Russia and China in particular have been making efforts to develop their global media reach in recent years, frequently with investments in English-language media, but this is a new step; the BRICS as a group now see the promotion of their perspectives as a crucial element of their public diplomacy and development of soft power — and they see it as a joint venture.

Tags: brics, media, soft power, brazil, international broadcasting, united states, propaganda, china, bollywood, russia

Dana Gioia, chairperson of the National Endowment of Arts, said, "There's no American alive who has done more extensive and effective cultural diplomacy than Dave Brubeck". He was even chosen to thaw Cold War tensions, being asked to play for a series of summits between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Tags: Dave Brubeck, Cultural Diplomacy, jazz diplomacy, dana gioia, cold war, united states

Shahzia Sikander and Jim Shaw are two artists who keep accounts of the visual tropes that faith-based systems employ to disseminate, legislate and perpetuate the cultural codes prescribing and proscribing human behavior, yet react to these systems by breaking up the prescribed regiments that religious imagery imposes.

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, art diplomacy, shahzia sikander, jim shaw, religious art, faith diplomacy, secularism, islam, hinduism, parsi, jain, buddhism, sikander, christianity, judaism, mormon, theosophical, masonic, scientology spiritual engagement

Creating dialogue and raising more public awareness: this is the goal that we set ourselves with the launch of the Peace and Sport Watch in April 2015. [...] Peace and Sport Watch in partnership with Agence France Presse, a digital platform aimed at fostering the development of the peace through sport movement and offering its stakeholders a neutral, relevant and daily digest of the latest news.

Tags: joël bouzou, sports diplomacy, peace and sports watch, agence france presse, cold war, us-cuba relations, colombia, monaco, non-state actor pd

Check out, as just one of many examples, the Twitter user “Bint Emergent”: an apparent ISIS fangirl and keen observer of the jihadist scene. (Bint Emergent has not disclosed her identity, or gender, but bint is an honorific Arabic word for girl or daughter; like umm—mother in Arabic—bint features prominently in theTwitter display names of female ISIS sympathizers.)

Tags: Jihadi Cool, non-state actor, strategic communication, violent extremism, muslim youth

The international security agenda and the theoretical ways to study it have expanded tremendously since the end of the Cold War. Once the strict control of the global east-west military ideological rivalry lifted, various new threats and ways to analyze them emerged. These were the issues discussed in a three-day workshop organized recently by the International Relations Council of Turkey.

Tags: international relations, digital diplomacy, non-state pd, Theory & History, cyber warfare

In many ways, 2015 has been a transitional point for Iran and its relationship to the outside world. Iran and six world powers, including the US, inked a landmark nuclear deal this year; international sanctions against the Islamic Republic are set to ease; multinational corporations are descending on Tehran; and American and allied aircraft are coordinating with Iran-supported Shia militias in Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State.

Tags: international image, advocacy, soft power, diaspora, tehran, iran, non-state actor

The 2016 Taipei International Book Exhibition will feature Hungary as its theme country, introducing the country's literature, illustrations, photography and cinema to Taiwanese readers, the Taipei Book Fair Foundation announced Wednesday.
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Tags: taiwan, hungary, literary diplomacy, book fair, cultural exchanges