Boston, MA--March 11, 2009--Just as the Obama administration begins to implement its new "smart power" policy in foreign affairs (announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), Wiley-Blackwell has published a provocative little book on the subject. Written by globally syndicated journalist Nathan Gardels and veteran Hollywood filmmaker Mike Medavoy, AMERICAN IDOL AFTER IRAQ: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age (Wiley-Blackwell; $24.95; May 2009) offers highly original insights, analysis and recommendations about how to shape America's new approach and influence global public opinion.
"Smart power" means a combination of "hard" military power and "the soft power" of cultural attraction. As Harvard's Joe Nye writes in the foreword, "While we need hard power to battle the [Islamist] extremists, we need the soft power of attraction to win the hearts and minds of the majority."
AMERICAN IDOL AFTER IRAQ: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age (Wiley-Blackwell; $24.95; May 2009) goes beyond the abstraction of "soft power" by focusing on how America's global presence is actually experienced in the public imagination — and ignored by policymakers. Gardels points out, "In my travels, the powerful presence of American mass culture, even in the most remote spaces in China, Central America or Jordan, never ceases to amaze me. But what amazes me more is how the foreign policy establishment in the United States mostly ignored this vast influence of Hollywood and pop music in their analyses of America's role in the world."
According to the authors, the world sees America—for better and worse—largely through its mass culture. At the height of America's "soft power" near the end of the cold war, they cite one French thinker saying "There is more power in blue jeans, rock and roll and movies than in the entire Red Army." Yet today, in the Muslim world, they report, American women are often seen as "desperate housewives seeking sex in the city."
Unlike most countries, the authors argue, America is seen not only for what it is and what it does, but through the images projected by Hollywood. Similarly, less than ten per cent of Americans travel abroad every year, and get most of their images and information about the outside world, and America's role in it, from Hollywood films. For the authors, this insularity and lack of knowledge about the world beyond our borders has enabled foreign policy disasters such as the pre-emptive war in Iraq.
If politics in the information age is about whose story wins, say Gardels and Medavoy, America's storytellers—Hollywood—have a starring role in reviving America's image in the world in the aftermath of the Bush years. They must be part of the "deep coalition" that will sustain "smart power" by closing the knowledge gap between Americans and the world.
Hollywood thus has a responsibility to educate (themselves and others), as well as entertain. The authors have hope that Hollywood will adapt to the "rise of the rest" by globalizing itself through films like Babel and Slumdog Millionaire, now slated for top honors at the Academy Awards. The authors predict that technological change, globalization and the growing prosperity around the world from Brazil to China will likely diminish America's global cultural dominance, "The John Wayne era assumption that America can write the script for the whole world has been forever foiled, both in Washington and Hollywood."
AMERICAN IDOL AFTER IRAQ: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age (Wiley-Blackwell; $24.95; May 2009) is compelling material for pop culture fanatics, or "culture vultures," as well as those interested in current affairs, foreign policy, and film studies. The authors draw upon the words of an eclectic range of well-known tastemakers and leaders to support their research, such as film directors Oliver Stone, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Francis Fukuyama, Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and (the recently assassinated) Benazir Bhutto.
AMERICAN IDOL AFTER IRAQ:
Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age
By Nathan Gardels and Mike Medavoy
Paperback: ISBN: 978-1-4051-8741-1; 160 pp.; $24.95; May 2009
About the Author
Nathan Gardels has been editor of prominent world affairs journal New Perspectives Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) since it began publishing in 1985. He has served as editor of Global Viewpoint and Nobel Laureates Plus (services of Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media) since 1989. His books include The Changing Global Order (Wiley-Blackwell) and At Century's End. Since 1986, Gardels has been a Media Leader of the World Economic Forum. He has been a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, as well as the Pacific Council, for many years. Gardels is the former executive director of the Institute for National Strategy. Prior to this, he was key adviser to the Governor of California on economic affairs, with an emphasis on public investment, trade issues, the Pacific Basin and Mexico.
Mike Medavoy began his career in the mailroom of Universal Studios, went on to co-found Orion Pictures, and became chairman of Sony's TriStar Pictures. In 1994, he co-founded Phoenix Pictures. Born in Shanghai, Mike lived in Chile for ten years as a teenager. Throughout his career he has been involved in the making of over 300 films, including sixteen nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards, and seven winners. Mike also served as a member of the Board of Advisors at the Kennedy School at Harvard University and is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and co-chairs the Burkle Center of International Relations at UCLA.
About Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing Ltd. by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and its merger with Wiley's Scientific, Technical, and Medical business. Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field. Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,400 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal. For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com.