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.

A Meeting with the Incoming Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy

Ms. Sonenshine is currently the Executive Vice-President of the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), but was nominated by President Obama for Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy in November. Once confirmed, she will lead the country’s public diplomacy efforts abroad...

Tags: united states, government pd, public diplomacy, us department of state, tara sonenshine, under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, united states institute of peace

Cultural Diplomacy for the 21st Century: Empowering Local Voices

The most successful cultural diplomacy strategy integrates people to people or arts/culture/media to people interactions into the basic business of diplomacy. The programs in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iran all contribute to core goals of U.S. policy in those countries. Each succeeds by empowering local voices, rather than by conveying ideas through American emissaries.

Tags: united states, Cultural Diplomacy, egypt, afghanistan, philip seib, embassies

China’s animated TV output jumps in 2011

As the second largest economy in the world, China has been working to improve its cultural soft power. Last week, a consortium of Chinese companies agreed to set up a joint venture with the US-based DreamWorks Animation, with agendas to make a sequel of blockbuster movie Kung Fu Panda 3 later this year.

Tags: china, soft power, film diplomacy, hollywood, film industry, animation

South Korea’s Haiti Soft Power

Seoul has certainly been successful in its soft power efforts globally over the past decade, and has consequentially accrued political capital and financial contracts not only in the Americas but also in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Tags: soft power, united nations, aid diplomacy, south korea, haiti, peacekeeping

Hard facts about soft power

So imagine the surprise when a survey of the world’s leading soft powers comes up with, you guessed it, America in top slot. The survey was not done by some adjunct of the American policy establishment, either. It was published by Monocle, a book-sized, chunky magazine published in London and styling itself as a “briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design.”

Tags: united states, soft power, united kingdom, hard power, joseph nye, new zealand

On Iran, take a lesson from Burma: verify and never trust

The United States and Europe used sanctions and public diplomacy to try to effect change in Burma. We cut off non-humanitarian funds, targeted the regime with stiff sanctions, and publicly challenged the junta on its human rights abuses.

Tags: united states, public diplomacy, myanmar, sanctions, government, aung san suu kyi

Mobilefilmworks Signs Agreement With ‘India Is’

Powered by the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the 'India Is' Global Video Challenge, invites the world to both share their perspectives, and vote for contestant 2-minute video shorts. 'India Is' contestants, are eligible to win and receive up to US $7500 in prizes.

Tags: public diplomacy, india, audience, competition

As Yemen’s Election Brings New President, U.S. Must Refocus

U.S. airstrikes remain the most reliable means of targeting AQAP members in the near term, but overreliance on them is unsustainable if the U.S. wants to maintain a positive relationship with Yemen for years to come. The negative impact of collateral civilian damage and hitting misidentified targets can quickly undermine U.S. foreign assistance and public diplomacy efforts.

Tags: united states, public diplomacy, elections, al qaeda, yemen, counter-terrorism

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