China continues its 'soft power' diplomatic efforts to expand its influence around the globe with the establishment of ever-more Confucius institutes at universities around the world and, recently, the spread of an offshoot aimed at schools called the Confucius Classroom scheme.

Whether one approaches Turkish sponsorship skeptically or not, the soft power approach of Turkey seems to have won the hearts of the people of the Balkans, who openly expressed the sentiment that without leadership, they would never have come this far.

My answer is best summarized in the words of Joseph Nye... "Even the best advertising cannot sell an unpopular product. Policies that appear as narrowly self-serving or arrogantly presented are likely to prohibit rather than produce soft power."

As China's economy and exchanges with the world see rapid growth, there has been a sharp increase in the demand for Chinese learning...Committed to providing Chinese language and cultural teaching resources and services worldwide, the Confucius Institute goes all out in meeting the demands of foreign learners and contributing to the development of multiculturalism.

As this laundry list of objectives indicates, it appears that the US is approaching terrorism in Africa from many different perspectives. Mirroring America’s foreign policy, however, the TSCTP places too much emphasis on hard rather than soft power.

“Across the world, bridges of understanding strain under the weight of intolerance and polarization.” He told the meeting that promoting dialogue and understanding has long been considered a form of ‘soft power’ because it brings about change slowly, without military action.

That open-air midday prayer video on YouTube illustrates the operational capacity of Turkey as a natural extension of European soft power in the Middle East and North Africa. Turkey would definitely hold greater sway in the region if it was a member of the EU. But that requires visionary European leaders.

David Cameron was branded a warmonger today for advising the United Nations to embrace Nato-style military interventions to rid the world of "oppressive" governments. Revelling in his "victory" in Libya, the Prime Minister said that the international community needed to use a combination of military action or "hard power" and "soft power" like diplomacy and financial aid.