This edited collection draws upon interdisciplinary research to explore new dimensions in the politics of image and aid. While development communication and public diplomacy are established research fields, there is little scholarship that seeks to understand how the two areas relate to one another. However, international development doctrine in the US, UK and elsewhere increasingly suggests that they are integratedor at the very least should beat the level of national strategy. This timely volume considers a variety of cases in diverse regions, drawing upon a combination of theoretical and conceptual lenses that combine a focus on both aid and image. The result is a text that seeks to establish a new body of knowledge on how contemporary debates into public diplomacy, soft power and the national image are fundamentally changing not just the communication of aid, but its wider strategies, modalities and practices.

James Pamment is Associate Professor in Strategic Communication at Lund University, Sweden.
Karin Wilkins is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. 

Chapter 1. Introduction: New Dimensions in the Politics of Image and Aid, James Pamment and Karin Gwinn Wilkins.- Chapter 2. Communication at the Crossroads of Development, Public Diplomacy& Soft Power, James Pamment.- Chapter 3. The Business of Bilateral Branding, Karin Gwinn Wilkins.- Chapter 4. Nation Branding, Neoliberal Development, and the Remaking of the Nation-State: Lessons from Post-War Kosovo, Nadia Kaneva. Chapter 5. Odd Bedfellows? U.S. Pub(l)ic Diplomacy, Colombian Industry Policy, and the Development of Sex Tourism in Cartagena, Olga Lucia& Toby Miller.- Chapter 6. Entitled to Benevolence? South Koreas Government-Sponsored Volunteers as Public Diplomacy and Development Actors, Kyung Sun (Karen) Lee.- Chapter 7. The Slow Re-unification of Development Assistance and Public Diplomacy: Exchange and Collaboration Activities Through the Swedish Institute 19732012, Andreas Åkerlund.- Chapter 8. State-Civil Society Partnership in International Aid and Public Diplomacy: The Case of Turkey and Somalia, Senem B. Cevik, Efe Sevin, Banu Baybars Hawks.- Chapter 9. Communicating Mexicos International Development Cooperation: An incipient Public Diplomacy strategy, Rebecka Villanueva Ulfgard.- Chapter 10. Power Relations in Development Communication and Public Diplomacy: U.S. and Chinese Practices in Afghanistan, Di Wu.- Chapter 11. Ambivalent Perception of Chinas One Belt One Road in Russia: United Eurasia Dream or Metallic Band of Containment?, Larisa Smirnova.- Chapter 12. Conclusion, Karin Gwinn Wilkins& James Pamment.