Abstract
The increase in research of cultural issues in International Relations reveals that the interpretations of associated concepts present many dissonances, sometimes being used in an overlapping or mistaken way. This article focuses particularly on the concepts of cultural diplomacy and soft power and conducts a critical theoretical-methodological analysis of the contents and limits of each concept’s use. To this end, we recovered the definitions offered by the literature for the concepts, contextualizing them with the political-historical intentions around their creation and use, both in their origins and today. We analyzed problems in the application of the concepts, both regarding the agents involved in its practical application and the nature and selection of the content mobilized. To contribute methodologically to future work, we elaborated possible research structures linked to both concepts.
IR research; culture and IR; cultural diplomacy; soft power; methodology
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Source: Authors’ own elaboration
Notes:1 When verifying the agents involved, it is essential to indicate their political intentions. As Nye Jr. extends the action to different agents in a society, it is important to clarify their objectives. If there is no intention, other categories should be mobilized to explain the external projection of a given agent (nation branding, internationalization of companies, International Cultural Relations, symbolic capital, etc.).2 The two research possibilities indicated are correlated and can be applied individually or as part of a single research proposal. The aim of breaking them down into two separate models was to make their explanation more didactic and use more dynamic.Source: Authors’ own elaboration