Speaking during the round table meeting titled “Turkey's Soft Power in the Middle East: Possibilities and Limits,” which was hosted by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), Padovan pointed to the importance of the private Turkish schools that have been established around the world.

FOR a lesson in the use of ‘soft power’, turn to Beijing. China has made culture and people-to-people contacts an essential cornerstone of its global diplomacy. The key focus so far has been on countries in the neighbourhood, with China working hard to defuse perceptions that it seeks to dominate the rest of Asia. The rest of the world is now also getting a taste of China’s cultural diplomacy.

In the eyes of the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 revealed that public diplomacy efforts with predominantly Muslims countries had been neglected for many years. Soon afterwards they helped establish the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Study (YES) program.

It remains to be seen if divergent views on support to farmers will have a negative impact, not just on the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round, but also on bilateral relations. On the soft-power side, France needs to attract more Indian scientists and students to its academic institutions.

A cornerstone of China’s cultural diplomacy is Confucius Institutes at both Bishkek Humanities University and the Kyrgyz National University... the Beijing-funded institutes have infused their host universities with a Chinese flavor, paying for instructors and tailor-made course books that help some three thousand local students grapple with the tonal challenges of the Chinese language

New perspectives enhanced the education of Air War College students as 15 State Department diplomats participated in seminars during the National Security Decision Making...Their visit was an opportunity... to learn from each other about public diplomacy and global issues.

Western Maine now has local coordinators working to promote “public diplomacy” through the hosting of high school students from 45 countries.

Four hundred foreign students complained to the State Department that the Hershey chocolate company abused a foreign-exchange program to put them to work packing chocolate and stashed them in overpriced company housing that leaves them only $40 to $140 for a week's work.