Cultural diplomacy - Demos

Cultural Diplomacy
activity, each of which requires the involvement of a different
configuration of actors: promoting a country’s national goals and
policies (primarily national actors); communicating a nation’s ideas
and ideals, beliefs and values (national and sub-national actors); and
building common understanding and relationships (primarily subnational
actors).
Culture operates on all three levels. In the 1950s, US values were
communicated through the individual art of Jackson Pollock (indeed
its individuality was part of its diplomatic value), as much as through
the rhetoric of the State Department. Today the US singer Toni
Blackman is the US’s ‘Hip-Hop Ambassador’ and ice skater Michelle
Kwan has been appointed as an official ‘American Public Diplomacy
Envoy’. In the 1990s, music, art and fashion were all central to the
global presentation of ‘Cool Britannia’.
It is through culture that we find points of commonality and
difference, and the means to understand one another. Exhibitions,
performances and other cultural forms enable us to engage with
others’ heritage and living culture. Outside Washington’s National
Gallery, the Smithsonian Folklife festival provides visitors with
experiences of different cultures, exemplified by musicians from
Castro’s Cuba giving the US public a taste of the clubs and bars of
Havana. That experience offered a contrast to more hostile images of
Cuba that are common in the US media. Indeed, one of the most
important contributions that culture can make to a country’s public
diplomacy is its ability to showcase a diversity of views, perspectives
and opinions, breaking down persistent national stereotypes and
challenging the perception that a country’s political leaders and their
policies are identical with the views of their citizens. This is
particularly important when a country suffers reputational damage,
such as that currently being experienced by the US and UK following
the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The US provides a good illustration. Its response to unpopularity
has been to assume that its position would improve if foreigners
understood its policies better. This ignores the fact that many aspects
of not just American government policy but also American values are
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