venerdì 8 maggio 2020

What is the role of culture in diplomacy?

This question can be interpreted to include at least the following five ideas:
1)  Samuel Huntington’s argument that international relations depend on the division of the world into cultural areas. He argued that people's cultural and religious identities would be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world and that intervention in other cultural areas should usually be avoided as it is likely to be misunderstood and lead to unpredictable results.
People have levels of identity: a resident of Rome may define himself with varying degrees of intensity as a Roman, an Italian, a Catholic, a Christian, a European, a Westerner. The civilization to which he belongs is the broadest level of identification with which he intensely identifies. People can and do redefine their identities and, as a result, the composition and boundaries of civilizations change. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizations

2)  Cultural differences in terms of the ideas contained in the material I will give you in class. These are all elements that the diplomat must be aware of and pay particular attention to, especially in relation to non-diplomats (see below at the end of this section). Compare and contrast attitudes among the North Americans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, South Americans, Germans, Arabs, and other countries, geographical areas or cultures as appropriate, to some or all of the following ideas: eye contact, making friends and establishing a relationship before negotiating, choosing the right kind of venue for a meeting, addressing the right person, punctuality, gift-giving, turn-taking and interruptions, hand-shaking and bowing, stance and distance, body language, linguistic register and forms of address, dress codes, linguistic signaling, the appropriateness or inappropriateness of talking business during a meal, norms for recording what has been said and organizing follow-ups to meetings. Put all these in a logical order e.g. pre-meeting, start of meeting, during meeting, end of meeting, post-meeting.
Of course no particular culture has a ‘better’ or ‘more correct’ approach to maintaining diplomatic relations and negotiating, although there are norms considered appropriate in the UN context. It is simply a problem of social norms and expectations and diplomats therefore need to adapt their approach to their counterpart. This is important, firstly, as a simple act of politeness in order to put one’s counterpart at ease and as a way to maintain a good working relationship. This will be very important for diplomats stationed abroad where the onus is on them to conform, at least to an acceptable extent, to the host country’s norms. Secondly, it will be of crucial importance when diplomats are involved in a negotiation that is particularly important to their country and which really needs to succeed. So awareness-raising in this area is a necessary part of a diplomat’s training and development. The following provide some ideas on cross-cultural negotiations in business and diplomacy
Of course, one can also argue that professional diplomats themselves form their own culture, a group of people particularly skilled at not being offended or confused or unable to respond appropriately to unfamiliar customs, social norms or behavior, a group that considers the maintenance of good relations a primary goal beyond its own cultural expectations and makes a positive effort to be informed about and respect the norms of other cultures ( in particular those of the host country).
3)  International conventions to protect minority cultures e.g. the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the UN Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and cultural heritage e.g. The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The EU Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society
4)  Cultural diplomacy and the role of the diplomat (particularly the cultural attaché) in promoting his own country’s culture in terms of art or scientific exhibitions, cultural events of various other kinds (e.g. Italian food, cooking or music), relations with local Italian emigrant associations in the host country, language courses, information regarding tourism or where to find tourist information, and sports events in the host country involving Italy or ones in Italy that will involve a team from the host country. Here's a couple of good current examples
All of these are seen as vehicles for promoting a positive image of the country and overcoming negative stereotypes of the nation, thus building good relations with the host country, through a continuous public relations exercise, and gaining more influence and ‘soft power’. The diplomat himself is expected to behave in a way which will make him a credit to his country and give foreigners a good impression. All of this is described as Cultural Diplomacy (see below #) and is something that potentially relates to all fields, and thus involves all a state’s actors and all those who can be seen as representing the country in some way, in the public sector, the private sector (e.g. businessmen) and as individuals, as cultural representatives (diplomats in the widest sense). This is something that will affect efforts to improve relations with other states and foreign public opinion, promote national interests and enhance cooperation by embracing cultural diversity and by trying to build bridges and overcome barriers where there are significant differences.

5)  Multiculturalism – We should see multiculturalism as a growing reality of modern European life, and the need for multiculturalism as a positive and necessary force to bridge ethnic, religious and national divisions and tensions within society and between states. In this sense the EU is one vast attempt at multiculturalism aimed at overcoming the divisions of the past that led to two world wars, and providing a common home (with a secular constitution, guaranteeing equality, respect and basic rights for all) for Europeans and migrant workers of many different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. In purely European terms it has been remarkably successful. This is balanced with EU initiatives to protect the rights of minority cultures and linguistic groups e.g. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) of 1992.
This idea is closely linked to the project for European citizenship and the goal of strengthening European identity. European identity itself, however – the sense of belonging to something bigger than the nation – goes far beyond the question of whether Europeans like or dislike the European Union institutions. As well as sharing a common cultural history, since the end of World War II many factors have led Europeans to develop a common bond. Among these are common democratic and social values, greater contact through travel and study (e.g. the Erasmus program but also cheap foreign holidays), closer economic and cultural ties and shared prosperity. While it would be inaccurate to see most of these developments as the product of the EU, the EU has been a constant supporter and beneficiary of this process. However, against a background of economic stagnation (the loss of the promise of ever-greater prosperity) growing tensions in Europe over immigrants and immigration (focused mainly on non-EU citizens and perhaps due mainly to the recession), and fears about the rise of homegrown terrorism, concerns have been raised about how far and how fast the multicultural project can go. However, any decline in the popularity of the EU institutions and the rise of nationalist parties cannot be automatically read as a rejection of the idea of European identity in itself.
See also ‘Homegrown Terrorism’ on this blog, 12 April 2018

Cultural Diplomacy

Definition
Italian Cultural Diplomacy
good examples of events and exhibitions:
Find your own examples for 2019-20!

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