The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index is a major annual study which since 2005 has polled a sample equivalent to 60 percent of the world’s population on its perceptions of other countries. It shows that South Africa’s 2010 World Cup, although it was a resounding success, damaged the country’s standing quite severely.

"The use of this public diplomacy on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister aims to obtain a clearer commitment by the United States to attack if Iran continues its nuclear programme, or at least to give Israel the green light to do so," he told AFP.

A newly published study by the American Security Project (ASP), “The New Public Diplomacy Imperative,” highlights public diplomacy (PD) as a crucial element of our national security strategy and details the many obstacles for U.S. public diplomacy to reach its potential.

Fundamentally, public diplomacy needs to be about more than explaining American policies to the world, explaining American ideals or telling foreigners about how the United States is a great country. It needs to demonstrate to foreign publics that their concerns, desires, aspirations and opinions are relevant to America.

High levels of anti-Americanism in Pakistan have “handicapped” U.S. efforts to support development in the South Asian nation, according to a new study. The Center for Global Development, in a report released Monday, urged the United States to work with the World Bank and other international aid agencies with programs in Pakistan.

Analysts in India have tended to view the recent visit to Japan of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi through a narrow political prism. They see it as an image-building exercise conjured up by Modi’s slick PR machinery to project him on the international stage and appear, well, Prime Ministerial.