A new report by participants in a recent Woodrow Wilson School undergraduate policy task force, WWS 401i: "Dealing with Anti-Americanism," provides the incoming Obama adminstration policy guidance about how to improve the United States' standing abroad.

The 16-page paper, "Dealing with Anti-Americanism: A Report to the New Administration," is a four-month  effort which sought to develop a cost-effective policy strategy to combat anti-American sentiments around the world. The task force report, overseen by School lecturer Dr. Sophie Meunier and drafted by eight undergraduate students, "analyzes anti-Americanism from regional and topical perspectives, focusing on anti-Americanism in the Middle East, Pakistan and China, as well as anti-Americanism concering climate change, the world economy and U.S. military conduct in Iraq," the document states.

Defining anti-Americanism as "a systematic opposition of and/or aversion towards" the U.S., the report authors note that while the election of Barack Obama "represents a unique opportunity" to improve U.S. standing, "it is naive to think that his election alone is enough." The strategy outlined in the report is based on "the logic of regaining American soft power" - non-military means of attraction that appeal to others' common norms and values - and the success of soft power, the authors note, "heavily depends on on the reputation of a country within the international community. It is this reputation which is threatened by anti-Americanism," and which the report seeks to restore.

In December, Prof. Meunier and the task force participants traveled to Washington to present briefings at the U.S. Senate and in the office of the Under Secretary Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U.S. State Department.