“The cultural impact of Indian cuisine, literature, films, music and sporting events will increasingly be felt globally through and beyond India’s vast diaspora,” writes Mr. Kitchen. This is likely to be more significant than any “constructive international role” India will continue to play.

Although the Chinese government has invested heavily in promoting the spread of Chinese culture overseas, some art groups do not agree with the funding behavior. They say the best way to successfully introduce China's cultural products into mainstream Western society is through commercial channels.

Through such platforms as overseas visits by Chinese leaders, receiving visits to China by foreign leaders, the Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai World Expo, we engaged in dynamic public and cultural diplomacy...and showed to the rest of the world a China that is culturally-advanced, democratic, open and making continuous progress.

"Deepening cultural exchanges with foreign countries, and promoting Chinese and foreign cultures to learn from each other" has been listed as one of the major tasks of the Chinese government in 2012, says the government work report delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the opening ceremony of the National People's Congress in Beijing.

Putin perceives Russia as being the target of constant and mostly unfriendly pressure – from military challenges such as NATO enlargement to the imposition of social changes through media campaigns and other “soft power” elements...Success is only possible if based on use of power and this must be real 'hard' power.

To be successful and competitive in the long run, the private sector must manage global issues with numerous geographic and geopolitical challenges with creativity and dexterity, re-defining traditional notions of global engagement and public diplomacy along the way. A hybrid form of Smart Power on steroids.

On her graduation day at the prestigious Kennedy School at Harvard, Yang Jia’s dean called her “China’s soft power”. A decade later, Yang, 49, has probably become more than that — in a country which has the largest population of the disabled in the world, visually impaired Yang is now its symbol of hope.

“She has made people all over the world more respect, appreciate and understand America,” says one of her predecessors, Madeleine Albright. “She has made very clear what American values are while at the same time understanding other countries’ national interests.”