After 9/11, which triggered a global debate on public diplomacy, 'PD' has become an issue in most countries. This book joins the debate. Experts from different countries and from a variety of fields analyze the theory and practice of public diplomacy. They also evaluate how public diplomacy can be successfully used to support foreign policy.

This book looks at the changing dynamics of diplomacy of the two emerging global powers – India and China. It examines trade relations, cultural ties and economic engagements of both countries and their shifting influence in the region surrounding them. This volume takes an in-depth look at the trade and economic strategies of India and China through the prism of soft power diplomacy. It reflects on the challenges the two countries face over bilateral trade negotiations, BRICS and China’s Silk Road project, along with other issues of foreign policy. The book underlines the decisive role of the soft power approach and greater people-to-people contact in the global strategies of India and China and in fostering greater cooperation in the region. The book will be of great interest to researchers and students of international relations, political science, public policy and international communications. It will also be useful for think tanks, policy makers and general readers who are interested in the India-China relationship and the politics of soft power diplomacy.

The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts provides a comparative assessment of public diplomacy and strategic communication initiatives in order to portray how Joseph Nye's notion of "soft power" has translated into context-specific strategies of international influence. The book examines four cases--Japan, Venezuela, China, and the United States--to illuminate the particular significance of culture, foreign publics, and communication technologies for the foreign policy ambitions of each country. This study explores the notion of soft power as a set of theoretical arguments about power, and as a reflection of how nation-states perceive what is an increasingly necessary perspective on international relations in an age of ubiquitous global communication flows and encroaching networks of non-state actors. Through an analysis of policy discourse, public diplomacy initiatives, and related programs of strategic influence, soft power in each case represents a localized set of assumptions about the requirements of persuasion, the relevance of foreign audiences to state goals, and the perception of what counts as a soft power resource. This timely analysis provides an unprecedented comparative investigation of the relationship between soft power and public diplomacy.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Soft Power in International Relations: A Conceptual Framework -- 2. Evolution of Power in Indian Foreign Policy -- 3. Sources of India's Soft Power -- 4. Soft Power in Indian Foreign Policy -- 5. Effectiveness of Indian Soft Power Strategy -- 6. Augmenting India's Soft Power: Modi and Beyond -- References