Interrogating the foundations of public diplomacy’s theory and practice: ‘resilient contact’ and the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants Program
March 18, 2026 Promotion of public diplomacy (PD) policy has been growing worldwide. In the US, support rebounded after 9/11, as the government sought to curb anti-American sentiments. Educational exchanges relying on assumptions about social contact benefits became key to American PD policy. However, equally widespread efforts to objectively evaluate whether educational exchanges based on such assumptions serve governments’ PD goals are lacking. This study therefore examines a critical PD case, the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program in Turkey, and offers a longitudinal look at one cohort of 94 ETAs and the nearly 2000 students with whom they regularly interacted. Using pre/post measurements of both groups’ intercultural sensitivity levels, it seeks to assess the effectiveness of the program from a PD perspective. The article concludes with suggestions for modified conceptual emphasis on contact theory based PD initiatives; and accordingly, suggests revisions to how educational exchanges like the ETA program are implemented.
Keywords: educational exchanges, intercultural sensitivity, Fulbright, public diplomacy, social contact theory
