Today’s NATO suffers from a public diplomacy overload rather than an image problem. Far from being a panacea to its democratic deficit, the dominant influence of public diplomacy strategies and their advocates on Allied decision-making is arguably part of the problem.

Thailand is now most of the way through the first term of the Obama administration, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has introduced and implemented the concept of "smart power" in relation to US foreign policy, which attempts to strategically combine elements from both "hard power" and "soft power" approaches.

...Turkey has a policy of outreach at the moment. It has been really active in Africa, in Asia and in Latin America using all its methods of soft power. And I’m sure that they would appreciate, would want better relations with China in spite of the differences that might be between them.

As the drive has accelerated it has helped give Ankara something it rarely had before: soft power, the allure of a country widely seen to be a success.

The US government’s failure to accord American Muslims the same respect, rights and privileges due to American citizens is nothing short of an ethical failure...the American insistence on profiling the Muslim minority at home is causing the US to lose its moral high ground, and with it, the soft power it once exerted.

If a state possesses sufficient “soft power,” it has acquired the ability to frame and shame events and actors in international relations...The French role in last year’s intervention in Libya was a perfect example.

The successes chalked up by Lung transformed Taipei into a world-class city of culture, explaining why she is tipped to repeat this feat on a national scale and take Taiwan’s soft power to the next level.

The growing realization in India, at least outside the government, is that engagement shouldn’t be merely state or personality driven. India’s government should take note of this, and ease visa restrictions on citizens from neighboring countries. It’s time to showcase India’s soft power, rather than relying on the External Affairs Ministry.