Today, the State Department is reaching out to foreign publics in partnership with major private sector partners including Jazz at the Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as maintaining its own program of visits, exhibitions and tours.

Last week representatives from the U.S. State Department Elana Berkowitz and Bruce Wharton reached out directly to innovators in East Africa to discuss the Apps 4 Africa contest, and the role software developers play in solving civil society issues in their countries.

Recent years have seen a welcome resurgence in U.S. Cultural Diplomacy, which after honorable service in the Cold War, sailed into the doldrums in the mid-1990s. Today, the State Department is reaching out to foreign publics in partnership with major private sector partners including Jazz at the Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as maintaining its own program of visits, exhibitions and tours. While the new initiatives began under the administration of George W.

The United States military command for Africa (Africom) is gaining acceptance on the continent and is planning to increase its support for the African Union force in Somalia, the command's leader said last week.

In a bid to use the arts and culture effectively in global diplomatic roles, Nigeria is planning to set up cultural centres in such countries as U.S.A., China and Brazil.

In short, they are hanging out, much like many teenagers around the world. That may not be listed on the Franklin Institute’s formal agenda, but these moments may well be the most memorable and enduring part of their exchange program.

The global spread of English, with its sometimes corrosive effects on local languages, has caused much hand-wringing in many non-English-speaking corners of the world. But the implications may be more far-reaching in Indonesia...

The subject of public diplomacy evaluation tools and methodologies has been front and center this week. Debating the difference between "measures of effectiveness" (or MOE), "measures of performance" (or MOP)...