How do we identify the culture of a nation-state or a subregion while examining its influence in the broader context of that concerned state’s foreign policy?
an issue that is very important for some states, but for other states because the different ethnic groups live in peace - not in tension and conflict.
Culture in a broad meaning is a crucial element in Foreign Policy. To be attractive for foreigners it has to give an image of grandeur and has to propose essentially its better aspects. When a state pretends to influence other societies, it is only in order to make stronger its position in the international scenario, so in any circumstance a state has to promote its culture and from the very first moment it does that, its culture is easily identified, because other means of influencing politics in other countries could be hidden but cultural tool has to be evident direct or indirectly: in 1930s the United States was Fred Astair, Ginber Rogers and so on and Hollywood was the most important instrument of what after was called cultural diplomacy. Could anyone doubt it was representing U.S?
That is too wide a question. It may be best to focus on a culture area or one or two nation-states. And it mat be necessary to look at political and social history as well as anthropology!
In terms of foreign policy, culture and national identity are usually approached through a social-science lens rather than through a humanities-based critical theory framework, which tends to view these concepts in a different, more protracted light. Hence, limitations in application and understanding are usually related to disciplinary scopes. In the end, it boils down to how and on what terms you wish to contemplate culture and national identity. You may then be selective in terms of the academic discipline that best informs/suits your political agenda.
If you look at international relation theories of soft power and constructivism, you will find a lot of them are relevant to culture and identity.
In order to answer this question, we have to understand the meaning of culture first. I will define it loosely as a peoples or social groupings, beliefs, race, religion. These obviously influence the states foreign policies through omission or commission. The ability to influence policy will depend on whether the society in which you live considers you as a minority as which point your voice might not matter. On the other hand, foreign policies will be influenced by those whose beliefs, race and religions matter for the state.
There are many articles dealing with this question. This is a topic of great interest, in particular the gap between the leaders of countries and the culture accepted by the nation. I have published a few articles related, have a look.
I have come across some valuable sources on culture and foreign policy. These include:
Hudson, Valerie M., and Benjamin S. Day. Foreign Policy Analysis: Classic and Contemporary Theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
Hudson, Valerie M., and Martin W. Sampson Iii. "Culture Is More than a Static Residual: Introduction to the Special Section on Culture and Foreign Policy." Political Psychology 20, no. 4 (12 1999): 667-75.
I am sure that there are more great resources on this topic that are worthy of recommendation. Apologies that I couldn't mention other important and valuable resources here. Hopefully, I will update this list as I come across more material on the subject. I thank everyone for sharing their perspective and replying to my question.
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