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:
“To begin to use cultural forces for the good of our daughters we must first shake ourselves awake from the cultural trance we all live in. This is no small matter, to untangle our true beliefs from what we have been taught to believe about who and what girls and women are.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“The policy of dollar diplomacy is one that appeals alike to idealistic humanitarian sentiments, to dictates of sound policy, and strategy, and to legitimate commercial aims.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)