Soft power and public diplomacy activities were rammed up ahead of the East Asian Summit (EAS) in Bali to lay the engagement groundwork. In Indonesia, a Department of Defence-funded integrated maritime surveillance system has just been handed over to the Indonesian government, with the US committed to supporting the programme until 2014.

There's more to South Korea than K-Pop and Kim Yu-Na, and Lee Bae-Yong's mission in life is to stress that point worldwide.... [she] heads a unique body trying to burnish the image of a country which frets that its economic "hard power" far outweighs its "soft power" in the eyes of the global community.

It is the country of India that has the highest potential for soft power deployment in emerging markets, specifically in Africa for the following reasons...

Growing up in a diverse community in California, I enjoyed home-cooked Indian dishes, courtesy of my mother’s friends. I remember learning about India’s history and subsequently falling in love with its diverse culture and folklore, all during dinner. In retrospect, that was gastrodiplomacy at work.

An individualistic, heterogeneous, novelty-seeking American culture, strengthened by a critical mass of interdisciplinary American research universities that draw the world's best minds, represents a considerable edge in social and economic innovation.

It's a country where Shah Rukh Khan remains hugely popular. If you walk around the streets of Bali, inevitably someone will ask you if you have seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The soft power of Bollywood is tangible in nooks and crannies of this vast country.

The award’s sponsors are professors and academics who say they are independent of the government. While the government has enthusiastically embraced the need for more robust cultural links to enhance China’s “soft power,” it wants that charm campaign to stay under the firm direction of the ruling Communist Party.

Turkey now has a chance to promote democracy in the Middle East, build ties with its neighboring peoples, and rise to leadership in the region, all at the same time.Turkey’s time to become a Middle East power seems to have arrived. Challenges remain...including the future of Turkish-Israeli ties and Iran’s hostile attitude to Ankara’s rising influence in the region.