India is at a historic crossroads and this might well be a transformational phase in our foreign policy.  However, Prime Minister Modi needs to recognize that the magic of soft power works only when it carries traditional diplomacy along.

Egypt rejoined the African Union on June 17, 2014, and since that time, the administration of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been trying to expand its regional role in Africa through a stronger foreign policy and hopes to use the soft power of religion to reassert Egypt’s cultural influence in African societies.

Turkey's economic growth, global trade perspective and soft power capacity are its best assets for the expansion and deepening of Turkey's relations with Latin America. Already at home with new economic opportunities and cultural diversity, Turkey is exploring different possibilities to have stronger bilateral relations and regional cooperation.

It was a spectacle: Traditional and modern Khmer and Chinese music enraptured as hundreds of dancers took to the stage in elaborate costumes—and with literally flying colors as a pair of acrobats spun above the stage.

The myriad emotions that Bollywood  evokes and the chord it strikes across the border undeniably makes cinema the glue that binds people, transcending barriers of culture, geography, even a chequered past. 

China plans to spend 360 million yuan (HK$454 million) on expanding its overseas cultural centres this year - nearly double last year's amount - amid government efforts to bolster its soft power abroad. But observers are sceptical whether the centres, which are different from the Confucius Institutes, can improve the nation's image overseas, especially given similar efforts have attracted criticism.

Does anybody remember soft power? Apparently Canada has it in abundance. It just doesn’t work. Soft power is, like so many trendy ideas in this country, an American invention.