Can the U.S. and China get along?

This op-ed by CCLP senior fellow Orville Schell was originally published in The New York Times. For longtime observers of China, the last two years have been unsettling. Under Xi Jinping the Chinese Communist Party has made it more difficult than ever to hope that the People's Republic is still dedicated to the agenda of "reform and opening up" that was the mantra of the Deng Xiaoping era. Instead, Beijing has served up a neo-Maoist cocktail of autocracy within and truculence without. Despite meetings between Presidents Xi and Obama, and a yearly Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the level of discouragement……Continue Reading Can the U.S. and China get along?

Country music explored as a tool of U.S. diplomacy

WASHINGTON – It is well known that Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Brubeck toured the world as American Jazz Ambassadors, and American symphony orchestras have played throughout the world. Less well known is the role country music has played and is playing in U.S. public diplomacy. That was the focus of this month's CCLP Communication Leadership Lunch Forum here, presented by David Firestein (pictured right), a China expert and vice president at the East West Institute. "For public diplomacy to be effective," said Firestein, "it has to be organic, personal and emotional." He added that it must be "true to who……Continue Reading Country music explored as a tool of U.S. diplomacy

The Next UN Secretary-General: An Experienced Woman to Foster Global Food Security

This article was originally published in Huffington Post. Food security and related humanitarian needs present the great unacknowledged challenges of the 21st century. While conflicts in countries like Syria and Ukraine dominate the daily news cycle, and longer-term concerns about climate change and energy security are frequently aired, the problem of hunger and the emergence of new threats to world food supplies receive far less attention than they merit. These problems contribute directly to political instability, forced migration and violence. Without sustained focus at an international level and the commitment of adequate resources to address the problems, there is a……Continue Reading The Next UN Secretary-General: An Experienced Woman to Foster Global Food Security

US soft power triumphs in probe of Sepp Blatter’s corrupt casino

This article by CCLP senior fellow Derek Shearer was originally published in The Conversation. Soccer is truly the world's sport. It is played and watched by more people across the globe than any other sport. Every four years, it is the center of global attention when the World Cup is held. It's as if the World Series and Super Bowl were rolled into one mega-sporting event with viewership in the hundreds of millions. A private organization based in Switzerland called FIFA controls the selection of the host country, the commercial sponsors for the event and the rules by which the……Continue Reading US soft power triumphs in probe of Sepp Blatter’s corrupt casino