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

scholarly journals The Unwavering Support

2019 ◽  
pp. 244-267
Author(s):  
Judith Gough
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Contact Point ◽  
British Council ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Number Of Visits ◽  
First Time

The interview with Judith Gough, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Ukraine, reveals Her Excellency’s opinion on a range of issues and the position of Great Britain on security matters. The article states Great Britain was one of the pioneers of the campaign for the imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation in response to its aggression against Ukraine. Great Britain also highly appreciates the support of Ukraine after the Salisbury incident. Specifically, here the reader will find articulated Great Britain’s position relating to the Minsk process, which can be succinctly described by a phrase ‘there is no such thing as an ideal peace process.’ The negotiations are always associated with difficulties and never finish at a pace desired. However, the paramount task of today is to stop hostilities in Donbas. The interview goes on to explore the role of the NATO Contact Point Embassy, which consists in that every NATO Member State undertakes the functions to carry out NATO public diplomacy, assists the NATO Liaison Office in communicating with citizens of the receiving state, and makes clear what the organization is and what its activities are. It is stressed it is the first time when such functions are jointly undertaken by two countries, Great Britain and Canada. Thus, Ukraine has gained the support of two states at the same time. The article also underlines that Great Britain does not intend to change its visa policy towards Ukraine. However, that is not a discriminatory model, as such a policy is applied to the entire world in the same manner. An important aspect of this matter in the relations between Ukraine and Great Britain is an ever-growing number of visas issued. It is mentioned that Brexit has not changed the policy of Great Britain towards Ukraine, has not affected the decision to support Ukraine, and has not decreased an interest to it. After the referendum, the support has become even more evident. The number of visits at the ministerial level has also increased. The article delineates the importance of such organisation as the British Council, providing not only English tutor lessons at a globally recognised level but also vigorously taking part in the realm of cultural diplomacy. Key words: Ukrainian-British relations, Brexit, NATO, Minsk process.

III. On the figure, dimensions, and mean specific gravity of the Earth, as derived from the ordnance trigonometrical survey of Great Britain and Ireland

1857 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 111-116 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Specific Gravity ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Government

The Trigonometrical Survey of the United Kingdom commenced in the year 1784, under the immediate auspices of the Royal Society; the first base was traced by General Roy on the 16th of April of that year, on Hounslow Heath, in presence of Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the Society, and some of its most distinguished Fellows. The principal object which the Government had then in view, was the connexion of the Observatories of Paris and Greenwich by means of a triangulation, for the purpose of determining the difference of longitude between the two observatories.

Great Britain and the tvolution of the colonial system (end 19th – beginning 20th centuries)

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
A.V. Goncharenko ◽  
T.O. Safonova
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
The North ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
General Decline ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

The article investigates the impact of Great Britain on the evolution of colonialism in the late ХІХ and early ХХ centuries. It is analyzed the sources and scientific literature on the policy of the United Kingdom in the colonial question in the late ХІХ – early ХХ century. The reasons, course and consequences of the intensification of British policy in the colonial problem are described. The process of formation and implementation of London’s initiatives in the colonial question during the period under study is studied. It is considered the position of Great Britain on the transformation of the colonial system in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The resettlement activity of the British and the peculiarities of their mentality, based on the idea of racial superiority and the new national messianism, led to the formation of developed resettlement colonies. The war for the independence of the North American colonies led to the formation of a new state on their territory, and the rest of the “white” colonies of Great Britain had at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries had to build a new policy of relations, taking into account the influence of the United States on them, and the general decline of economic and military-strategic influence of Britain in the world, and the militarization of other leading countries. As a result, a commonwealth is formed instead of an empire. With regard to other dependent territories, there is also a change in policy towards the liberalization of colonial rule and concessions to local elites. In the late ХІХ – early ХІХ centuries the newly industrialized powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) sought to seize the colonies to reaffirm their new status in the world, the great colonial powers of the past (Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands) sought to retain what remained to preserve their international prestige, and Russia sought to expand. The largest colonial empires, Great Britain and France, were interested in maintaining the status quo. In the colonial policy of the United Kingdom, it is possible to trace a certain line related to attempts to preserve the situation in their remote possessions and not to get involved in conflicts and costly measures where this can be avoided. In this sense, the British government showed some flexibility and foresight – the relative weakening of the military and economic power of the empire due to the emergence of new states, as well as the achievement of certain self-sufficiency, made it necessary to reconsider traditional foreign policy. Colonies are increasingly no longer seen as personal acquisitions of states, and policy toward these territories is increasingly seen as a common deal of the international community and even its moral duty. The key role here was to be played by Great Britain, which was one of the first to form the foundations of a “neocolonial” system that presupposes a solidarity policy of Western countries towards the rest of the world under the auspices of London. Colonial system in the late ХІХ – early ХІХ century underwent a major transformation, which was associated with a set of factors, the main of which were – the emergence of new industrial powers on the world stage, the internal evolution of the British Empire, changes in world trade, the emergence of new weapons, general growth of national and religious identity and related with this contradiction. The fact that the First World War did not solve many problems, such as Japanese expansionism or British marinism, and caused new ones, primarily such as the Bolshevik coup in Russia and the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany, the implementation of the above trends stretched to later moments.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document