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? Can It Be Measured?
The West’s Soft Power was presumed to have helped win the Cold War. But there have been few attempts to measure soft power and this is the age of measurement. Now we have a very thought-provoking attempt from the Institute of Government (a private NGO) and Monocle magazine. The full report gives a sound review of soft power theory and the Index used to rank countries.
China - Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi: International Situation and China’s Diplomacy in 2011
Under the new situation, public and cultural diplomacy is an important direction for China's diplomacy. We thoroughly implemented the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, actively engaged in public and cultural diplomacy, and vigorously boosted cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
The Trojan Horse of Cultural Diplomacy
Cultural diplomacy, or the more pejorative alternative – cultural imperialism, has become important player in global events. Cultural diplomacy may be seen as a tenet of international relations. It is one of the ‘soft’ aspects of state interactions. This is dissimilar to the ‘hard’ items of statutes, treaties, blocks, pacts, multilateral bodies and the military.
@Sweden - Sweden Builds Nation Brand on Twitter
Imagine handing your Twitter account over to a stranger. Now imagine a country handing over its Twitter feed to a citizen. Crowdsourcing digital communications has reached a new level as @Sweden hands over the official Swedish Twitter account to one of its citizens for a week.
Sino-US exchanges build basis for stronger ties
During Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit in mid-January, Hu and his US counterpart Obama made it a priority to promote people-to-people exchanges to develop friendship between the world's two powers, identifying over 40 joint projects in education, science and technology, culture, women's issues, youth and sports.
Chinese army cultural events week in Laos
For the first time, Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has launched a cultural events week in a foreign country. It aims to offer a chance for the Lao audience to learn more about the Chinese army's culture and the friendship between the two countries, through paintings, photos and calligraphy exhibitions, art performances and film playing.
India’s overlooked friend
India has an oft-overlooked friend – Indonesia. While the two countries have so far had a generally cordial relationship, much remains to be done if Jakarta and New Delhi want to take full advantage of the opportunities available to both. With this in mind, there really needs to be greater interaction between journalists, business partners and scholars of both countries.
Social networking booming in Egypt, Russia, survey finds
According to the latest Pew survey, in almost all the countries surveyed, the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter didn't change much from 2010 to 2011. Two notable exceptions were Egypt, where 28% of respondents now use social networks -- up from 18% last year -- and Russia, where social-networking use rose from 33% to 43%.
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