The history of the British-Spanish Society, an example of 'soft' or cultural diplomacy between countries.

This book provides a broad overview of the development of Ibero-American cultural policy in an important and innovative way. This volume brings together specialists in the field, from different nations and disciplines, and provides the keys to understanding the different trajectories and experiences of some significant countries in the area on both sides of the Atlantic; the recent developments in this domain such as urban cultural regeneration policies and cultural development policies; and the dynamics of policy transfers such as cultural diplomacy. The book also contrasts the applicability and the explanatory power of the idea of the family of nations for the analysis of cultural policy with models inspired by the welfare regimes. This book allows international researchers an overarching view of the peculiarities and the latest achievements in the field of Ibero-American cultural policy. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy.

This volume offers an inter-disciplinary and critical analysis of the role of culture in diplomatic practice. If diplomacy is understood as the practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of distinct communities or causes, then questions of culture and the spaces of cultural exchange are at its core. But what of the culture of diplomacy itself? When and how did this culture emerge, and what alternative cultures of diplomacy run parallel to it, both historically and today? How do particular spaces and places inform and shape the articulation of diplomatic culture(s)? This volume addresses these questions by bringing together a collection of theoretically rich and empirically detailed contributions from leading scholars in history, international relations, geography, and literary theory. Chapters attend to cross-cutting issues of the translation of diplomatic cultures, the role of space in diplomatic exchange and the diversity of diplomatic cultures beyond the formal state system. Drawing on a range of methodological approaches the contributors discuss empirical cases ranging from indigenous diplomacies of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, to the European External Action Service, the 1955 Bandung Conference, the spatial imaginaries of mid twentieth-century Balkan writer diplomats, celebrity and missionary diplomacy, and paradiplomatic narratives of The Hague. The volume demonstrates that, when approached from multiple disciplinary perspectives and understood as expansive and plural, diplomatic cultures offer an important lens onto issues as diverse as global governance, sovereignty regimes and geographical imaginations. This book will be of much interest to students of public diplomacy, foreign policy, international organisations, media and communications studies, and IR in general.

Recent studies on the meaning of cultural diplomacy in the twentieth century often focus on the United States and the Cold War, based on the premise that cultural diplomacy was a key instrument of foreign policy in the nation’s effort to contain the Soviet Union. As a result, the term “cultural diplomacy” has become one-dimensional, linked to political manipulation and subordination and relegated to the margin of diplomatic interactions. This volume explores the significance of cultural diplomacy in regions other than the United States or “western” countries, that is, regions that have been neglected by scholars so far—Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. By examining cultural diplomacy in these regions, the contributors show that the function of information and exchange programs differs considerably from area to area depending on historical circumstances and, even more importantly, on the cultural mindsets of the individuals involved.

Cultural Diplomacy: Beyond the National Interest? is the first book bringing together, from the perspective of the cultural disciplines, scholarship that locates contemporary cultural diplomacy practices within their social, political, and ideological contexts, while examining the different forces that drive them. The contributions to this book have two methodologies: the first, to deconstruct and demystify cultural diplomacy, notably the ‘hype’ that accompanies it, especially when it is yoked to the notion of ‘soft power’; the second, to better understand how contemporary cultural diplomacy actually operates. In applying a cultural lens to the question, this book probes whether there can be such a thing as a cultural diplomacy ‘beyond the national interest’. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy.

The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power is the first volume to offer a comprehensive and detailed picture of soft power and associated forms of public diplomacy. The terms soft power and public diplomacy have enormous currency in media and policy discourse, yet despite all the attention the terms remain conceptually ambiguous for analysts of international influence. The consequence is that the terms have survived as powerful, yet criticized, frames for influence. Divided into two main parts, Part I outlines theoretical problems, methodological questions, the cultural imperative and the technological turn within the study of soft power and Part II focuses on bringing the theory into practice through detailed discussion of key case studies from across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. This innovative handbook provides a definitive resource for students and scholars seeking to familiarize themselves with cutting-edge debates and future research on soft power and will be of interest to those studying and researching in areas such as international relations, public diplomacy and international communication.