The American political scientist and author Dr. Milton C. Cummings offers a definition of cultural diplomacy as: “the exchange of ideas, information, values, systems, traditions, beliefs, and other aspects of culture, with the intention of fostering mutual understanding.” Cultural diplomacy may therefore best be described as the initiation or facilitation of the exchange of ideas, values, traditions, and other aspects of culture or identity, whether they promote national interests, build relationships, or enhance socio-cultural understanding.
Famous quotes containing the words cultural and/or diplomacy:
“If we can learn ... to look at the ways in which various groups appropriate and use the mass-produced art of our culture ... we may well begin to understand that although the ideological power of contemporary cultural forms is enormous, indeed sometimes even frightening, that power is not yet all-pervasive, totally vigilant, or complete.”
—Janice A. Radway (b. 1949)
“There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)