The financial crunch threatens to undermine a foreign policy described as “smart power” by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, one that emphasizes diplomacy and development as a complement to U.S. military power.

Somaliland should use Public diplomacy by effectively communicating with Somali publics around the globe through the use of mass media and through dealings with a wide range of nongovernmental entities and influential individuals for the purpose of influencing the Somali public perceptions towards Somaliland.

Christina Tribble says diplomats’ growing use — and awareness of — social media “has sort of fundamentally shifted the way that we have to reach out, the issues that we think about."

Take Mitt Romney's 59-point plan to rebuild America, which contains a set of foreign policy principles.. [including] enhanced "soft power" to bolster American influence around the world and steadfast alliances in Europe and the Middle East.

The U.S. State Department clearly views Al Jazeera as a tool of Qatar's foreign policy; one cable from November 2009 claims that the Persian Gulf state uses the channel "as a bargaining tool to repair relationships with other countries, particularly those soured by al-Jazeera's broadcasts, including the United States."

Soft power is more welcome in the world than hard power. In Afghanistan, Turkey is there with military power, but the Turkish military in Afghanistan acts more with soft power -- in the construction of mosques, schools, construction of roads, and that type of things.

America's adversaries are not really most afraid of its military or even economic power. They are most afraid of its moral power...America's greatest natural resource and comparative advantage is its dynamic, multicultural society drawn together by a unifying concept...But, the way we approach the world through our foreign and national security policies is woefully inappropriate and counterproductive.

If a Millennial foreign policy exists, the concept of smart power—developing and employing the complete policy arsenal at our disposal to influence through soft power and, when necessary, compel with hard power—might be its central tenet.