A public diplomacy team of Ethiopia will be dispatched to Cairo early next week to "take messages of friendship to the Egyptian people," said the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Some of these emerging diplomatic trends seem to have the potential to solve real problems, but can they really guarantee results or are they diplomatic fads that will go out of style as soon as the diplomatic community is faced with more complex challenges?

Nelson Mandela died one year ago today, but his legacy lives on. He changed the image of South Africa from that of a country despised for its atrocities to a “Rainbow Nation” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s term) that protects and promotes human rights and democratic values.

It is always difficult to calculate the impact of U.S. domestic events on international audiences. But if experience is any guide, news travels fast, and people from Soweto, South Africa to Seoul are watching events in Ferguson, Mo.; Staten Island, N.Y.; and around the country as protests unfold over police shootings. In short, I would say, "Houston, we have a problem."

Brand Ghana and Brand South Africa are devising strategies to help improve the competitive brands of the two countries, and those of other countries in Africa.

In our international surveys at the Pew Research Center, we explore how people in countries around the world differ on a wide range of political, economic, and social topics. But very few issues generate the kind of differences we see when we ask about homosexuality.