Organising the Propaganda Instrument: The British Experience

The systematic use of propaganda is very much a phenomenon of the 20th century. Through the years, kings, political leaders, and statesmen have often made use of what might now be called "propaganda tech- niques" but it is only within the present century that the use of pro- paganda has been developed as a systematic instrument of national and foreign policy. Nonetheless, since World War II propaganda has become a regular peacetime instrument of foreign policy for most states, be they large or small. While some considerable attention has been given to the propaganda organisations and activities of the United States and certain Com- munist nations, especially the U.S.S.R., relatively little has been done on the British approach to propaganda. The present study attempts to at least partially fill that vacuum. A history of the overseas Informa- tion Services is not undertaken and I will leave that important task to future scholars. Instead I have examined the British approach to the organisation of propaganda and the mechanics they have developed to utilize this instrument of foreign policy.