A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Singapore and the Soft Power 30
The Soft Power 30 is a new, authoritative index that aims to help governments and countries understand better the resources they have at their disposal. It ranks leading countries using a combination of objective metrics and new international polling data to measure soft power, covering categories such as Government, Culture, Education, Global Engagement and Enterprise.
Muslim Americans Are Split Over the Iran Deal
Iranian Americans are (mostly) celebrating. Syrian Americans, uh, not so much. A quick survey of an important but under-covered segment. [...] I’m sure many non-Muslims are thinking that they are all cheering it because the deal helps Iran. Well, anyone holding that view clearly doesn’t know too many Muslim Americans.
To Deliver Soft Power, Digital Diplomats Need to Move Beyond Platforms
Done well, digital diplomacy ought to be the use of technology to deliver soft power and public policy messages, alongside the ability to engage with wider audiences of both state and non-state actors and use that feedback loop to understand more and to deliver better policy.
Counterterrorism and Human Rights
As hundreds of millions of young Arabs watch the world around them, they see the Saudis ordering a thousand lashes and ten years in prison for a blogger who encouraged online debate about religious and political issues... They see a mass murderer running what little is left of Syria, using barrel bombs and chemical weapons against his own people. And what are the Western powers doing? Next to nothing.
No Pan-Africanism Without Enhanced Ethiopianism
The year 2015 marks Ethiopia’s diplomatic success in the battle for hearts and minds. Public diplomacy has radiated the concept, agenda and vision of the Ethiopian Renaissance within the rubric of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. This is a fact to the point where Addis Abeba wants other countries to discern its desire for the realization of a co-prosperity agenda and restitution of a revitalized historical greatness.
The U.S.-China Relationship: Holding Together Through Public Diplomacy
The U.S.-China relationship is simply too consequential to be allowed to falter and fail. The cost of mishandling it would be enormous, if not disastrous, for all. Holding the relationship together requires political and policy imagination, as well as active, sustained engagement through public diplomacy.
After Greek Deal, Germany Is Once Again Seen as Europe’s Villain
Germany is now perceived to have won by humiliating its opponent. There have been calls to boycott the country’s goods, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman agreed with the take of #ThisIsACoup. Talk of a “Fourth Reich” is back as well in full force. Germany has come out as the winner in only the most basic sense.
The World Embraces Lolita Fashion
I first realized the extent to which the word “kawaii” had spread across the world untranslated and come to be regarded as a verbal symbol of Japan when I served as a producer for the Kawaii Ambassadors (Cute ambassadors) program in fiscal 2009. Wherever we went, Kawaii Ambassadors were fervently welcomed. In Recife, Brazil, about 20,000 people turned out at an open-air venue to see them.
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