This award was funded through the Social and Behavioral Dimensions of National Security, Conflict, and Cooperation competition, a joint venture between NSF and the Department of Defense.
This two-year research project will explore the challenges and opportunities for U.S. engagement with the publics of intensely adversarial states, where the situation is short of conventional war and the U.S. maintains limited or no formal diplomatic relations with the hostile government. Drawing on experts from a range of disciplines and institutions, the project will systematically examine ten historical and contemporary cases that are important to understanding U.S. foreign policy and national security: the USSR/Russia, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Burma, North Korea, and Iran. The research will analyze both the costs and benefits of U.S. engagement with the publics of these adversarial states under conditions of limited diplomatic access, providing theoretical and policy-relevant comparisons among the cases. In addition, the project will examine whether and how different levels of diplomatic representation impact the U.S.'s capacity to engage with the adversary state and its publics. It will assess what options are available, focusing on such instruments as summits and other high level meetings, broadcasting, the media, cultural and student exchanges, sporting visits, and military confidence-building measures. In sum, the project will evaluate the limits and potential of U.S. diplomacy directed at the populations of deeply hostile states and the implications for national security policy.
