Invoking religion in an unusually direct manner, Kerry said understanding the importance of faith is essential in diplomacy and working with religious leaders can help solve complex problems in foreign countries.

The State Department, however, is not nearly as effective as it should be, to the detriment of American standing and effectiveness in the world. The Heritage Foundation’s Brett Schaefer details the steps that would better equip the State Department to focus on its traditional mission, and be of true value to future U.S. foreign policy.

If Trump became president, “it would at the very least create confusion and carries the risk of triggering a major turning point for the Japan-US alliance and Japan’s overall diplomacy”, Maeshima said.

The application of power in international affairs has raised an endless debate among those who are in favor of the direct military use of power and those who are in support of diplomacy. This indirect use of power is what Joseph Ney calls soft power...

Brexit is in many ways just the British manifestation of the broader problem that the EU has never solved: There is a common European institution, but not a common European identity. [...] Obsessed with its own internal problems, it will fail to take the lead in standing up to Russia, it will fail to contribute to security in Africa or the Middle East...

When he became pope, there was some concern that Francis lacked experience with the wider world. He had traveled little outside of his native Argentina, his pastoral experience was rooted in a metropolis, Buenos Aires, and its shantytowns, addressing problems of everyday life — poverty, migration and human trafficking. No one expected him to become a global player. But Francis is also the first Jesuit pope. Over the centuries his religious order often waged its own diplomacy, acquiring extensive knowledge of other cultures. The training shows.

As new challenges such as the critical need for a universal sustainable development agenda confront mankind, science and diplomacy are converging as common tools for trouble-shooting. A new phenomenon is Science Diplomacy involving the role of science in diplomacy.