The West’s Soft Power was presumed to have helped win the Cold War. But there have been few attempts to measure soft power and this is the age of measurement. Now we have a very thought-provoking attempt from the Institute of Government (a private NGO) and Monocle magazine. The full report gives a sound review of soft power theory and the Index used to rank countries.

So far, Beijing's soft power strategy has focused on ramping up the Chinese media overseas, with steps like state news agency Xinhua taking out advertisements at New York's Times Square. The spread of Confucius Institutes across Asia and the world is another high-profile effort.

Because of this governance gap, it is critical that states use all possible soft power means to dissuade NNWSs from attempting to become nuclear threshold states. Among those means, Russia and NATO members are well placed to promote legal and structural nuclear fuel supply guarantees and the strict implementation of updated NSG guidelines.

In addition to public diplomacy, the U.S. government should continue to support the development of software that may make it easier for citizens of countries with repressive regimes to access the Internet without fear of surveillance.

For Clinton, who came into office vowing to promote U.S. "smart power" by ramping up both U.S. aid and civilian engagement around the world, the threatened downscaling of U.S. involvement is both dangerous and disappointing.

Somaliland should use Public diplomacy by effectively communicating with Somali publics around the globe through the use of mass media and through dealings with a wide range of nongovernmental entities and influential individuals for the purpose of influencing the Somali public perceptions towards Somaliland.

Christina Tribble says diplomats’ growing use — and awareness of — social media “has sort of fundamentally shifted the way that we have to reach out, the issues that we think about."

The French and Germans do more on public diplomacy in Asia. We do not have consulates across China and India and Indonesia, as we should have. We do not even have an embassy in Mongolia.