SALZBURG As war loomed over Kosovo ten years ago, Germany s then foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, explained that the principle that had always governed his involvement in politics was Never again war never again Auschwitz!

But one of the paradoxes of soft power is that propaganda is often counterproductive, owing to its lack of credibility. During the Cold War, open cultural exchanges such as the Salzburg Seminar, which enabled young people to engage with one another demonstrated that contact among populations is far more meaningful.