Jason Parker

"The Contest: Hearts, Minds, and the History of U.S. Public Diplomacy in the 'Third World'"

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006
Noon
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201

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Jason Parker is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. He received in Ph.D. in History at the University of Florida under Robert McMahon in 2002, and since then has been an Assistant Professor of History at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown.

Parker is using his time at the Mershon Center to complete a book, The Contest: Hearts, Minds, and the History of American Public Diplomacy in the Third World.

Parker's book examines U.S. public diplomacy during the Cold War through eight case studies in four regions: the Middle East, Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia. He analyzes the success or failure of American campaigns, the techniques employed to convey the U.S. position to foreign audiences, and the policy machinery that orchestrated it in Washington and U.S. outposts abroad.

Parker argues that although U.S. public diplomacy in the Third World had mixed success and unintended consequences, it was an integral part of the broader Cold War struggle, was conducted systematically, and was relatively inexpensive and effective. It also has much to teach historians, political scientists, and policy-makers currently embroiled in a "war of ideas" not only in Iraq, but in the broader War on Terror.

After his fellowship at the Mershon Center, Parker will join the History Department at Texas A&M University in College Station.

Jason Parker
Post-Doctoral Fellow,
Mershon Center for International Security Studies