This open access book offers a timely and comprehensive rethinking of European cultural diplomacy at a moment of renewed EastWest tensions, democratic fragility, and digital disruption. It provides both analytical depth and practical guidance on how culture can function as a strategic, inclusive, and credible instrument of European engagement. Bringing together scholars and practitioners from across Europe, the book examines cultural diplomacy at the intersection of politics, history, media, and the arts. Drawing on empirically rich case studiesfrom Franco-Romanian exchanges and Polish diasporic networks to TikTok narratives, AI-driven curation, and cultural responses to Russia's war on Ukrainethe chapters demonstrate how historical awareness, digital literacy, and inclusive narratives can strengthen both internal cohesion and external credibility. Distinctive in its EastWest focus, methodological pluralism, and policy orientation, the book translates research insights into actionable proposals, including mechanisms for aligning national institutes with EU initiatives, participatory models involving civil society and minorities, and new training formats for cultural-diplomacy practitioners. It concludes with concrete recommendations for a historically informed, digitally resilient, and values-based European approach. The book is intended for scholars and graduate students in the fields of European studies, international relations, cultural and public diplomacy, media and gender studies, and for policymakers and practitioners serving at cultural institutes, ministries, NGOs, urban networks, and EU bodies.

This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access Reframes European cultural diplomacy, supplemented with historical depth and contemporary case studies Highlights EastWest perspectives through comparative insights and cross-regional case studies Integrates digital media, feminist, and postcolonial perspectives with actionable policy guidance

Autorentext

Dr. Nicole Colin is a Professor of German Cultural Studies at Aix-Marseille University (France) and Honorary Professor at the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Her research focuses on cultural transfer, Franco-German relations, cultural sociology, transnational memory, and artistic research.

Dr. Gabriel Horatiu Decuble is a Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the Department of Germanic Studies of the University of Bucharest (Romania). His work focuses on literary theory and history, intercultural studies, medieval and religious studies.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Approaching Cold War Cultural Diplomacy 'at Work'. Analytical Perspectives on East-West Scientific Exchanges, Drawing on a French-Based Area Studies Program.- Chapter 3: The Role of Cultural Policy in Countering the Division of the EU by Digital Culture Wars.- Chapter 4: Redefining Cultural Influence in the East: The European Neighbourhood Policy and the Challenge of Geopolitical Fragmentation.- Chapter 5: The Family of Man: Nation-Branding as a Constraint on Cultural Diplomacy.- Chapter 6: Colonialism as a Non-Evident Issue in Cultural Diplomacy in Europe.- Chapter 7: Cold War Cultural Diplomacy: Romania's Relations with Africa. The case of Côte d'Ivoire.- Chapter 8: Cultural Diplomacy, Artistic Research, and Minority Agency: Roma Perspectives in European Cooperation.- Chapter 9: Minorities as Agents of Cultural Diplomacy Examples from a Best-Practice Region, DE-DK.- Chapter 10: Romanian-German Emigration and Censorship in the Daily Newspaper Neuer Weg 19891990.- Chapter 11: Cultural Exchange under Surveillance: Klaus Heitmann and Romanian-West German Academic Relations (1960s1980s) .- Chapter 12: The European Union: a Lovemark unlike Any Other? A Legal Inquiry Trying to Understand How the EU Shapes Perceptions, Emotions, and Sense of Belonging.- Chapter 13: The Diplomatic Potential of a Global Broadcast Event in the Age of Social Media.- Chapter 14: Romanian National Minorities in the Digital World: Linguistic Justice and Cultural Representation as a Vector for Technological Acceptance.- Chapter 15: The Rocket inside the Precious Object: Retracing the Lifepaths of Ukrainian Diplomatic Gifts Made from Fragments of Weapons (February 2022 Present) .- Chapter 16: Artificial Knowledge in Cultural Diplomacy: Opportunities within the Civil Protection Framework.- Chapter 17: Teaching English as a Foreign Culture? The British Council and Pedagogical Television.- Chapter 18: France-Romania Cultural Season 20182019.- Chapter 19: Aspects of French Cultural Diplomacy in Romania, 19891991.- Chapter 20: Non-state Actors in Promoting Polish Culture in Canada, Ireland, Switzerland.- Chapter 21: The Role of Literature and Translation in Shaping Poland's Cultural Diplomacy in Romania after 1989.- Chapter 22: Sites of Franco-Russian Intellectual and Cultural Encounter in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Exchanges, Transfers, and Position-Takings considering the Experience of Exile.- Chapter 23: Cultural Diplomacy: The Case of Yugoslavia 19481984.- Chapter 24: Cultural Diplomacy and Academia: The Case of Bulgaria.