They have, along with other of my colleagues, really embraced the whole idea of partnerships and understood that in the 21st century, diplomacy and development is not in any way confined to government-to-government relations. Those have to be tended, those have to be respected, those have to be nurtured and grown. But at the same time in this increasingly interconnected, networked world, we wanted to reach out people-to-people, to our NGOs, our faith communities, our private sector, and so much more.

APDS Blogger: Sarah Myers

With the Swazi king planning another round of bogus "royal elections" this year, the Swaziland Democracy Campaign will launch a campaign for democratic elections this weekend. Meanwhile the South African government's soft diplomacy props up Swaziland's absolute monarchy.

India and Pakistan are back to their familiar game of mutual hatred. The latest flash point has come over repeated violations of the cease-fire along the Line of Control. The two adversaries have accused each other of violating the cease-fire, which came into place in 2003. This has been the longest cease-fire in the history of India and Pakistan. Put in place during the tenure of Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf, this is among the few confidence-building measures to last so long despite repeated violations, minor or major.

Egypt is about to miss a golden opportunity to enhance its stature in global diplomacy, which has presented itself in the form of Iran's suggestion of Cairo as the venue for the next round of multilateral nuclear negotiations. Despite unconfirmed reports that Cairo has turned a cold shoulder to this idea, it is still not too late for the embattled government of Mohammed Morsi to embrace it, thus gaining diplomatic and political capital.

Israel is likely to become on Tuesday afternoon the first country to boycott a United Nations Human Rights Council periodic review that all 193 member states participate in. It is the council which Israel objects to, not the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights record, which it underwent in 2008.

United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi offered the grimmest picture yet of Syria’s descent into chaos, leaving little doubt that diplomatic paths have been exhausted as the conflict drags on indefinitely. Syria is unraveling before the eyes of the world, Brahimi told the UN Security Council yesterday, according to an account provided by two UN officials who asked to not be named because the meeting was closed to the public.

On a recent MPD trip to Beijing, a research group focused on Corporate Diplomacy. We listened to Chinese corporate social responsibility (CSR) experts including practitioners from a state-owned enterprise (SOE), a corporate philanthropy magazine, and several public affairs firms, all of whom shared their thoughts on the different concepts of CSR that currently divide the East and the West.