When it comes to Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power, the report notes, “there is no consensus on the precise meanings … he participants in this study used them interchangeably.” This statement might cause surprise in organisations like the British Council, where there is a good deal of thought about exact meanings. Secondly, there is a tendency, in Geneva and elsewhere, to reject definitions.
Thinking seems to have progressed considerably outside the UN bubble. The practices it describes at the United Nations office Geneva sometimes seem old fashioned compared to modern British practice. As a study of diplomatic practices within the UN it is certainly illuminating, and the findings provoke some useful reflections.įirstly, the report’s observations on cultural interaction as a sort of ritual are interesting and merit further research. The report sums up the goal of its research as being “to provide a better understanding of how art and culture are used as levers of power and diplomacy within the context of the UN”. It concludes that more resources put into Cultural Diplomacy can translate into more Soft Power (the US, for example, is found to be a ‘Soft Power Superpower,’), but that ultimately, at the UN, culture is often being “used to preserve and express hard political power.” These findings are a useful addition to the study of Cultural Diplomacy. The report suggests that, at the UN office in Geneva, culture can be both a vehicle for political messages and a forum for cultural clashes. Faith by many diplomats in the power of Cultural Diplomacy is strong in Geneva, where it forms an important element of life at the UN. The report finds that Cultural Diplomacy is important, and valued by diplomats as a key means of securing influence, even if its precise impact may be difficult to measure.
Culture, diplomacy, and political powerĪ new research report, The Art of Soft Power: A Study of Cultural Diplomacy at the UN Office in Geneva(Melissa Nisbett and James Doeser, King’s College London (2017)), takes the UN’s Office at Geneva as a venue in which to study the role of cultural activities in contemporary diplomacy. December 2017 Research from King’s College London into the use of culture in UN diplomacy raises interesting questions about the efficacy of the arts in creating soft power.
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