Launched in 2013, the CPD Annual Review was developed to serve as a guide to understanding the global landscape of public diplomacy, its ebbs and flows, its triumphs and its shortcomings.

Is India’s Narendra Modi administration guilty of reducing the country’s strategic foreign policy discourse to a pedestrian level so much so that New Delhi has turned into an object of ridicule in the international diplomatic circle? 

Between complacency and confrontation there is a responsible way forward that keeps the Asia-Pacific a big enough place to accommodate the vital interests of both Beijing and Washington. The heavy lifting will have to be done by the United States. That’s okay. The work will make America a stronger nation and a better Asian ally.

When it comes to the opinion-makers and experts we listen to on matters of foreign policy, it's neither new nor enough to ask: where are the women? We also have to ask where they aren't.We need not go very far for an answer: The Washington Post recently compiled data from events hosted by six leading think tanks in Washington, DC. They found that not a single woman spoke at more than 150 events on the Middle East. Of the 232 total events included in the Post's data set, fewer than 25 percent of the speakers were women.

A state-sponsored program to build mosques in countries from Kazakhstan to Cuba has emerged as a foreign policy instrument for Turkey, boosting the country’s claim to a place on the international stage as a leader of the Islamic world that looks after Muslims everywhere.

It's natural that all countries have different aims in foreign policy and different ways to attain them. However, one aim has been common for all cultures – spreading influence. Turkey is the only Muslim majority NATO member country with a decade long stability record in its economy, offering low corporate income taxes for entrepreneurs and a large domestic market. Spending 2.7 percent of GDP for its military, we can say Turkey is a diplomacy player but it is neither rich enough nor is it active enough in terms of using its military might to be an effective actor in the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will ask New Delhi's envoys in over 160 countries to focus on economic diplomacy to help government attract investment and transform the 'Make-in-India' campaign a success to boost growth during the annual heads of missions conference that started in Delhi on Friday.