Theorizing cultural diplomacy all the way down: a cosmopolitan constructivist discourse from an Ibero-American perspective

ABSTRACT

This article reviews selected contemporary theoretical approaches to cultural diplomacy and suggests that there is still room for further theorizing in the field. Cultural diplomacy has drawn its justification and objectives from a rationalist view of politics, particularly the various realisms and liberalisms, and substantiating it with theories of social constructivism and cosmopolitanism is pertinent. Cultural diplomacy all the way down implies making common understanding of Other-societies the prime objective of the field, deploying cooperation and exchanges as a core strategy. An Ibero-American perspective implies a specific cultural-regional discourse, where mestizaje, cooperation, and understanding in the area of cultural diplomacy require a cosmopolitan constructivist approach to make sense. The result is a radical view of the Other-in-relation-to-us, both of whom are part of the family of mankind.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural diplomacy
• soft power
• nation brand
• cultural tradition
• discourse analysis
• cosmopolitan constructivism

Acknowledgements

My acknowledgements go to Mariano Martín Zamorano and Arturo Rodríguez Morato for their contribution on cultural policies in Latin America. A note of thanks also goes to the peer-reviewers who made cleaver suggestions to improve the clarity of the paper. A final note to my wife, Rebecka Villanueva Ulfgard, for the proofreading of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I use upper-case when referring to the concept Cultural Diplomacy and lower-case when referring to the practice of cultural diplomacy.

2. This paper uses the methodology developed for the study of the discursive strategies of cultural diplomacy, known as the ‘discursive construction of cultural diplomacy’ (Villlanueva 2007). As regards method, it employs a limited version of the critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 1992, 2003; and Chilton 2004), from the perspective of social constructivism in international relations (Katzenstein 2002; Ruggie 1998; Wendt 1999).

3. The final documents from the meetings cannot be accessed via the internet. The general information about the events can be obtained via media reports and communiques from the participant countries. I was a keynote speaker in the second encounter (7 May 2017) and soon realized that there was very little compromise, not to mention funding and expertise to truly engage in a common vision. Officially, the programme can be traced here: http://segib.org/se-reunen-por-primera-vez-las-areas-de-cultura-de-las-cancillerias-iberoamericanas/; http://segib.org/mexico-celebra-el-ii-encuentro-de-diplomacia-cultural/; http://segib.org/tercer-encuentro-iberoamericano-de-diplomacia-cultural/; http://www.cultura.gob.mx/noticias/descargar/c-20527-conaculta-inaugura-el-segundo-encuentro-iberoamericano-de-diplomacia-cultural..html; Last accessed on 20 September 2017.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the CONACyT-SEP Ciencia Básica, Grant No. 169242; and the Research Direction Office at Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México [DINV].

Notes on contributors

César Villanueva R.

César Villanueva R. is Professor of International Relations and Public/Cultural Diplomacy at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He obtained his PhD in Political Science from Linnaeus University in Sweden (2007). He is an expert on cultural and public diplomacy, and the study of images in international relations. He is currently the Director of the Department of International Studies at Universidad Iberoamericana.