Engagement is applied in diplomacy as a synonym for a wider range of more specific practices of contact between an international actor and a foreign public, includingpublic diplomacy, communication and the deployment ofinternational aid. It is associated with the approach to foreign policy that some have dubbedsmart power. It was the title of a 2008 anthology of essays on the future of public diplomacy published by the UKForeign and Commonwealth Office.[1]
Since January 2009, it has been widely used by theObama administration, who in May 2009 announced the creation of a unit within theNational Security Council responsible for coordinating diplomacy, aid and international communication called the Global Engagement Directive.[2]
Variations on 'Engagement' include 'Strategic Public Engagement', which was first seen in June 2009 in a report by the Washington-based Think TankCenter for a New American Security entitledBeyond Bullets: A Pragmatic Strategy to Combat Violent Islamist Extremism.[3]
The term engagement is used in both military and marketing contexts and thus has the advantage for the Obama administration of reassuringboth these constituencies[clarify]. Other terms might imply less neutrality or greater continuity with the approach of previous administration.[4]