit of the First Ladies which was being held at the behest of Begum Sahba Musharraf in Islamabad in 2004. The Foreign Secretary, Late Riaz Khokhar curtly declined my proposal. We have to go a long way to change the prevalent bureaucratic mindset for revamping our Public and Economic Diplomacy.
Ambassador Sarohi has done a great job of bringing an important component of foreign policy under scholarly discussion. Many Western and Asian countries have transformed their Missions into economic outposts and their envoys have been extensively employing public diplomacy to create goodwill for their countries and seeking out shares for their goods and services in the markets of host countries. We can no longer ignore these significant tools of foreign and trade policies.
The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books.