This summer the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship will be jointly hosted by Ukraine and Poland: An excellent opportunity for the European community to bond over its favorite sport, and for Ukraine, which for a long time has been aspiring EU membership, to promote its image.

APDS Blogger: Molly Krasnodebska

Throughout the last decade, no message was promoted stronger in the European Union than the idea of a new Europe, which has overcome its past of war and totalitarianism, and has emerged as a normative power standing for international cooperation, democracy, and human rights.

And yet when it comes to the recent events in Ukraine, discussed below, European soft power appears rather meager.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ (ECA) SportsUnited division announced a basketball exchange program that will send four Zimbabweans -- three teenage girls and a coach -- to the United States for twelve-days of dynamic activities as part of the new Empowering Women and Girls through Sports Initiative.

The two men are practising a brand of public diplomacy uniquely appropriate to two young, athletic leaders, said Heather Conley, senior fellow of the Europe program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a DC-based think tank.

Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” embracing the use of a full range of diplomatic tools—in this case, basketball—to bring individuals together in order to foster a greater understanding of societal norms and cultures.

As a senior researcher at the London-based Foreign Policy Centre from 2005 to 2007 I was involved in early exploratory discussions at the Foreign Office on the promotional or "public diplomacy" opportunities offered by the London 2012 Olympics.

"Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's vision of 'smart power,' embracing the full range of diplomatic tools, including sports, to bring individuals together to foster greater understanding," the State Department said.