ABSTRACT
Paul Foldi described United States public diplomacy, not as a kind of formal debate or strategy to induce a specific opinion, but as a means to cultivate “the benefit of the doubt”. His remarks underscored an inevitably uncertain terrain for public diplomacy–the practice by which countries seek to persuade, build relationships, and cultivate understanding among foreign publics. In a moment of mediatized political controversy, digital appeals enable politics and leadership through difference and dissensus, exploiting the network structure and the dismantling of publics into a constellation of interests and public sphericules. Argument has a longstanding association with international relations and the broad contours of statecraft, including classical cases to the controversies over discourses of foreign policy, to the language games and signaling that occurs between states. The advent of networked argument raises significant issues for argumentation studies in terms of the subject.
