It will take much more than “xenophobia, irresponsibility and total disregard for facts” to derail the neighbors’ relationship, the former Mexican ambassador to Washington writes.

Public opinion matters more than ever, even in authoritarian states. Prosperity, better education, urbanization, mass communication, and social media increase awareness of how government actions can affect the interests of groups and individuals, even beyond the domestic arena. 

New Zealand diplomats remain "sceptical of megaphone diplomacy'' but are increasingly making use of social media, although not in an "indiscriminate'' way. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade chief executive Dr Brook Barrington made that point in Dunedin yesterday in an opening address to more than 100 people, at the University of Otago's 51st annual foreign policy school. Dr Barrington's address was devoted to "The Art of Diplomacy in a Digital World''.

Daya Kishan Thussu’s Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood (Sage, 2016) is a rare resource on the subject of the country’s ‘soft power’. As the author himself claims, “on the soft power of China itself there are at least half a dozen books published in English – many more in Mandarin – while in the case of India the terrain is blank, despite its large array of soft power elements”. 

Foreign policy was once the bastion of the elites. In military, diplomatic and humanitarian affairs, nation-states and the small group of individuals and institutions that governed their actions used primarily kinetic and broadcast channels to influence the actions of others. Control was largely exerted through hierarchical structures, and collective action through industrial organizations. Digital technology has radically shifted this reality by flattening the operating environment in which global affairs is conducted.

The United States must pursue a different approach in helping stabilize Somalia following the appointment of the first U.S. Ambassador to Somalia in more than 25 years, said a former Somali diplomat and respected foreign policy analyst. Abukar Arman, the former Special Representative of Somalia to Washington, said Wednesday the United States has been weak in using “soft power” in its effort to support the government attain security and political stability.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vows to keep the promotion of LGBT rights abroad as a central plank of Canada’s foreign policy. [...] “It’s not just the head of government, it’s all of our representatives, challenging our representatives to look for ways not just to put pressure on the individual governments, but to be active on social media, to talk to civil society, to get out and engage with the communities in a way that is diplomatically respectful,” Trudeau says.