The nation now most prone to such diplomatic pirouettes is the United States, still the world’s greatest power. Its strength has ever been defined, in important part, as idealism, “soft” power: belief in pluralism in politics, in free speech and a free press. These institutions are held to self-evidently good for a society: and the United States, with the European allies, has long preferred and rewarded those states which promise to follow that path.
 

We cheer the Brazilian soccer team and find our inner peace through yoga. But what is the flagship example of Chinese soft power? It might just be a day of shopping and singledom.

The business potential of the globally popular ancient practice makes the newly created ministry easier to justify.

It’s a shame that not enough people back in the UK realise the value this 82-year-old institution has for Britons travelling overseas, whether they’re doing business or seeing the sights.

Cuba is winning accolades for its international “doctor diplomacy,” in which it sends temporary medical professionals abroad—ostensibly to help poor countries battle disease and improve health care. But the doctors are not a gift from Cuba. 

With their increasing popularity in as many as 40 countries, Turkey’s TV dramas are proving to be economically crucial and an indisputable soft power tool. Just ask the fans of Tuba Büyüküstün, an actress popular in Dubai, Moscow and Monte-Carlo

Like many students in Japan, Kim Yang Sun cycles to school each morning. Unlike most, she then changes into a traditional Korean outfit and studies under portraits of former North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.