Ethiopia's perception and analysis of challenges and opportunities in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region have become increasingly dominant. Owing to the following four reasons, Ethiopia's pivotal role within the IGAD and to a limited extent in the AU will continue to grow.

“[Twitter] has become a very powerful tool to conduct public diplomacy,” Sarukhan says. “Public diplomacy is about engaging and about winning hearts and minds.”

The Senate's revelations don't pose much risk of a rupture in transatlantic ties.  Instead, the most common reaction was to praise the report as a sign of American transparency and accountability—two of the values meant to bind the West together—while many European statesmen have so far avoided saying anything at all.

Reassurance is needed. Hopes that China’s spectacular climb to superpower status might be completed without conflict have been dented in recent years. Its assertive approach to old but until recently largely quiescent territorial disputes with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and India has jangled nerves. 

Since The United States International Communications Reform Act of 2014 (HR4490) was passed by The House of Representatives on July 28, 2014, there has been much debate about the fate of the Voice of America and how the Broadcasting Board of Governors needs to be reformed.