Many in France see the country as open to the world and a champion of human rights, a nation bound by liberty, equality and brotherhood. But tough government law-and-order policies including crackdowns on Gypsies and a ban on Islamic veils are causing trouble for France's image abroad. A report handed this week to President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party says the country should use stronger public diplomacy to better explain itself.

Foreign aid is a much cheaper way of conducting a country’s foreign policy than the military — and in many cases it can be much more effective, too. The Obama administration is very keen on this...

Lebanon today witnessed one of the largest public diplomacy “events” staged by Iran, in the form of a formal state visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While a state visit as such is not normally framed as a public diplomacy event, Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon was marked by a degree of idiosyncrasy.

The question of soft power, when it comes to Iran, is contentious. Most analysts seem prepared to acknowledge that the Islamic Republic’s soft power in the Middle East rose significantly in the first several years of this decade.

To follow up on its promises, the White House appointed three science envoys to the Islamic World last February, with a further three announced last month. It hosted an Entrepreneurship Summit in April this year, and issued a 'fact sheet' of activities in June.

In particular, we need to take advantage of this anniversary to revitalize the Peace Corps so that it makes more progress in advancing its timeless mission of making the world more peaceful and prosperous.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's motorcade was showered with rice and flowers on its way from the airport to the presidential palace. But many people are alarmed at the visit, as Iran backs the Hezbollah group, an avowed enemy of Israel. In a move likely to outrage critics, Mr Ahmadinejad is set to tour villages on Lebanon's tense border with Israel.

People there are no longer what they used to be with an increasing number of North Koreans secretly tuning in to radio broadcasts late at night to listen to uncensored news from the outside world, according to North Korean defectors living in Seoul.