Cultural Diplomacy Today: A 'Culture of Dialogue' or a 'Dialogue of Cultures'?

This chapter lays the conceptual foundations for building an understanding of cultural diplomacy. It evaluates the ways in which the idea and practice of cultural diplomacy has developed in both western and non-western (specifically Chinese) contexts, and positions cultural diplomacy within a typology of other communicative activities, such as public diplomacy and cultural relations. Given the Chinese government’s almost uncritical embrace of ‘soft power, ’ this chapter considers how these activities advance China’s soft power ambitions, while addressing the difficulties facing China’s cultural diplomacy and evaluating the prospects for overcoming these obstacles through initiatives such as the Confucius Institute.