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.

Diplomacy for the 21st Century

Science and technology (S&T) play a critical role in a range of foreign policy issues, from driving economic development to responding to hostile governments and rogue organizations. Discoveries in nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and earth sciences offer new opportunities to improve human health, provide food and clean water, and issue warnings of impending natural disasters. Advances in information and communications technologies are having remarkable impacts on every walk of life.

Tags: United States Department of State

India to Project ‘Soft Power’ on Yoga Day

June 21 will be celebrated worldwide as International Day of Yoga, the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to highlight yoga as India's signature cultural export. An regular practitioner of the discipline himself, Modi set up a new ministry for yoga last year and persuaded the United Nations to celebrate this day internationally. "After the number zero this is India's biggest contribution to society," joint secretary Anil Ganeriwala told Reuters.

Tags: soft power, International Yoga Day, india, narendra modi

Julie Bishop Talks Soft Power At The Lowy Institute, But Where Was Digital Diplomacy

Last week the Lowy Institute hosted a speech by Australia's Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop. If you haven't already listened to it, you can do so here. It's worth staying tuned for the Q&A where Bishop skilfully handled a number of tough questions.

Tags: australia, soft power, government diplomacy

A Problem From Heaven

We have a problem—not a problem from hell, but one that claims to come from heaven. That problem is sometimes called radical, or fundamentalist, Islam, and the self-styled Islamic State is just its latest iteration. But no one really understands it. In the summer of 2014, Major General Michael Nagata, the commander of U.S. special operations forces in the Middle East, admitted as much when talking about the Islamic State, or ISIS. “We do not understand the movement,” he said. “And until we do, we are not going to defeat it.” 

Tags: islam, religion, extremism, united states, isis

Wrestling’s Curby Cup Next Move in US-Iran Sports diplomacy

American wrestler Jacob Curby died before he could fulfill his dream of competing in the Olympics. But a competition established in his name will mark another milestone in the accelerating sports diplomacy between Iran and the United States.

Tags: sports diplomacy, united states, iran, wrestling, curly cup

The 12th Havana Biennial's Neoliberal Arrival

The correction was delivered with a smirk: “Trienal.” [...] When the Havana Biennial was founded in 1984, it was set up, like much of the Castro government’s internationalist initiatives up to that point, as a Latin American rejoinder to the Anglo-European — or imperialist — skew of global culture. The second biennial expanded its reach to Asia and Africa, and by the third, in 1989, this focus was articulated theoretically, with landmark texts on “Third World aesthetics” published in the official catalogue that have since become part of the art historical canon.

Tags: havana biennial, cuba, art diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy, fidel castro

When US Soft-Power Is Left Unutilised

The war on Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in Iraq has resulted in the decline of America’s political role in pinpointing paths of events in that country. The statements issued by some Iraqi politicians have become louder with more of an edge in criticising and degrading the US’s role in fighting the terrorist organisation.

Tags: united states, George Bush, isil, iraq, Iraq War

Tour Promotes Public Diplomacy

A group of 30 bloggers, photographers and foreign correspondents were guests of the Senior Public Diplomacy Group (SPDG) on a tour of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday. Led by tour leader Choi Ha-kyung, president of the SPDG, a nonprofit affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and chairman of the Korea Heritage Society, the visit was to promote the fortress ― listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 ― and to find out how people from overseas saw it.After brief introductions on the bus trip from Seoul, the group's first destination was a visit to the buil

Tags: korea, unesco

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