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
You
could link these ideas to some of the other points made on this list
by looking at:
http://kms2.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ESDP/98740/ichaptersection_singledocument/e4b1feb4-d658-4eba-b70c-e532d8025612/en/12+Bolewski.pdf
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. 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 2018-19!
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