For much of the past decade, “soft power” has been touted as a means for making foreign policy more effective by emphasizing enticement rather than coercion, conversation rather than conflict. The concept has won applause, but putting it into practice has often been half-hearted...In an era in which revolutions rely more on social media than on machine guns, soft power will be ascendant.

LONDON --- For much of the past decade, “soft power” has been touted as a means for making foreign policy more effective by emphasizing enticement rather than coercion, conversation rather than conflict. The concept has won applause, but putting it into practice has often been half-hearted, especially by nations that possess significant military muscle. They prefer macho diplomacy and remain wary of the public diplomacy that puts soft power into practice.

Experts from the United States and Britain discussed the development of public diplomacy in China at a seminar hosted in Beijing on Wednesday, stating that they hope China will invest more in developing public diplomacy.

America and Britain invaded Afghanistan 10 years ago, for reasons which were understandable, to wage a short war that was unavoidable...What we have learned is that we hugely overestimated the capacity of our military, diplomatic and intelligence establishments to change other societies.

To vent their frustration with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on the country’s uprising has killed an estimated 2,700 civilians since mid-March, the ambassadors have taken to slamming the regime on the embassy blog, embassy Facebook page, and online interviews, Storyful reports.

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.

The Prime Minister said the international community needed to use a combination of military action or "hard power" and "soft power" like diplomacy and financial aid. He argued that the people of the Arab world had made clear their aspirations for greater freedom...

The British-American Business Council, Chicago (BABCC) recognizes corporations and/or individuals who have made significant contributions to furthering trade, commerce, civic, philanthropic and cultural relations between the UK and US with its annual British Consul General Award.