soft power
Global communications scholar Daya Kishan Thussu, whose most recent work is Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood, spoke at CPD as part of the Conversations in Public Diplomacy series. Thussu’s book considers India’s global cultural influence, within the context of India’s unique history.
Having recently returned from the International Studies Association (ISA) conference in Toronto, I wanted to share some thoughts with the PD community, and particularly the scholars who for some reason or other couldn’t attend.
Having recently returned from the International Studies Association (ISA) conference in Toronto, I wanted to share some thoughts with the PD community, and particularly the scholars who for some reason or other couldn’t attend. For those who aren’t familiar, ISA is the major annual conference where PD scholars convene, particularly through the International Communication (ICOMM) and Diplomatic Studies divisions. ISA has around 5,000 participants, of which the regular faces working on PD comprise of less than one percent.
As one of the most bankable stars on the planet, Johnny Depp has the luxury of keeping his PR obligations brief. But he was jumping through press hoops this week as he made his first trip to China to sell moviegoers on his new sci-fi film, "Transcendence," which opens here April 18.
From the wild popularity of such shows as “24” with super-agent Jack Bauer out to save the world, to the popular sequels of the end-of-the-world “Transformers” movie, American television series and movies have always played well in China.
Halfway through an otherwise coherent conversation with a Georgian lawyer last week—the topics included judges, the court system, the police—I was startled by a comment he made about his country’s former government, led by ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. “They were LGBT,” he said, conspiratorially.
Frameworks for cultural diplomacy in the U.S. are often too narrow and too broad.