Foreign assistance represents less than 1% of the total budget request for 2011 and cuts to this already frugal amount will be devastating to efforts to promote development and good governance around the world.

The perception of the U.S. abroad varies widely, and is subject to many forces, including world events, media coverage, policy changes, and presidential administrations. In response, the U.S. State Department...has been charged with the difficult task of engaging in the dialogue surrounding the controversial policies discussed in almost every corner of the world.

Oh how quickly the European Union has fallen out of fashion. Only five years ago, international observers gushed over the European superstate. Scholars praised its soft power and economists revered its massive GDP. Pop internationalist texts, such as Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century, bursted with optimism

Given the cyclical nature of politics, you’d expect Pakistanis to be masters of the soft-power game. But then again maybe it’s difficult for strong arms to use a soft touch. But now the time is ripe for Pakistan to go on a charm offensive, particularly in the aftermath of Ajmal Kasab and Faisal Shahzad.

All you need to know about the study of foreign languages in the United States is that many more middle and high school students are studying the dead language spoken by Caesar and Nero than such critically important tongues as Chinese, Arabic, Hindu, Farsi, Japanese, Russian and Urdu combined.

Instead of narrowing everything down to drugs, security and how the United States can best back Mexico's war, the two countries should "de-narcoticize" their relationship and make their goal Mexico's development and transformation into a middle-class society.

Covering at least 1.5 billion people across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan, SAARC is one of the largest regional organizations in the world. But its achievements so far have been so minimal that even its constituents have become lackadaisical in their attitudes toward it.

As the European Union's economic vows continue in the wake of the Greece economic crisis, the effects are being felt across the Middle East. The European Union is struggling with what some argue is the region's worst economic crisis since the Second World War.