The annual ranking by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says Canada's aid contributions dropped to 0.24 per cent of GDP in 2014, down from 0.27 per cent the previous year.

The exceptional brutality of ISIS not only demands a Canadian military response, but also for its to flex its muscles of international persuasion, former prime minister Joe Clark says.

It is no coincidence that Southeast Asia has appeared more prominently in Canada's economic consciousness recently. For federal officials, Southeast Asia is a major focus for pursuing business opportunities, and they say that is unlikely to change in the near future.

The 2014 CPD Annual Review demonstrates that although public diplomacy is present in every region of the world, it is predominantly in the northern hemisphere. North America is ranked the most active region in public diplomacy, with the United States contributing the most. Asia (Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and Central Asia combined) comes in second, and Europe is third, with almost the same presence as Asia. As expected, China, Japan, and South Korea take the lead as the major actors in Asia Pacific. India is also very active in PD in South Asia.

As part of the CPD Annual Review process, in January we highlighted some of the year’s key public diplomacy moments in our Top 10 List of the most notable stories from 2014.

Launched in 2013, the CPD Annual Review was developed to serve as a guide to understanding the global landscape of public diplomacy, its ebbs and flows, its triumphs and its shortcomings.

Does anybody remember soft power? Apparently Canada has it in abundance. It just doesn’t work. Soft power is, like so many trendy ideas in this country, an American invention.