Celebrity diplomacy is nothing new. On Tuesday, Madonna has announced plans to build 10 schools in Malawi with a new partner after mismanagement forced the singer to scrap her first project there last year. The singer said she hoped the schools would educate at least 1,000 children a year, half of them girls.

This latest issue of PDiN Monitor is titled India Emerged: A Review of India's Public Diplomacy Activities. The issue examines the large scale public diplomacy effort put forward by India recently and the rise of its soft power presence in the world.

South Korea's government has been trying to change the country's international image - or rather its lack of one - for years. And even those involved - like Peter Kim, brand manager for the Seoul government - admit it has been a tough sell. South Korea's national branding is facing some unique challenges.

Chinese companies still have much to learn about soft power. Africa is not barbarian territory waiting to be developed: it has ancient cultures and traditions. It has won independence from colonial rule and claimed its place as its own continent. How many Chinese firms going into Africa really understand the countries they will work in?

Disjointed aid efforts, in the form of implementing thousands of “quick fix” projects, have miserably failed, however, wasting the precious aid monies of taxpayers to Afghanistan. The way forward must avoid more of the same but draw on the many lessons learned in order to ensure a sustainable and irreversible transition to the Afghan responsibility.

Westerners are savvier to the use of soft power, particularly when non-democracies such as China try their hand. The Canadian ambassador to Beijing, who put up photos of his official car online, prompted a thousand Chinese to comment on the embassy’s microblog, showing that engaging with Chinese 400 million citizens is a useful way to help achieve its foreign policy aims.

We need a vigorous public debate on the role and direction of U.S. Government broadcasting. This includes discussing the purpose of Government broadcasting based not on assumptions or projections from the past but the current and future communication environment and the requirements of foreign policy.

The US Department of State's AIE office plays a vital role in US public diplomacy through a culture of expansive mission. AIE’s exhibitions allow foreign citizens, many of whom might never travel to U.S., to personally experience the depth and breadth of US artistic heritage and values, so that a “footprint can be left where people have no opportunity to see American art.”