Brazil, because of its largely peaceful history and its geostrategic isolation, has relied far more on soft power (the power of attraction) than on hard power (the power to compel) to advance its global interests. Because of this, Brazil will not be able (nor shows any desire) to compel the incumbent powers to accept the changes it wants in the present international order. 

Mr Coghlan is helping find ways to build cultural connections and "soft power diplomacy" between the two countries, by taking designers and Australian fashion industry representatives into China - and vice versa. "There's still a knowledge gap in the Australian industry on how China operates and ways to do business with China in the fashion sector, so we're continuing to work on that and build China relevant capabilities," Mr Coghlan said.

The emphasis that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid on setting and revamping India’s foreign policy agenda is indeed laudable. In his foreign trips, there has been a constant focus on creating a perception around and effectively projecting ‘Brand India’. It is here that the importance of public diplomacy comes in. 

Europe and Iran have common interests in several areas. In light of their historical and traditional bilateral relations as well as other positive sources, such as the existence of complementary economies, mutually-beneficial cooperation in the fields of energy and technology [...] through both collective and bilateral mechanisms, it is possible to actively pursue the struggle against the important threats such as terrorism, violence, extremism, drug trafficking.

The overwhelming impression given by the bulk of historical scholarship on pre-modern China’s foreign relations, as well as by official dynastic histories, is that generally the Chinese empire sustained its regional pre-eminence through civilisational and economic ‘soft power’ while adopting a defensive military posture and conservative grand strategy.