During the run-up to a U.S. Presidential election, millions of Americans become deeply involved in the political process, and millions more follow the campaign in the U.S. mass media.
So complete is the U.S. focus on its election that it is easy to overlook the impact that this major event has on world opinion.
In this blog, we collect and analyze statements by U.S. Presidential candidates on world opinion, and world opinion on the U.S. elections. We are interested in how the candidates and their policies are viewed by the world's publics and how the candidates are communicating — or planning to — with the world.
"U.S. Elections and the World" will identify and collect in one place Web-based commentary and analysis of the public diplomacy dimension of the U.S. Presidential elections. Included here will also be statements by the candidates and their advisors concerning U.S. public diplomacy, statements by them directed at foreign audiences, as well as foreign opinion on the U.S. elections and candidates. Comments and observations from prominent international non-governmental organizations will also be included here.
Naturally, we welcome your comments.
Those following these topics , even casually , know that one of the challenges facing the next U.S. President is to improve foreign public opinion of the United States and the U.S. Administration. This concerns both the policies themselves and how they are presented. In the course of the long U.S. election campaign, the candidates have many opportunities to articulate their views of how they would respond both in terms of policy formulation and presentation. Our bloggers will be following these statements and how the world responds.
As I write this, the 44th Munich Conference on Security Policy is getting underway in Germany. John McCain, the all-but-certain Republican nominee, had planned to attend, but cancelled in order to campaign here in the United States. Had he attended, his remarks would have been specifically directed at world opinion as well as an audience back home. Non-U.S. media would have given considerable attention to remarks.
Not to worry — there will be many more opportunities for interaction between the candidates, their campaigns, and world audiences. And we look forward to highlighting them for you here.
