With the notable exception of Canada, public diplomacy most everywhere is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance, with interest and activity at levels not seen since the end of the Cold War....Why the resurgence?

One of the defining attributes of being in a center of global commerce and culture is the feeling you get when walking down the sidewalks. In London, I found the experience of strolling a few blocks from where I was staying to the downtown campus of UEA London, in large part along the fabled Brick Lane, to be a source of energy and inspiration.

Since 9/11, the U.S. Government has invested heavily in technology-based solutions to understanding, informing, and influencing people around the world and across a variety of mediums. Many of these efforts were sponsored by the Defense Department for reasons that include major appropriations by the Congress, a capability (and culture) of contracting, and so on.

It has long been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The challenge is understanding which words to which people...Context matters. Each viewing will be shaped by a personal or group context influenced by experience, culture, language, narratives, and other inputs direct and indirect.

As a struggle for a new narrative across the Taiwan Strait develops, it remains unclear what kind of collective narrative will emerge – if ever. Ostensibly, the KMT and the CCP are engaging in a mutual game of soft power politics that is moving beyond cultural exchanges.

One hundred years ago, Japan gifted some 3,000 cherry trees to the United States in a gesture of friendship. They now flower each spring around the tidal basin in Washington, D.C. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. will return the favor.

Hopefully Mica’s story, which became about baseball as a metaphor for increased relations with Cuba, can thus join the continuum of using baseball for cultural exchanges...Along the way, he experienced a cultural exchange, and learned that when it comes to Cuba and the United States, there is much more that is similar than different.

India’s image has transformed drastically in the last decade from an aid recipient nation to a global power, experts say. The shift in this image is not merely a result of economic growth figures alone — it has resulted from a carefully managed “image campaign” that the Indian government has invested in.