European Cultural Diplomacy - Past of Future

Jean Monnet Module

Cultural Diplomacy at the East and West Borders of the European Union – an Essential Element in the Process of European Integration

• Application Form (download)

The reason for the project

In a complex, dynamic and torn world caught in the process of globalization, states have not only to tolerate themselves, but also to communicate, cooperate and identify common solutions. International diplomacy has been thus redefined to fit this context. Both states’ and European Union’s foreign policy, , has acquired an essential element – cultural diplomacy, whose major objective is to create, develop and sustain relations with other states by means of culture, art, education and science. As a result, cultural policy is one of the most adequate and efficient instruments through which political plans can be accomplished and implemented. Thus, as it’s an indispensable element of international relation, culture has become an agent of regional development and European integration and it is supported by the creation of more and more regional cultural networks.

Aims and objectives

• the understanding of the importance of diversity in the New Europe and the need to connect states through culture and science; the reduction of communication barriers among nations;
• the identification of means of cross-border cooperation;
• the fulfillment of the students’ need for knowledge regarding the management of multicultural communication and the management of intercultural dialogue;
• an incentive to reflect upon the cultural and intercultural vectors which allowed, on the one side, for the creation of autonomous connections and international networks within European societies, and on the other side, for the overcoming of the old continent’s separations;
• to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the theory and practice of international relations within the contemporary interdependent world by placing a particular emphasis on cultural diplomacy within this framework;
• to educate students about cultural diplomacy within the context of the political, economic and cultural pillars upon which sustainable international relations are based.

Staff involved

• Alina Stoica, PhD., University of Oradea, CV (download)

• Ioan Horga, PhD., University of Oradea, CV (download)

• Maria Manuela Tavares Ribeiro, PhD., University of Coimbra, CV (download)

• European Cultural Diplomacy, held by Alina Stoica, PhD, course description (download)

• Regional Cultural Networks, held by Maria Manuela Tavares Ribeiro, PhD, course description (download)