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Statement of Policy on Nonpartisanship
By Henry E. Mattox, Editor
We note for our readers that American Diplomacy and its parent organization, American Diplomacy Publishers (ADP), maintain a nonpartisan position on U. S. politics. That statement may not always seem to be reflected in the journal's content. It nonetheless holds true for the simple reason that our authors, who provide the bulk of the journal's articles, reviews, and commentaries, are free spirits in that regard. The great majority of those who write for American Diplomacy have no connection with this organization and are not under any compulsion to remain nonpolitical or to toe any set political line.
To repeat, this journal since its founding in 1996 thus has sought to make available analyses of current and recent world events containing a wide range of views on how those developments relate to American foreign policy. Many observers with differing perspectives have authored items for us, long and short. We therefore provide a spread of political viewpoints. But we do not consciously or in any planned fashion feature one set of published opinions over another.
We remark nevertheless that individuals who happen to be either directly or as board members indirectly involved in publishing American Diplomacy, and who choose to express their viewpoints, are a different matter. These individuals are not, of course, intellectual ciphers; quite the contrary. They represent a variety of political perspectives and opinions on various issues, including American foreign policy and how it should be implemented. Those sentiments range for the most part from moderately left to moderately right, from liberal across the spectrum to conservative. And generally those commentators are quite articulate in expressing those viewpoints.
We take care that those opinions by more or less "in-house" writers are rarely if ever imposed on the journal's reading audience unless labeled as a "commentary," "editorial" or "guest editorial." In cases of opinion pieces, invariably a byline will be appended, often with brief biographic information.
The reader of American Diplomacy thus can know that the personal views of the author will be forthcoming in such an item, not some "corporate" or "established" position of either the journal or ADP. American Diplomacy has adopted a nonpolitical stance with regard to U. S. politics; the organization chooses not to present to its readership an "official" position.
February 21, 2004