Senior officials from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) begin talks in China this week to find investors in agriculture, industry and roads and other physical infrastructure. Some groups have expressed concern that increased investment will only benefit the Asian giants and African elites.

The pyramid of power flipped because people all around the world are clamoring to be heard, and demanding to shape their own futures. The inverted pyramid makes integrating a consideration of the attitudes and opinions of foreign publics an essential component of the foreign policy decision-making process in the 21st century.

Germany will ease restrictions on foreign doctors and engineers seeking work in the country in a bid to plug a yawning gap in the labour market of Europe’s top economy. Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan told the daily Passauer Neue Presse that the centre-right government would this week approve a draft law aimed at attracting thousands of professionals from abroad.

People have spent years trying to learn from past foreign aid disappointments and still, with all these resources, the results are discouraging. This experience should have a chastening influence on the advocates of smart power. But it could be that cultural and economic development works on a different timetable than traditional foreign policy.

China and the United States are competing to win the hearts and minds of Third World nations by treating the sick on visiting hospital ships. A new study by the Royal Australian Navy Sea Power Centre says China embarked on its foray into naval medical diplomacy last year...such missions furthered China's new desire to expand its influence and lift its image as a responsible global stakeholder.

Task Force Bon Voizen, which translates as “good neighbor,” serves as a picture-perfect image of the U.S. military's soft-power efforts, and the task force's only enemies here are time and budget. Since the task force began its mission at the end of April, it has treated more than 800 dental patients and nearly 23,000 medical patients.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, arguably the world’s best-known advocate of women’s and girls’ rights, is facing criticism for not jumping on the bandwagon of a women’s cause recently in the news: the right of Saudi women to drive. But this can be a tricky cause to take on – as one advocate of American ideals in the Bush administration, Karen Hughes, discovered during her time in office.