Presence Switzerland has issued a £100,000 brief for an agency to increase the country's visibility to numerous audiences. The successful agency will also be asked to focus attention on the House of Switzerland, the country's official guesthouse.

The Nobel Prize − that ultimate soft-power statement − must now compete with alternative human rights awards. Gadhafi could bestow his own award on Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from one moral paragon to another.

Ahead of a vote in plenary Thursday, the Dutch Liberal draftswoman of the report on "the cultural dimensions of EU's external actions", Marietje Schaake explained what cultural diplomacy is and how European culture can help spread democratic values around the world.

Naturally, with a fifty-five year history, the Eurovision Song Contest has been the subject of deep analysis and research. Dozens of academic dissertations have picked apart every aspect. The two main themes have been East-West tensions and the queering of Eurovision.

Opinion: The killing of Osama bin Laden marks a unique melding of American hard and soft power, and a boost (with legs) for President Obama

An exhibition of collection of photos which highlighting the common history between Syria and Dacia in the old ages was organized at the Romanian National Museum in the capital Bucharest.

Despite continuing criticism of the European Union over its delayed response to the turmoil in the Arab world, Poland’s foreign minister said this week that the crisis provided an opportunity for the bloc to help that region on a road toward democracy.

Hungary has taken the rotating presidency of the European Union at a hugely important moment. Having been the UK’s Europe Minister during Britain’s last EU Presidency in 2005, I have some experience of the hard, diplomatic work involved.