Remarks by Senator Richard G. Lugar, IREX 40th Anniversary

Remarks by
Senator Richard G. Lugar

Address to the 40th Anniversary Dinner of the
International Research and Exchanges Board
November 20, 2008

It is an honor to address the 40th Anniversary Dinner of the International Research and Exchanges Board and to receive this award.  I thank Ambassador Avis Bohlen for the generous introduction. IREX has achieved a milestone that is worthy of this celebration.  The indomitable spirit of friendship and commitment in this room engenders confidence that the decades ahead will lead to an even richer history of accomplishment for IREX.

Governments tend to be imperfect instruments for developing trust between peoples.  Governments cannot substitute for the bonds that develop between individuals of different countries when, through mutual endeavor, they experience the joy and intellectual satisfaction of learning about one another and working with each other.  At first, this learning process illuminates differences, but ultimately it underscores the similarities in the human condition.  In these moments of friendship, even the process of overcoming basic barriers of language and culture can be satisfying and personally rewarding.

I had never traveled outside the United States before being selected as a Rhodes Scholar after completing my college degree at Denison University.  The parameters of my own imagination expanded enormously during my time at Oxford, as I gained a sense of how large the world was, how many talented people there were, and how many opportunities one could embrace.

Most of you have had the chance to travel and work extensively overseas.  But too many Americans never have this experience.  This is a handicap to our public diplomacy that we must overcome, both by encouraging Americans to travel and by investing in outreach programs of the type that IREX has managed so successfully.

The breadth of IREX’s work in international development, education exchanges, democracy building, and transparency has been remarkable.  Having travelled frequently to Ukraine, Albania, and Armenia, I understand how important your support for free and fair elections in those countries has been.  I also want to offer personal thanks for the work of IREX in supporting the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy.  The United States has long funded efforts to train journalists around the world and to assist new democracies in adopting laws protecting press freedoms.   Several years ago, however, I became concerned that our government’s efforts fell short of what was needed to help build free, fair, and sustainable media institutions in countries emerging from dictatorship or other difficult circumstances.  I introduced legislation to establish the Center, and the idea was embraced by others, including many who are present this evening.   We should never take for granted the value of promoting the principles of the First Amendment to our Constitution.
 
At this moment in history, the work we are celebrating this evening is especially critical to the well-being of Americans.  The global financial crisis has demonstrated both the connectedness and the fragility of the world economy.  Meanwhile, we are struggling to come to grips with the rapid economic advancement of China, India, Brazil, and others.  Even as new economies try to find energy supplies to fuel their ambitions, the specter of climate change looms with unpredictable implications for economic activity and conflict.  We are witnessing troubling trends in global food production, communicable diseases, and water resources that will continue to impact economic and political stability.  The spread of information technology has opened up wonderful possibilities for global cooperation, but it has also helped to empower terrorist cells.  The massive transfer of wealth to energy-rich states has turned some corrupt and hostile regimes into regional powers.   And the success of efforts to lift the world’s poorest societies out of poverty has fallen short of our ambitions.
 
To deal successfully with these and dozens of other conditions, all of us must think every day, not just how to solve problems that are already manifest, but how to increase U.S. leverage and influence in the future.  Maintaining the core strength of U.S. foreign policy is painstaking work that is frequently underappreciated.

Those of you who are current or former diplomats have a special understanding of how difficult it is to conduct business if the United States allows diplomatic tools to fall into disrepair.  Our military strength is only a part of national power, which must also be measured in alliances, trading partners, exchange programs, secure energy and food supplies, international agreements, global respect, and numerous other indices.   These core elements of foreign policy cannot be strengthened by a reactive, crisis driven approach in which we shorten our time horizon and concentrate our resources on a few rogue regimes.  They require daily attention from our government, and they must be backed by clear policy guidance that assigns them a high priority that is recognized by our friends and enemies alike.

In this context, the impacts of an exchange program, a teacher training operation, or a media freedom project are not always apparent in short-term geopolitical events.  But they can reverberate over the course of decades if we maintain our focus.  

The post-Rose Revolution government in Georgia has been a notable example of the influence of U.S. exchange programs.  President Saakashvili received his law degree from Columbia University, where he studied under the Muskie Fellowship program, which is now administered by IREX.  In fact, when I visited Georgia in 2004, I found that almost every member of his cabinet had attended an American college or university during their academic careers.  The result was that the leadership of an important country had a personal understanding of the core elements of American society and governance.  Perhaps more importantly, they had an understanding and appreciation of Americans themselves.  

In the United States, we have critiqued and even lamented some aspects of our public diplomacy since the end of the Cold War.  Americans are especially troubled by examples of virulent anti-American hatred in the Islamic world and they are frustrated by public opinion in allied countries that seems increasingly ready to question American motives or blame American actions for a host of problems.

In an era when allied cooperation is essential, we cannot afford to shrug off negative public opinion overseas as irrelevant.  The governments of most nations respond to public opinion, whether it is demonstrated in the voting booth or in the streets.

But as we discuss public diplomacy, we must resist the temptation to equate it with public relations tactics.  Successful public diplomacy is not about manipulating people into liking us.  Rather, it is about clearly and honestly explaining the views of the United States, displaying the humanity and generosity of our people, underscoring issues of commonality, and expanding opportunities for interaction between Americans and foreign peoples.

Even the most enlightened public diplomacy will not succeed overnight.  Success will require resources and hard work over a period of decades that focuses on supporting democratic institutions and a free press in the Islamic world and elsewhere.  It also will require the United States to build lasting relationships overseas and advance our vision of fairness and opportunity.

As Senator William Fulbright explained in a 1945 Senate speech, just before the end of the war in Europe, “Peace does not consist merely of a solemn declaration or a well-drafted Constitution.  The making of peace is a continuing process that must go on from day to day, from year to year, so long as our civilization shall last.”

The coming age will require patient and selfless individuals to step forward and go to work every day for their country and the concepts of freedom and democracy.  I applaud your contributions to these ideals, and I wish you many more decades of achievement.