Cultural Diplomacy: foreign policy thru exchanges and the arts.

Another element of the new diplomacy is Cultural Diplomacy; however, just because it is part of the novel tools of diplomacy does not mean it is not old. Actually, it is one of the most traditional forms of Public Diplomacy.
 
The best know example is the development of cultural institutions for the promotion of the language and culture of European powers. Thus France's Alliance Française was established in 1883, the Società Dante Alighieri of Italy in 1889, United Kingdom's British Council in 1934, Goethe Institute of Germany n 1951, and Spain's Cervantes Institute just in 1991.
 
Nowadays, the most extensive example is the Confucius Institute of China, which has grown so fast that, in some instances has generated a backlash.[i] Interestingly enough, the United States never established an overseas cultural institution but did not mean that it did not engage in Cultural Diplomacy, such as the famous Fulbright scholarship program or the European Erasmus initiative.
 
The Institute of Cultural Diplomacy states that:

​"Cultural Diplomacy may best be described as a course of actions, which are based on and utilize the exchange of ideas, values, traditions and other aspects of cultural or identity, whether to strengthen relationships, enhance socio-cultural cooperation, promote national interests and beyond..."[ii]
 
The idea of promoting exchanges of ideas, people, and cultural knowledge to foster better understanding and relations for the benefit of foreign policy objectives lies behind the concept of Soft Power. However, Cultural Diplomacy has been implemented long before it was coined in 1990 by Joseph Nye, an Emeritus Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University.
 
The next post, I will take about Soft Power, Nation Branding, Influence, and Reputation, so let's continue with today's theme.
 
The creation of a Ph.D. in Cultural Diplomacy demonstrates the significant development of this field of study. I don't know of any other specialized diplomacy area that offers this. Besides, the amount of articles about this topic in the digital library (PD Hub) of the Center of Public Diplomacy is enormous, as well as many issues of its CPD Perspectives research papers.
 
Under the umbrella of Cultural Diplomacy, many hyphenated diplomacies have developed, particularly in the last couple of decades; from Gastrodiplomacy (link al post) to Sports, Science, Think Tank, and even Music (Jazz, K-pop, and J-pop) Diplomacy. However, the bread and butter of Cultural Diplomacy are the following two activities:

1. Exchanges.[iii]
2. Broadcasting.[iv]

 
Regarding exchanges, the basic concept is that a person or a country is less likely to go to war if you know them or at least are more likely to being influence than not. Therefore, interactions foster collaboration and diminish the possibility of conflict.  Its scope is extensive and goes from language teaching and skills training to multi-country research projects, like the CERN and from regular tourism and international business and trade contacts to entertainment such as movies, music or the performing arts.  However, the biggest critique is that the results of these types of connections take a long time, and in most cases, it is challenging to measure its successes or lack of them.
 
As for broadcasting, nowadays has gone into a bit of a slump, but during the Cold War, it was on its prime. The United States had not one but two agencies devoted to it in the middle of the 1990s: the U.S. Information Agency[v] and Broadcasting Board of Governors.[vi] And the BBC has been an icon of a multimedia powerhouse for many years.
 
Other countries have state-run or sponsored radio and television stations, such as is RT of Russia, TeleSUR of Venezuela, and Al Jazeera of Qatar. Almost all of them now have YouTube channels, and Facebook and Instagram accounts for the same purpose, which is part of these countries' digital diplomacy (link al post the digital diplomacy=.  
 
A relevant aspect of Cultural Diplomacy is that, even though governments are still the prime promoters of these types of engagements with people of other nations, there is a very active role of the non-state actors, including regular citizens.[vii] This is particularly important as non-state actors are typically seen as neutral or less-politically influenced by the governments and their ultimate Cultural Diplomacy goals. [viii]  
 
In the field of Cultural Diplomacy, Mexico has been successfully achieving some of its foreign policy goals with the assistance of its cultural heritage and influence. From the Revolution's aftermaths in the 1930s, with the Muralism artistic movement and the golden age of Mexican cinema to soap operas and NAFTA authorization in the US Congress.[ix]

​In a later post, I will write about this, as there is little information in English regarding Mexico´s Cultural Diplomacy.
 


[i] For a updated list see “Latest Reports on Confucius Institutes Controversies”
[ii] “What is Cultural Diplomacy” in Institute of Cultural Diplomacy webpage.
[iii] For a brief analysis of psychological effect of exchanges see Scott-Smith, Giles “Exchange Programs and Public Diplomacy” in Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, Nancy Snow and Philip M. Taylor (eds.), 1st edition, 2009 pp. 50-56.
[iv] See Cull, Nicholas, Public Diplomacy: Lessons from the Past, CPD Perspectives Series, 2009, particularly section 2.5 in page 21.
[v] It was disbanded in 1999 For a brief about the agency see Chodkoswki, William M., “Fact Sheet: The United States Information Agency “in American Security Project webpage, November 2012.
[vi] In 2017 the name was changed to US Agency for Global Media.
[vii] See “Citizen Diplomacy” Winter 2012 issue of the Public Diplomacy Magazine.
[viii] Mueller, Sherry, “The Nexus of U.S. Public Diplomacy and Citizen Diplomacy” in Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy, Nancy Snow and Philip M. Taylor (eds.), 1st edition, 2009 p. 103
[ix] See for example Starr, Pamela K. “Mexican Public Diplomacy: Hobbled by History, Interdependence and Asymetric Power” in “Middle Power” Summer 2009 issue of the Public Diplomacy Magazine and “Cooperación y diplomacia consular: experiencias y travesías. Entrevista al embajador Jorge Alberto Lozoya” in Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior, Vol 85, February 2009 p. 253-267.
 
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