This paper examines China’s public diplomacy components and content in general, discussing some of the main vectors of China’s public diplomacy, cultural, and political influence by the way of “soft power”. 

The perversion of Islam that IS represents must be addressed primarily by Muslims themselves, but such efforts should be supported by public diplomacy emanating from non-Muslim countries. There is no sure-fire fix, but among the most effective long-term programs for redirecting youthful energies are educational exchanges. 

As I explore in a new Brookings paper, a major reason for this level of [ISIS's] recruiting success has been the group’s savvy use of propaganda and social media. Counter-messaging efforts, meanwhile, have been largely ineffective—in part because they are dwarfed by the sheer size of the ISIS communications footprint, but also because they have been too mono-dimensional and static.

African countries must not overstate the extent of Chinese investment on the continent as China is investing very little [...] At the recently-held African Media Leaders Forum in South Africa last week, UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Carlos Lopez said African leaders had to confront the reality that Chinese investment in Africa was not enough for the “mineral sacrifices” it was warranting.

Ahead of a Senate committee hearing tomorrow (Nov. 17) on options for changing the structure of U.S. government broadcasting, [John Lansing, the new CEO and Director of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors] said one idea in particular makes no sense:  Dividing the governing structure into two separate, independent boards would only lead to confusion and wasted effort.

"Yours will be a future where human beings, as President Obama has said, have pushed farther into the universe, not just to visit but also to stay. To me, public diplomacy and cooperation in space go together like peanut butter and jelly," Bolden said. 

Have you heard the one about the American ambassador with his own reality show? While we here stateside don’t know much about our diplomat in Denmark, Rufus Gifford, most Danes are on a first-name basis with the affable 41-year-old with leading-man looks, thanks to Jeg er ambassadøren fra Amerika—or The American Ambassador. 

Senior U.S. government officials have also acknowledged the importance of winning the war of ideas from the outset. [...] A closer inspection suggests the lessons from the Truth campaign can help improve the West's ability to compete in the CVE war of ideas, particularly in the eyes of young adults.