The idea of Russian “soft power” became fashionable, but it was very different to European “soft power”. So-called Russian soft power was just “softer power”, including any means of coercion not involving tanks. It was, in the English phrase, “softly-softly” power, or “covert power”, the type of behind-the-scenes influence encapsulated in the Russian phrase kuluarna polityka – politics in corridors, not just away from public influence, but without formal record.

There is a disconnect between China’s growing national power and the international image of the Chinese people.

He presides over a one-party state that jails more journaliststhan any other on the planet, silences its critics ruthlessly and censors the Internet extensively. But China’s President Xi Jinping is not only wildly popular in his own country, he could be the most popular world leader globally.

When I introduced the word Moroccanism to academia, I was thinking of a unifying cultural concept that can bring all the Moroccans together whether they consider themselves African, Amazigh, Arab, Hebrew, Mediterranean or Andalusian.

The obituary of the American century has been written, but there are very good reasons to believe that the USA will continue to play a dominant role in the 21stcentury. America’s continued dominance is based on its ability to project both hard and soft power.

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati says that the best way to fight against Iranophobia and Shiaphobia is the clever usage of Iran’s soft power.

Universities are now a "crucial" part of the UK's "soft power" in projecting international influence, says former foreign secretary William Hague.  Their recruitment of overseas students "enriches and strengthens our universities and our future economy and our influence in the world", he said.

The adoption of 21 June as the International Yoga Day by the United Nations signifies the support that recent diplomatic endeavours of the government have evoked on the world stage, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.