What is the State Department's strategy to counter China's use of soft power around the world? Host Carol Castiel and VOA State Department Correspondent Scott Stearns interview Tara Sonenshine, the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. In a wide-ranging interview, Sonenshine speaks about the role of public diplomacy and what the U.S. is doing to compete with China's growing soft power, particularly in Africa.

Thrown around in the Under Secretary's talk on America's public diplomacy abroad were commonly coined phrases like "return on investment" and "networks of good will."...Simply put, my problem is that we don't really live out public diplomacy here at home. I'm as proud an American citizen as anyone else but I do think how we define that citizenship requires reassessment. It is not OK that our country is present in so many places around the world and yet our people are turned inwards.

An exhibit, ’Celebrating Female Leadership within the International Staff at NATO’ was unveiled on International Women’s Day on 8 March at NATO Headquarters. The aim was to create greater awareness and to demonstrate NATO’s commitment to gender diversity.

In the run-up to and aftermath of the Iraq War, favourability toward the US, which had spiked upward after 9/11, went into free-fall in many countries. This and the accompanying rise of anti-Americanism is important because it has undercut US soft power and thereby reduced Washington's ability to promote its interests overseas, and indeed those of its allies.

The Indian film Industry had grown on its own, adopting innovation and creativity at every stage of development. The industry needed to be appreciated for the role played by it over a period of 100 years through the cinematic portrayal of moving images which had contributed to India’s soft power said Manish Tewari, Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Dr. Arshi Khan, Associate Professor of Political science at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) today said that there is a need to look into the role of India and the Muslim world in a new perspective different from Western epistemological framework of understanding. Dr. Arshi Khan said both India and the Muslim world possess a good number of population, professionals and natural resources in addition to a long history of multiple patterns of relationships for centuries.

Iran is now viewed unfavorably in a majority of Arab countries, according to a major new survey conducted by James Zogby of 20 Arab and Muslim-majority countries. Iran's appeal to mainstream Arab public opinion has virtually collapsed from its 2006 peak...Zogby's wide-ranging survey offers some fascinating new evidence, however. Public opinion survey research in the Arab world always needs to be treated with caution