A top U.S. State Department official says Iran's efforts to exercise "hard power" in Iraq have failed, prompting Tehran to try to influence its western neighbor through the use of "soft power," or more indirect means.

252 years after the birth of Robert Burns – voted in a 2009 poll the greatest Scot of all time – I attend two very different events on a snowy Kyiv evening to mark Burns night.

The Jaipur Literature Festival, which wrapped up Tuesday, is India at its best, and occasionally not-so-best, proving that the proud emerging nation can easily trounce China in at least this category: the soft-power world of ideas, debate, criticism and a willingness to question authority.

China's campaign to use the soft power of culture to present an appealing face to the world seems to have found an official mascot: Confucius. The 2,500-year-old Chinese theorist, who preached devotion to tradition, has become the first non-revolutionary figure to be honored in Tiananmen Square with a new monumental statue...

Kutch may be Gujarat's most barren region, but it has given birth to people with the most fertile imagination. Films, music, literature... Kutchis have left their imprint on everything creative.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s recent documentary about trade in shark-fins focused on Costa Rica and the pariah state of Taiwan.... While this undoubtedly made for compelling television viewing on the UK’s Channel 4 TV station on Sunday January 16 (soon to be aired in the USA), for analysts of public diplomacy and soft power, the incident demonstrates a number of underlying truths.

Addressing a symposium to mark the 10th anniversary of the Law on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language, Liu said popularizing the standard Chinese language is vital for "carrying out the Chinese culture, enhancing the country's soft power, national unification and unity among all ethnic groups."

The latest chapter in the long story of panda diplomacy was written at Washington’s National Zoo, where the Chinese government agreed to lengthen the “loan” of popular panda pair Mei Xiang and Tian Tian for another five years.