Menéndez and her small team toiled each year to share the cultural exchange between the Bay Area and Andalucia, the southern Spanish soil into which Spanish, Moorish and gypsy cultures are baked. Each year they were met with enthusiastic audiences and artists, and she says that artistically, the festival has been a huge success.

It's normal to run across SXSW showcases in Austin funded by foreign countries helping their local musicians attempt to break into the world's largest music market. It's unusual to find a showcase with six acts from Pakistan on a trip paid for by the U.S. State Department.

The Obama Administration has advertised that by using “smart power” it would enhance U.S. influence around the world. So it’s worth noting an episode in which China is routing the U.S. in economic diplomacy.

Beijing has long sought to boost its "soft power" abroad, spending billions of yuan on expanding the international presence of its state-run media -- including broadcaster CCTV and official news agency Xinhua -- and through its ubiquitous government-sponsored language centres, known as Confucius Institutes.

Japan has lost ground to Korea and China in U.S. public perceptions. Here’s what it can do about it.

The Obama administration began its dealings with the Arab world on a hopeful note, as exemplified by the President's 2009 Cairo speech. Since then, despite increased U.S. public diplomacy efforts in the region, American policy has been perceived as hostile, or at least uncaring, toward Arabs.

This is a time of rapid change — and immense opportunity — for the global landscape of development. Aid is no longer the primary source of development funds, as direct investment from the private sector and domestically mobilized resources continue to grow as sources of finance.