The future of public diplomacy depends on two key factors: the willingness of policymakers to make it a more prominent part of international relationships; and the ability of public diplomacy professionals to increase the sophistication of their work.

What a different Egypt I write to you from today!

The 18 days from January 25 to February 11 have changed Egypt forever. After 30 years of a brutal dictator regime, Mubarak has stepped down. And for the first time in a very long time, Egypt has a real chance at freedom, and a real chance at democracy.

Articles on Indian public diplomacy - from Indian and non-Indian publications

In the past month, Chinese cultural diplomacy has gained great media attention. While Chinese state-owned media has always been in favor of publishing articles about soft power and cultural diplomacy as a weapon to fight against the idea of a “China threat,” recently, Chinese cultural diplomacy has adopted a new impetus.

The recent developments the world has been witnessing leave no room for doubt that Turkey is an exceptional and indispensable player on the regional and global stage. Turkey, with its vital geopolitical position, cultural and historical wealth, economic potential, secular democracy and political influence and efficiency, is among a few countries that can play such a critical role. In this global arena, one of the most important keys to Turkey’s success has been the country’s new foreign policy and public diplomacy strategies.

Sport is a gigantic and powerful medium for the international spread of information, reputations and relationships that are the essence of public diplomacy. The money spent world-wide on sport dwarfs what any government spends on public diplomacy. The size of the global audiences for sport and the audience’s level of interest exceed those of any other subject matter, including political news and the movies. The nature of sport—in its human striving for excellence and in its competition, its winners and losers—carries its own messages.

With the establishment of its first academic research center on public diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a well-publicized International Forum on Public Diplomacy in 2010, China has been taking some major steps forward as it tries to, in Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying’s words, “effectively present its image to other countries” and overcome a lack of experience “in handling relations with the media and the public in foreign countries”.  T

What does it mean when the term “diplomacy” is grafted onto another word?