I was intrigued to see several recent calls for bids by the U.S. Agency for International Development for programs that would, among other things, train young Arabs how to better use the Internet and other digital technologies for political activism, advocacy, greater transparency and accountability, and other such democratic practices.

While U.S. public diplomacy since September 11, 2001, has focused on countering terrorism and the radicalization of the Muslim world, a job increasingly supervised by the Pentagon, China has been moving ahead methodically with its own ambitious global agenda.

...annual service trip that brings students from UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources to this desert city [Arad, Israel] – a sister city of Burlington, Vt. – to help locals make the most of their ecologically-sensitive surroundings.

In Tere Bin Laden, pop star Ali Zafar makes his debut as a Bollywood hero - a notable coup for a Pakistani actor.

What started as a transatlantic video chat between students at Hampton High School and students in the Republic of Georgia in the former Soviet Union has now become an opportunity to build stronger economic and cultural relations.

AFRICOM, with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, was launched with great fanfare in 2007 as the first and only military regional command that would focus primarily on “soft power” and include a heavy mix of civilians in its ranks.

Today, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, a bi-partisan board, created by Congress whose members are appointed by the President, met to discuss the State Department’s performance on outreach and engagement with foreign publics.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending a performance at the California International Theatre Festival in Calabasas. The annual festival offers an array of presentations meant to broaden “cultural understanding by means of community outreach, student training and cultural exchange through the performing arts”.