Effective defense support for public diplomacy (DSPD) with a sub-Saharan Africa target audience a case study of the African Crisis Response Proposal

Abstract

Renewed U.S. security and diplomatic interest in Sub-Saharan Africa suggests the need to evaluate previous DSPD initiatives. The ACRF serves as a useful lesson for U.S. African Combatant Command (USAFRICOM) in how to communicate effectively with African partners. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Support for Public Diplomacy (DPSD) sources and messages using the African Crisis Response Force (ACRF) as a controlled comparison case study. Based on this aim, the study hypothesizes that a high level source employing a tailored message objective to the target audience's home venue would achieve the most favorable effect. Based on the analysis of the ACRF proposal process, the thesis only marginally affirms the hypothesis, suggesting that countryspecific contextual factors related to military-to-military relations and the condition of public diplomatic relations played a more significant role.