In Morocco, I have come to experience India through two main elements: Bollywood movies and sari fabrics. Looking back at college, I remember borrowing an Indian movie DVD titled, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai from one of my friends... Watching Indian movies was a popular entertainment...

APDS Blogger: Mona El Hamdani

As has been remarked, U.S. public diplomacy in the age of Obama often amounts to the same thing as publicity for the President himself, with American institutions serving as megaphones for his political message.

And the Gulf state of Qatar — an obscure patch of sand in 1971 — is emerging as an international sports giant with a relentless appetite for headline-grabbing events, including hosting an updated edition of table tennis-as-political icebreaker.

Public diplomacy received considerable attention, given that Al Jazeera’s creation was a public diplomacy effort by Qatar’s rulers to increase international recognition of the country’s aspirations in the Arab world and beyond.

DOHA --- On November 1, the Al Jazeera Network celebrated its 15th birthday with splendor – a party for about a thousand people attended by the Emir of Qatar, the young Yemeni woman who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the mothers of Arab Spring martyrs Khaled Said and Mohammed Bouazizi. The celebration was well deserved; the channel that began broadcasting six hours a day in 1996 has become one of the world’s most important media companies.

An interesting blog post from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy discusses Creative Learning, an organization that encourages Americans to become “unofficial Ambassadors” to different Islamic nations. Another blog...demonstrates the impact social media can have on public diplomacy and how the use of the internet makes public diplomacy very effective in its distribution.

Through WaterCredit, we have explored the application of microfinance to water and sanitation needs. The potential of microfinance to democratize access to capital is paralleled by the potential of technology and social media to democratize access to information.