“The US approach to issues in the Middle East has been very defined and I will say that rather than looking at the words of mouth, which do not really matter, I will suggest that people should look more at actions being taken by the US,"

The third U.S.-China Women-LEAD dialogue focused on the topic of “Women and Employment.” The U.S. delegation consisted of government officials, academics, and other members of civil society. The two sides discussed best practices and effective policies...

The great anticipation surrounding President Barack Obama‘s long overdue visit to Indonesia on November 9-10 ensured that it would be one of the most watched stops on his recent Asian tour. After domestic political issues in the U.S.

Public diplomacy has been the norm in the US and European countries for a long time, but in China this concept has yet to be understood and accepted widely. Government efforts at communicating with the public both home and overseas are often criticized as insensitive and opaque.

Yesterday, there was a tweet that a senior official at the State Department described public diplomacy as like “old-school American propaganda.”  This resonated with many because it seemed to affirm a discrimination at State against public diplomacy and bureaucratic cannibalism.

It was a sign of how hard it can be to foresee the advantages of new technologies, but also the cultural resistance they face in traditional organisations. More than 100 years later, here in Australia, our Foreign Ministry is grappling with the latest wave of technological innovation, and so far it has been a very tough struggle.

In the United States, diplomats are transforming the way they work using social media, and, according to a report released today by the Lowy Institute, the contrast with Australia is huge. The US State Department now has 600 social media platforms with a global audience of more than 8 million people.

"The US State Department has become the world's leading user of ediplomacy," states the new report put out by Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy, highlighting a range of initiatives that Foggy Bottom has included in its "21st Century Statecraft" Initiative.