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 in the earlier part of the century, middle-class children suffered from overattentive mothers, from being “mother’s only accomplishment,” today’s children may suffer from an underestimation of their needs. Our idea of what a child needs in each case reflects what parents need. The child’s needs are thus a cultural football in an economic and marital game.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“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)