Global Television and the Shaping of World Politics: CNN,Telediplomacy,and Foreign Policy » (New Edition)

In 1995, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said of the Cable News Network, "CNN is the sixteenth member of the [15 member United Nations] Security Council." Scholars as well as diplomats have recognized the existence of a link between communications and diplomacy, but up until now the implications of this relationship have been left unexplored. In this work, the author studies the historic interconnectedness between communications and diplomacy, how communications have historically determined the practice of diplomacy, and how, with the development of global television, communications can determine diplomatic outcomes under certain conditions. This work also examines the ways in which today's broadcasting will shape foreign policy processes in the future and the future impact of global television in world politics.

Author Biography: Royce J. Ammon (B.A., M.A., and Ph.D., University of Nebraska—Lincoln) is currently working on his next book about world politics. Dr. Ammon also teaches at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Library Journal

Television coverage of the recent terrorist attacks in the United States and the resulting military actions make this book on the role of global television in shaping world politics very timely. In this revision of his dissertation, Ammon (Univ. of St. Thomas) traces the relationship between diplomacy and communications technology, arguing that changes in communications have historically determined diplomatic practices and their outcomes. Ammon analyzes the CNN coverage of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 to offer one example of the way television influences foreign policy, arguing that Western powers offered humanitarian aid to Iraqi Kurds at the end of the war because their plight was televised. The rebellious Shi'ite Muslims, on the other hand, were forced to flee into the marshlands of southern Iraq, receiving no television coverage and consequently no Western aid. Ammon balances his account by detailing conditions that can weaken the impact of television, which he uses to explain the lack of response to the genocide in Rwanda. This important study will be of special interest to media and international relations scholars. Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.