And yet, Mexico's economy is growing, tourism is rebounding... and the middle class is continuing to expand. So the key question going into 2012 is: Can anyone put back together Mexico's broken image, both on the world stage and at home?

Initiated by the International Marketing Council (IMC) of South Africa and taking place in each of the nine provinces, the summits aim to increase provincial participation in the nation-branding effort and encourage active citizenship – which, in turn, will help position the country as a top investment and tourism destination.

This was the latest in the U.S. ambassador’s activities in line with a “public diplomacy” mission and experts here claim that this is the direction that Korean diplomats should follow to help bolster the country’s diplomatic clout.

Part of Israel's strategy is an attempt to decouple our relations with other countries from our conflict with the Palestinians. Israel is signing agreements for academic exchanges and joint research with many nations, and has been accepted as a new member of CERN, the OECD of the scientific world.

Britain’s royals are – for now – here to stay. It is difficult to imagine London without Buckingham Palace, Trooping the Colours, the uniformed sentries, and all the pageantry that attends the royal family. Prince William and his bride, Kate, are without much of the baggage that attends some other members of the reigning court. Perhaps they may add luster to a crown that has become a little tarnished.

Recent months have seen an avalanche of new lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-friendly initiatives in Rio: vocational training courses for transvestites, anti-bullying projects aimed at gay and lesbian students and new legislation outlawing discrimination in the city's nightclubs.

The Shanghai Expo's China Pavilion expects crowds to teem through its doors when it reopens on July 12 in the sweltering summer heat. The pavilion will be open to public for three months till Oct 9, from Tuesday to Sunday.

According to the author of the quarterly Nation Brand Index, Simon Anholt, "if traditional diplomacy is government-to-government (G2G) and public diplomacy is government-to-people (G2P), then effective nation branding also includes an element of P2P.