On the last day of the Masters of Public Diplomacy delegation’s visit to Washington D.C., some of us had the opportunity to visit the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. The delegation included University of Southern California alumna and Senior Communications Advisor, Stacy Hope; Assistant Press Officer, Ren Althouse; and three Press & Public Diplomacy (PPD) interns.

APDS Blogger: Riccardo Ruffolo

On the last day of the Masters of Public Diplomacy delegation’s visit to Washington D.C., some of us had the opportunity to visit the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. The delegation included University of Southern California alumna and Senior Communications Advisor, Stacy Hope; Assistant Press Officer, Ren Althouse; and three Press & Public Diplomacy (PPD) interns.

The international chattering class has a label for these changes: American decline. The dots look so connectable: The financial crisis, say the pundits, comprehensively demonstrated the failure of "Anglo-Saxon" capitalism...Throw in the assertive new powers and there you have it—the portrait of America in decline.

Kung fu, pandas or Peking Opera are what one would commonly associate with China - but they are also vital cogs in a massive "soft power" exercise that China hopes will give it more global voice and an image makeover. It is also proving to be a tough challenge for policymakers, as the growth of the country's "soft power" has not been in tandem with that of its "hard power".

However, the EU video So Similar, So Different, So European is slightly, well, different. It doesn’t originate from the global province towards the center, not even the other way round. It is a narrative the EU is telling to itself.

Shared identity is unsustainable without incorporating culture and sports under the European umbrella, and football might prove to be one of the highest hurdles to jump on the road to Europeanization.

This much-trumpeted approach will group commercial and public diplomacy efforts and direct these towards emerging Asian economies and Latin American countries in an attempt to boost Spain’s profile and hopefully help economic recovery.