The Bulgarian PEN Club: A Study in Interwar Cultural Internationalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-711
Author(s):  
Irina Gigova
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Global Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Cultural Internationalism ◽  
Literary Networks

This article reconstructs the history of the Bulgarian section of the International PEN. The PEN (initially standing for Poet, Essayists and Novelists) remains a global society of writers, founded in London in 1921, with the intent of promoting international understanding and higher social standing for writers and literature. The Bulgarian PEN was formed in 1926 by authors seeking to break the international isolation of Bulgaria, a former member of the Central Powers. The International PEN enabled Bulgarian literati to engage as non-state agents in cultural diplomacy of their own and to expand their intellectual and professional networks. Based on a variety of sources, the article analyzes the hopes, real limitations, and actual achievements of the Bulgarian PEN until its closing in 1941. It uses the organization’s interwar history to examine the workings in eastern Europe of what Akira Iriye called “cultural internationalism.” It demonstrates that while global literary and cultural relations remained inherently unequal, as discussed by Pascale Casanova, the International PEN did afford opportunities to smaller nations and literatures to establish regional and global contacts and become integrated in continental literary networks.

Making Relations, Breaking Relations

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 297-329
Author(s):  
Marguerite de Huszar Allen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
High Point ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
History Of ◽  
Monthly Journal ◽  
Intellectual Elites

French-Hungarian relations reached a high point in the aftermath of the 1896 Millennium Celebration in Budapest. But by 1910, prospects for rapprochement had faded. The article explores the genesis of the rupture in relations that manifested itself in the Treaty of Trianon. It investigates events from two new perspectives: first, the career of French consul general Viscount de Fontenay before and during his stay in Budapest (1906–1912); second, the founding of the Revue de Hongrie along with its early years of publication. Fontenay began the Revue in March 1908 as a diplomatic initiative supported by the intellectual elites of France and Hungary and their governments. It was a monthly journal written entirely in French with subscriptions from individuals as well as prestigious universities, colleges, and libraries in Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia. This article explores relations between the two countries as reflected in the political landscape and the contents of the Revue. Finally, as a contribution to the previously neglected history of international cultural relations, this article identifies the key issue: there is no pure cultural diplomacy. It strives to use the frequently overlapping terms of this emerging field in such a way that the context in which they appear helps to clarify their meaning.

scholarly journals Cultural Diplomacy as ‘Communication Bridge-Building’ Between Ukraine and Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 835-855
Author(s):  
Violetta Udovik
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Olympic Games ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
National Level ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fruitful Cooperation ◽  
Bridge Building

The article examines the history of Ukrainian-Japanese cultural relations, the development of cultural diplomacy in Ukraine and Japan, the major points in the positioning of the Ukrainian state in the Land of the Rising Sun and vice versa as well as further prospects for cooperation in this area. In spite of the geographical remoteness of our country from Japan and the thorny history of nation-building in Ukraine, Ukrainian-Japanese contacts trace their origins as early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which laid an essential foundation for their development during Ukraine’s independence. The author states that at the current stage both countries have managed to forge a ‘communication bridge’ thanks to fruitful cooperation in implementing cultural, humanitarian, educational, and sports projects. It is noted that the rapid development of cultural and public diplomacy in Ukraine, the institutionalisation of this area of activity at the national level as well as the introduction of budgetary programmes for putting into practice cultural projects open up additional opportunities for ensuring a more comprehensive presentation of Ukraine in Japan. In this regard, the establishment of the Ukrainian Institute and the adoption of its development strategy for 2020–24 providing for its functioning in Japan is viewed as a momentous occasion. The author draws attention to the fact that holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and the presentation of Ukraine within the Cultural Olympiad are a unique pretext for realising these plans. Given the spread of coronavirus, it is proposed to ensure the organisation of not only traditional but also online events with a view to presenting Ukraine’s tourist potential and promoting its positive image in Japan. Keywords: cultural diplomacy, Ukraine, Japan, Ukrainian-Japanese cultural relations, public diplomacy, Ukrainian Institute, Tokyo, Olympic Games.

British Council as an Instrument of Public Diplomacy of Great Britain

2017 ◽  
pp. 305-312
Author(s):  
Mykola Trofymenko
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
British Council ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

Public diplomacy of Great Britain is one of the most developed in the EU and in the world. The United Kingdom has developed an extremely efficient public diplomacy mechanism which includes BBC World Service (which due to its popularity boosts the reputation and the image of Great Britain), Chevening Scholarships (provides outstanding foreign students with opportunity to study in Great Britain and thus establishes long-lasting relations with public opinion leaders and foreign countries elite) and the British Council, which deals with international diplomatic ties in the field of culture. The British Council is a unique organization. Being technically independent, it actively and efficiently works on consolidating Great Britain’s interests in the world and contributes to the development of public diplomacy in Great Britain.   The author studies the efforts of the British Council as a unique public diplomacy tool of the United Kingdom. Special attention is paid to the role of British Council, which is independent of the governing board and at the same time finds itself under the influence of the latter due to the peculiarities of the appointment of Board’s officials, financing etc. The author concludes that the British Council is a unique organization established in 1934, which is a non-departmental state body, charitable organization and public corporation, technically independent of the government. The British Council, thanks to its commercial activities covers the lack of public funding caused by the policy of economy conducted by the government. It has good practices in this field worth paying attention by other countries. It is also worth mentioning that the increment in profit was getting higher last year, however the issue of increasing the influence of the government on the activities of British Council is still disputable. Although the Foreign Minister officially reports to the parliament on the activities of the British Council, approves the appointment of the leaders of organizations, the British Council preserves its independence of the government, which makes it more popular abroad, and makes positive influence on the world image of Great Britain. The efficiency of the British Council efforts on fulfillment of targets of the United Kingdom public diplomacy is unquestionable, no matter how it calls its activities: whether it is a cultural relations establishment or a cultural diplomacy implementation. Keywords: The British Council, public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, cultural relations, Foreign Office, Her Majesty’s Government, official assistance for development

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurit Yaari
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Jewish Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Future State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
State Of Israel

This chapter examines the lack of continuous tradition of the art of the theatre in the history of Jewish culture. Theatre as art and institution was forbidden for Jews during most of their history, and although there were plays written in different times and places during the past centuries, no tradition of theatre evolved in Jewish culture until the middle of the nineteenth century. In view of this absence, the author discusses the genesis of Jewish theatre in Eastern Europe and in Eretz-Yisrael (The Land of Israel) since the late nineteenth century, encouraged by the Jewish Enlightenment movement, the emergence of Jewish nationalism, and the rebirth of Hebrew as a language of everyday life. Finally, the chapter traces the development of parallel strands of theatre that preceded the Israeli theatre and shadowed the emergence of the political infrastructure of the future State of Israel.

The Demise of Non-Communist Parties in North Korea (1945–1960)

2001 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei N. Lankov
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
North Korea ◽  
History Of ◽  
United Front ◽  
The 1950S

This article, based on newly declassified material from the Russian archives, deals with the fate of non-Communist parties in North Korea in the 1950s. Like the “people's democracies” in Eastern Europe, North Korea had (and still technically has) a few non-Communist parties. The ruling Communist party included these parties within the framework of a “united front,” designed to project the facade of a multiparty state, to control domestic dissent, and to establish links with parties in South Korea. The article traces the history of these parties under Soviet and local Communist control from the mid-1940s to their gradual evisceration in the 1950s.

Nonaligned Modernism: Yugoslav Culture, Nonaligned Cultural Diplomacy, and Transnational Solidarity

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Bojana Videkanić
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Cultural Work ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
Bilateral Agreements ◽  
Political Cooperation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Transnational Solidarity ◽  
Political Scene

Abstract This article examines aspects of the history of socialist Yugoslavia’s contribution to creating a transnational Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) culture. It does so by analyzing cultural diplomacy on the Yugoslav cultural and political scene between the 1950s and 1980s. The cultural diplomacy of Yugoslavia and its nonaligned partners is seen as a form of political agency, paralleling and supplementing larger activities of forming economic and political cooperation in the Global South. Yugoslavia’s role in building NAM culture was instrumental in nurturing nascent transnationalism, which was born out of anti-colonial movements following World War II. Cultural events, bilateral agreements, and cultural institutions were used to complement Yugoslav participation in an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist struggle; they promoted NAM ideals and sought to create transcultural networks that would counter Western cultural hegemony. Such examples of solidarity were based in a modernist cultural ethos, but espoused political, social, and cultural forms that were indigenous to various NAM countries. For Yugoslavia, nonaligned modernism and transnationalism solidified the country’s transition from a hardline, Soviet-style state to a more open, humanist-socialist one. The history of transnational collaboration, examined through the narrative of cultural work, is an example of Yugoslav attempts at building political agency and international cooperation through the promotion of nonaligned ideals.

scholarly journals Old World Homecomings: Campaigns of Ancestral Tourism and Cultural Diplomacy, 1945–66

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200942098684
Author(s):  
Adam Hjorthén
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Marshall Plan ◽  
Old World ◽  
Subsequent Transformation ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Economies ◽  
Roots Tourism

This article examines the history of ancestral tourism and its development as a form of cultural diplomacy between 1945 and 1966. The phenomenon often referred to as ‘roots tourism’ has during the last decades increased in popularity, especially in Old World countries that historically have sent large numbers of people to North America. While previous scholarship has focused on its existential dimensions and its relation to the twenty-first century tourism and heritage economies, this article looks at how ancestral tourism grew out of European attempts at expanding the tourism industry after 1945. It studies the international spread of ‘person-to-person’ programs that sought to turn travelers into ‘ambassadors’, and the subsequent transformation of such initiatives into ‘homecoming’ campaigns through notions of co-descent, targeting Americans of European descent. By exploring the case of the 1966 Homecoming Year campaign in Sweden, the article shows that the attraction of ancestral tourism was grounded in its ability to combine economic and political incentives articulated in the Marshall Plan. It developed out of a liberal-democratic ideology that vested individual travelers with diplomatic agency. In the process, European tourist agencies calcified the notion that ancestral tourism served not only individual experiences, but also national economies and international relations.

Bulgarian Turkish Emigration and Return

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darina Vasileva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
Lasting Effect ◽  
History Of

The history of the emigration of Bulgarian Muslim Turks to Turkey is more than a century old. The violation of the human rights of ethnic Turks by the totalitarian regime during the 1980s resulted in the most massive and unpredictable migration wave ever seen in that history. This article examines the complexity of factors and motivations of the 1989 emigration which included almost half of the ethnic Turks living in Bulgaria and constituting until that time 9 percent of the total population. The author considers the strong and long-lasting effect of this emigration—followed by the subsequent return of half of the emigrants after the fall of the regime—both on Bulgaria's economy and on the political life of the society. The article aims also at providing a better understanding of the character of ethnic conflicts in posttotalitarian Eastern Europe.

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