Toward a Postsecular Communicative Framework

Abstract

Restoring confidence and building trust with global Islamic communities requires the US Department of State to consider a bold new path that leads to the recruitment of a highly competent Human Communication Specialist Corps to enrich US diplomatic engagement with key religious and cultural players at the grassroots level. This chapter presents the case that while a special corps is vital to enriching US state-nonstate actor relations, particularly in Muslim majority nations, it will be inevitably deficient in the dialogical setting if it is not accompanied by a smart communication approach. This measure is capable of working within a new public diplomacy context to strengthen broad state-nonstate actor relations. In conjunction with US Foreign Service Officer training, consideration of incorporate postsecular approaches will aid in enriching dialogical opportunities between both actors. This chapter will introduce the basis of postsecular communication through an exploration of the Theory of Communicative Action and Coordinated Management of Meaning, two communication theories that when intersected, provide a foundation to commence smart communication as pursued and practiced by this new corps of specialists.