Britain pledged 100 million pounds ($130 million) on Thursday to help educate girls in the world's poorest countries in a move described by International Development Secretary Justine Greening as a post-Brexit bridge to the world. [...] Greening described the pledge as one of the "best bargains" in development investment the British government could make, saying it would build bridges with "trading partners of the future", particularly in a post-Brexit world.

Despite its advocacy for Beijing's controversial and important position in the disputed South China Sea, the Institute for China-American Studies (ICAS) -- the only Chinese think tank based in Washington DC -- has been unable to rise from obscurity. Google their initials and they come up on the third page, behind the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, the International Council of Air Shows, and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, a tribe in Alaska. It has all of 43 Twitter followers.

Last week, as news of Brexit broke, foreign ministries throughout the world took to social media to comment on the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The German foreign ministry responded by changing its Twitter profile picture/cover photo from an image of the foreign minister to the EU flag. [...] An intriguing question is how do MFAs use their Twitter profile pictures/cover photos. Are these used to promote the national brand, or to project a certain institutional image or perhaps to make political statements as was the case with the Germany’s foreign ministry?

The Chinese government has spent billions in recent years to subsidize artistic enterprises, with an eye toward wielding "soft power" beyond its borders. It hasn't been notably successful. But China's video game industry -- as of last year, the world's biggest -- is on the verge of becoming one of its most valuable cultural exports. It just might succeed where so much Chinese entertainment has failed in the past.

The flags of the member states of the European Union flutter outside EU institutions, recent beehives of activity as top officials gathered from around the continent to respond to Britain’s momentous choice to leave the bloc behind. [...] And now it’s up to EU leaders to recalibrate and stop a further breakup, not only by delivering concrete results to citizens, like jobs, but also by making sure their case for unity is heard over the storm of criticism coming from Euroskeptics poised to take advantage at a turning point.

Daya Kishan Thussu’s Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood (Sage, 2016) is a rare resource on the subject of the country’s ‘soft power’. As the author himself claims, “on the soft power of China itself there are at least half a dozen books published in English – many more in Mandarin – while in the case of India the terrain is blank, despite its large array of soft power elements”. 

Foreign policy was once the bastion of the elites. In military, diplomatic and humanitarian affairs, nation-states and the small group of individuals and institutions that governed their actions used primarily kinetic and broadcast channels to influence the actions of others. Control was largely exerted through hierarchical structures, and collective action through industrial organizations. Digital technology has radically shifted this reality by flattening the operating environment in which global affairs is conducted.

Malaysia’s filmmaking industry is ready to move on to the next level, with the country’s first international film festival and award show – the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFF), and Malaysia Golden Global Awards (MGGA) – to be held in the first quarter of 2017. [...] The international film festival is co-organised by Malaysia’s National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) and supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, and is a joint effort between Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.