Public Diplomacy Reader launched at Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation hosted the official launch of The Public Diplomacy Reader, Professor J. Michael Waller’s 500-page compendium published by IWP Press. The event, held September 20, was organized by Helle Dale, Deputy Director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at Heritage. Dr. Waller gave a presentation about the book and its purpose, explaining that he … Read more

The American way of propaganda: Lessons from the founding fathers

by J. Michael Waller, Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare White Paper No. 1, The Institute of World Politics, 2006. This article is the first in a series of White Papers about the transformation of American public diplomacy and strategic communication. Introduction One of the most contentious debates in the war on terrorism centers on the “hearts … Read more

Mexico’s glass house: How the Mexican constitution treats foreign residents, workers, and naturalized citizens

by J. Michael Waller / Occasional Paper / Center for Security Policy, April 2006 Every country has the right – and duty – to restrict the quality and quantity of foreign immigrants entering or living within its borders. If American policymakers are looking for legal models on which to base new laws restricting immigration and … Read more

Introduction to dismantling a secret police state

Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council and J. Michael Waller edited a series of articles on the legacies of totalitarian secret police systems. Those articles were published in August, 2004, in Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. Berman and Waller co-wrote the following introduction to the series: When a totalitarian group seizes power, whether by parliamentary maneuver or … Read more

Russia: Death and resurrection of the KGB

by J Michael Waller, Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2004, pp. 333-355. The George Washington University is the repository of Demokratizatsiya journal. The roots of all of the most efficient political police systems in modern his- tory can be traced to December 20, 1917. On that day, the new Bolshevik … Read more

Tropical chekists: The Sandinista secret police legacy in Nicaragua

by J. Michael Waller Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Summer 2004 As a revolutionary regime, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) that overthrew strongman Anastasio Somoza in 1979 swept away all vestiges of the old order. Virtually every single government structure, including the constitution, judiciary, legislature, and all instruments of security and force, was … Read more

International terrorism: The Communist connection revisited

By J. Michael Waller, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, 2002. Twenty-five years ago, Stefan Possony posited the then-radical thesis that the Soviet Union was behind much of the world’s growing terrorist problem, and that otherwise independent terrorist organizations operated in international networks. Possony’s book, International Terrorism: The Communist Connection, published in 1978,[1] blazed a trail that other scholars, journalists, … Read more

Portrait of Putin’s past

by J Michael Waller, Perspective (Boston University), Vol. X, No. 3, February 25, 2000. Why is so little known about the KGB career of Russia’s acting President Vladimir Putin? Most reporting on both sides of the Atlantic is thinly sourced, if sourced at all, and often conflicting. Was Putin a professional foreign intelligence cadre officer whose … Read more

Primakov’s imperial line

By J Michael Waller, Perspective (Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy), January-February 1997. Russian foreign policy has become more consistent and predictable since Yevgeni Primakov succeeded Andrei Kozyrev as foreign minister in January 1996. Moscow’s diplomacy today shows a tendency toward greater integration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the … Read more

‘Delay, postpone, obfuscate, derail’ – A case study of US aid to former USSR

By J Michael Waller / Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization (American University and Moscow State University), Winter 1997. With rebuttals from the US Department of State and Department of Defense PDF originals: (1) Demok 97a Waller Delay; (2) Demok 97b State Dept; (3) Demok 97c Waller State; (4) Demok 97d DoD; (5) Demok 97e Waller DoD Introduction Many supporters of U.S. assistance … Read more