Poland's Growing Soft Power

Poland has recently exerted diplomatic leadership in the field as well, reinvigorating the Community of Democracies (CoD), a decade-old multilateral organization spearheaded by American and Polish diplomats and designed to “respect and uphold… core democratic principles and practices.” Poland hosted the tenth meeting of the CoD July 2-4 in Krakow. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the keynote address, calling Poland “an example of what democracies can accomplish,” and announcing a $2 million fund to protect civil society activists. Representatives from 80 official delegations and 200 civil society activists from countries such as Russia, Cuba, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe attended the gathering.