New York Times columnist David Brooks recently wrote a piece on “Smart Power Setback,” harshly criticizing the international aid system and the way it has operated in Afghanistan over the past decade. Drawing on the recent U.S.

Under the new diplomacy, we feel talking with governments is not enough, and want to build contacts at people, business and NGO levels. Increasingly, this is how foreign policy will be conducted. In fact, the US is most enthusiastic about what we call ‘smart power,’ as opposed to hard power (using force) or soft power (the traditional non-military stuff).

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced today a partnership with USA Volleyball that will bring 50 volleyball coaches to the United States from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago. The delegation will will meet with their U.S. counterparts and participate in coaching seminars and clinics.

People have spent years trying to learn from past foreign aid disappointments and still, with all these resources, the results are discouraging. This experience should have a chastening influence on the advocates of smart power. But it could be that cultural and economic development works on a different timetable than traditional foreign policy.

Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power diplomacy.” It embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools, including sports, to bring individuals together to foster greater understanding.

Timed to coincide with the lead-up to the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as the 40th anniversary year of Title IX, the initiative builds on Clinton’s vision of “smart power diplomacy” to harness the full range of diplomatic tools at the nation's disposal — in this case international soccer exchanges — to advance United States foreign policy goals and foster greater understanding.

Military force may sometimes be necessary, but diplomacy and development are equally important in creating peaceful, stable and prosperous conditions - that's the conclusion of the U.S. Department of State.

The successful killing by the U.S. military of al-Qaida head Osama bin Laden makes the case for a transition from a 20th century model of defense to a new version, characterized by advocates as “soft” or “smart” power.