A day after sending out a clear message to the world about India’s prime place in the United State’s vision for the Asia-Pacific and beyond, its President Barack Obama was today witnessed as chief guest on the country’s Republic Day Parade, a display of India’s both military might and its soft power.

Tags: barack obama, india, united states, soft power, hard power, india's republic day, government pd

In the Japanese government’s new budget, one small item stands out: a $5 million grant to Columbia University in New York to fund a position for a professor of Japanese politics and foreign policy.

Tags: japan, united states, academic freedom, columbia university, china, soft power, confucius institute, new york, endowment, japanese politics, foreign policy

India has long seemed unable or unwilling to become a major player on the world stage. But the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is looking to change all that. In order to compensate for a small and weak foreign service, he is tapping into India’s considerable soft power: its emigrants, intellectuals, and yogis.

Tags: united states, obama, india, narendra modi, soft power, bollywood, brics, united nations, yoga, foreign service

A good Muslim engagement strategy supported by the U.S. proved effective in 2005 in Belgium in creating a model for how to engage 500,000 Muslims largely from Turkey and Morocco. The U.S. Embassy in Brussels, together with nongovernmental organizations and private sponsors from the United States and Belgium, brought together an impressive group of American Muslims to meet with an equally impressive group of Belgian Muslims to discuss everyday practical issues regarding Muslim participation in society.

Tags: united states, belgium, muslim engagement, positive integration, american muslim communities, public diplomacy, soft power, people to people exchange

The diplomat emphasized the importance of arranging Belarus-India cultural events, soirees and exhibitions. In an interview with BelTA, the Indian Ambassador noted that the year 2015 will be very fruitful for the bilateral cooperation. The year will mark a number of important visits and a session of the Belarus-India intergovernmental commission for trade and economy. 

Tags: inda, belarus, public diplomacy, bilateral cooperation, cultural events, Cultural Diplomacy, economy

The Instagram controversy is the latest example showing that pageants occur "in a broader international context," Trisko Darden said in a Guardian column last week.

Tags: israel, lebanon, instagram, digital diplomacy, social media, non state actors

Equality of all faiths before the law is a foundational feature of India's constitutional democracy, President Pranab Mukherjee, has said in his address to the nation on the eve of Republic Day.  The co-existence of various faiths was a matter of pride for India and a source of the country's "soft power" the President said. 

Tags: india, soft power, faith diplomacy, religion diplomacy

In the realm of influencing relations between nations, digital media has suddenly unpinned the power to communicate from the almost exclusive control of the state. Thanks to digital platforms such as social media, state actors must now compete with non-state actors for a voice in the international arena as well as for legitimacy in the eyes of the public—including their domestic one.

Tags: digital diplomacy, government pd, social media, twitter, diplomacy