A favorable image of Iran, once widely held in the Arab world, has started to erode in the last few years and since the beginning of 2011, it has deteriorated sharply. This is because the wave of unrest in the streets of the Arab world has been accompanied by a major shift in perceptions of Iran.

The international ramifications for China's slowly rebuilding reputation would be too much to bear even for the relatively untouchable Communist Party... On the one hand, Europeans are slowly becoming more reliant on Chinese bail-out money – do not bite the hand that feeds you. On the other, Europe must maintain its soft-power credit, even if only on the surface.

It seems to me, whether it’s called soft power or smart power, it’s a very wise thing to do to invest in development, and it’s very short-sighted to not see the link between our national security and what’s going on anywhere in the world.

In the past 30 years, China has created an economic machine that has lifted more people out of poverty in a short space of time than any nation in history. It has built world-class factories, vast modern cities and a continental highway system. Now it wants to build something less tangible: soft power.

China isn’t the only country engaged in cyber espionage. But perceptions of its increased activity risk undermining its soft power diplomacy.

What character does the U.S. have in the fantastical lands of Bollywood? A handful of recent films have truly absorbed America into their land of dreams. They’ve ditched most of the stereotypes about corrupt, debauched Westerners seen in films from past eras...but they also creatively use American settings for stories that deal with the unique risks and freedoms of the 21st-century world.

Just as in relationships between people, states generally treat different categories of other states differently: With friends they appeal to loyalty and shared values; with allies they appeal mainly to shared interests; with clients or subordinates, they also appeal mainly to shared interests, but with a twist given the power equation.

The Central Committee has declared that focusing on China's cultural development is part of its plan to increase the country's "soft power" and defend its "cultural security." While the government continues to fund projects to promote Chinese culture abroad like the Confcius Institutes, behind these tired slogans are policy guidelines sure to doom any possibility of a Chinese cultural renaissance.