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.

Soft power is the new currency

There is a power shift taking place at the forefront of customer relations and hard power in the face of globalisation and information revolution proves to be experiencing less favour. Harvard Business School experts suggest that the relative role of soft power to hard power is likely to increase.

Tags: soft power, public diplomacy, social media, corporate diplomacy, hard power

PSBT invites proposals for documentary films

The PSBT needs clarity in the proposals that the films will project a nuanced and positive image of contemporary India’s soft power to international audiences: Business Entrepreneurs/ Innovators, Scientific India, Compassionate India and Changing Face of India.

Tags: soft power, Cultural Diplomacy, public diplomacy, india, film diplomacy

‘Weiplomacy’ teaching Canada’s Beijing embassy new tricks

“We entered the world of weibo with an open mind, and have often been surprised by what we have found,” said a note by the embassy’s public diplomacy head weeks after the first status updates hit the “Canadaweibo” account on Chinese Internet portal Sina.com.

Tags: china, public diplomacy, social media, new technology, canada, weibo

NATO Admiral Says the Future of Global Security is Strategic Communication

I’ve been admirer of ADM Stavridis for a long time, especially his embrace of social media and public diplomacy...The admiral’s TED talk unites his own personal advocacy for transparency and connectedness in his leadership roles with NATO and US DOD (he has a substantial presence on Facebook and Twitter) with a broader vision of sustainable security efforts globally.

Tags: social media, nato, military diplomacy, strategic communication, global security

‘Today, the country with the better story will prevail’

Well, we've always had soft power, which seems to have been despite the government, not because of it. We have the soft power of Bollywood, Indian cuisine, fashion, yoga and the Indian brain that has done so well with science, computers and so on

Tags: soft power, india, gastrodiplomacy, bollywood, narrative, emerging economies

Social media ‘weiplomacy’ teaching Canada’s Beijing embassy new tricks

Diplomats in all parts of Canada's Beijing embassy are being encouraged to learn how to use China's version of Twitter. The embassy launched a "weibo" microblog account on Chinese Internet portal Sina.com in June 2011. But internal Foreign Affairs documents show that not all Canadian diplomats rushed to type out 140-Chinese character updates when the account went up.

Tags: china, government pd, social media, new technology, canada, internet diplomacy, weibo

Safe And Sound: Inside Mexico’s Fight To Reclaim Its Global Reputation

To better understand Mexico’s attempts to reclaim its global reputation, the Holmes Report recently travelled to the nation’s capital city. The country may not be known as a hotbed of public relations innovation, but the lessons from Mexico’s public relations programme are ones that should be heeded by any government, or indeed organisation, facing its own issues or crises.

Tags: tourism, mexico, public relations, media frames, reputation, drug wars

The Power of Persuasion: Soft Power in China and India

If the French came up with the Alliance Française to capture the attention of the Global community, China has now started the Confucius institutes as effective healthy rivals. The traditional Asian recluse now has centres that look at imparting to the world the niceties of their culture and allow foreign nationals an opportunity to learn and enjoy Chinese martial arts, language, calligraphy, food, music and dance.

Tags: china, soft power, india, south asia, france, confucius institutes, confucius institutes project, alliance française

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