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.

Iranian Food Critic Beats Internet Censorship to Build Social Following

There are more than 17 million Facebook users in Iran, but the site is banned throughout the country. Iran also bans its citizens from accessing Twitter and YouTube. Even so, people are finding a way around the censorship with the help of Virtual Private Networks...

Tags: middle east, public diplomacy, iran, non-state actors, new technology

How Iceland Is Rebuilding Its Economy With Social Media

While visiting Iceland for an online marketing conference last week, I found myself in the president of Iceland’s living room, scratching my head at how welcoming and eager he was to talk about the country’s use of social media and technology to rebuild the nation.

Tags: government pd, public diplomacy, new technology, iceland

Aung San Suu Kyi takes her case to the nation

On March 14 Burmese state TV allowed something that would have been unthinkable...First of all, the generals want to show that they're capable of holding free and fair elections, since that's the only way that they'll get the U.S. and the European Union to lift the sanctions they imposed on Burma years ago.

Tags: united states, soft power, public diplomacy, european union, democracy, sanctions, burma

How Satire Can Save the World

If you're like us, hopelessly addicted to checking our smartphones every two seconds, you may think the answer is obvious: Use technology to spread the message. Post your thoughts to Twitter and Facebook and hope that others will follow suit.

Tags: united states, public diplomacy, iran, new technology

Public Diplomacy

Public Diplomacy is one of the new trends in international relations. To begin, let’s settle on a simple definition of Public Diplomacy, “that element of diplomacy that involves a government reaching out to a public, rather than to another government.”

Tags: government pd, public diplomacy, mongolia

Public Diplomacy, Branding, and the Image of Nations, Part I: What’s in a Brand?

I confess that I have not been thinking much about whether the Brits will be able to top, or at least equal the Chinese in skillfully using the occasion of the Summer Olympics as a platform to advance their top line public diplomacy objectives.

Tags: china, soft power, public diplomacy, europe, united kingdom, london olympics 2012

South Africa: New Chairperson for Brand SA

President Jacob Zuma has appointed leading businesswoman Charlotte Chichi Maponya as the new chairperson of Brand SA. Maponya takes over from Anitha Soni, who has chaired the board since 2009. Supersport CEO Happy Ntshingila has, meanwhile, been appointed as deputy chairperson to the Board of Trustees of Brand SA, formerly known as the International Marketing Council.

Tags: nation branding, south africa, brand south africa, jacob zuma

Promoting Azerbaijan’s polished face

Azerbaijan's authorities have intensified their efforts to improve the country's image abroad, hiring PR companies and lobbyists around Europe to burnish its image. Lavish business meetings and events ostensibly dedicated to culture are meant to boost the country's image abroad...

Tags: soft power, Cultural Diplomacy, government pd, public diplomacy, europe, european union, azerbaijan

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