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In this study, cultural diplomacy, which is a sub-branch of intercultural communication and public diplomacy in the perspective of public diplomacy, and the role played by children in the development of cultural diplomacy, in particular, were investigated. It has analysed the kind of contribution the practices that children are in the centre contribute to cultural diplomacy. As a result of this, it was determined that practices such as the ‘23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day’, which are present in, for example, Turkey, contribute significantly to public diplomacy and intercultural communication. Moreover, in doing this, they have analysed the fact that being chosen as a child actor in public diplomacy has flexed the political approach among states and made the perception of propaganda less felt. As a result of the study, it has been determined that countries give children a central role in their cultural diplomacy practices. In addition, it has been understood that countries have established contact with many countries and societies in this way. In the case of Turkey, it has been determined that in the cultural diplomacy practices of Turkish organisations, mostly Muslim or Turkish origin countries invite their children to the events.

Libraries, museums and cultural centers have long served as cultural ambassadors and foreign policy instruments, bridging diplomatic relationships among nation-states and institutions. The purpose of this scoping review is to ascertain and understand the emerging areas of research on libraries, museums and cultural centers in foreign policy and cultural diplomacy within broader research paradigms of international relations, social sciences, education and library and information studies by systematically mapping key concepts and identifying the types of studies and knowledge gaps.

Using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) Manual for Evidence Synthesis, relevant peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters that were published over a wide time period in any language from various databases were systematically examined. Two reviewers worked independently to extract the data and reached a consensus regarding the inclusion criteria using the JBI’s data charting template.

In total, 6,436 citations were screened, and 57 documents were identified as eligible for inclusion. The following sequences were reviewed and explored: study characteristics, theoretical approaches and research themes. The research themes were grouped into broader ones that included goals, actors, strategies and instruments. Finally, the concentration and clusters of ideas and gaps that emerged in the identified studies were investigated, resulting in a discussion of the recommendations and directions for future research.

This first scoping review is a useful tool for investigating the changing and novel roles of libraries, museums and cultural centers in cultural diplomacy and foreign policy. Although substantial work exists on the topic, the potential remains for interdisciplinary research to challenge and extend the current knowledge about cultural diplomacy practices in libraries, museums and cultural centers.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of cultural diplomacy to explore and explain the role and function of the Confucius Institution project and its implications for understanding of China's soft power projection.

This paper first presents the theories of soft power and cultural diplomacy as an analytic framework. It then delineates an interpretative illustration of the CI project as a platform for China's cultural diplomacy. The paper concludes with a discussion of the CI project's implications for understanding of China's soft power projection.

The paper argues that the Confucius Institute project can be understood as a form of cultural diplomacy that is state‐sponsored and university‐piloted, a joint effort to gain China a more sympathetic global reception. As such, the Confucius Institution project involves a complex of soft power techniques. However, it is not entirely representative of soft power capability, because the problems embedded in the project and in the wider society run counter to the Chinese government's efforts to increase the Confucius Institutions’ attractiveness and popularity.

This article sheds light on Chinese universities in the role of “unofficial cultural diplomats.” On this topic, further research may need to explore more fundamental issues that bear far‐reaching significance and impact, i.e. the mechanics of Chinese university involvement in Confucius Institutes. Interesting questions arising from this study may help open up a wider spectrum of research topics for understanding the university‐state relationship, cross‐border higher education, as well as the possibilities and limits of educational globalization. At this stage, this article serves as a start to move scholarship in that direction.

This paper illustrates how Taiwan has tried to mobilize its prehistory Austronesian linguistic heritage and indigenous cultural memories to reposition itself in the Asia-Pacific. It examines how the attempt has gradually evolved into cross-border exchange and partnership based on the interconnectivity across the Pacific on different levels.

The research is based on policy review of the Taiwan government's growing focus on indigenous culture in strategizing diplomacy and cultural policy from 2000 through 2021 and the researcher's participant observation in expert cultural heritage meetings (2018–2021). It is also complemented by semi-structured interviews with both selected state actors and civil actors.

The past connection among indigenous communities in Taiwan and the Austronesian peoples contributes to building up new cultural circuits across-borders based upon shared indigenous heritage and demonstrates the extraterritorial role of heritage, which can be the potential base for developing diplomacy.

The research is limited in not directly engaging with actors in the Pacific given limited time, budget and mobility under the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic. The author would like to follow on that in her future research.

The paper sheds light on the uneasy relationship between indigenous heritage making and nation building and its cultural implications. This study demonstrates that the state framework of heritage is not necessarily appropriate to deal with these complicated historical matters, especially when the notion of heritage per se is not decolonised in a settler state.

This paper presents research that sought to understand how the National Library of Australia engages with soft power in its Annual Report 2019–20. Driving the analysis was the research question: How is soft power discourse reproduced and enacted in the National Library of Australia's Annual Report 2019–20? The research recognises the significance of Australia's soft power, cultural diplomacy, and regional relationships to national interest in the context of a library's contributions to these areas.

The study employs a qualitative discourse analysis, with constructivist and interpretivist perspectives. A critical discourse analysis was undertaken that applied a discourse-historical approach.

The findings suggest that the National Library of Australia primarily engages with soft power discourse through the construction and preservation of an Australian national identity. National identity is framed as key to the Library's collection development, with Australian knowledge prioritised.

This study extends on research addressing the roles of galleries, archives, and museums in cultural diplomacy, but rarely examines soft power and libraries explicitly or in a contemporary context. It contributes to broader understandings of libraries in international relations and the role they can play in soft power attraction and cultural diplomacy.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasise the importance of effective cultural diplomacy in increasing influence abroad, both commercially and politically. It covers the institutions used to advance cultural diplomacy and focuses on their use in nation branding as a form of “soft power”.

Review of the various key institutions involved, with examples.

Increasing use of cultural diplomacy by companies and nations to enhance their profile to assist in gaining competitive advantage in exports, foreign trade, attracting inward investment and tourism. Emphasises its value and methods as an important part of training and development.

Selective review of recent good practice.

Highlights key areas of success and also examines areas where success has been tempered by altered circumstances at a later date.

The review is backed by critical examination and analysis of the recent use of institutions involved.

This article analyzes an approach to public diplomacy that involves leveraging local voices. It demonstrates the power of culture, particularly in collective settings such as festivals, to engage citizens in countering violent extremism, building peace and tolerance, and fighting corruption. Four case studies from Mali illustrate how integrating historical and living culture into peace-building strategies works effectively in this West African nation torn by jihadist and ethnic strife.

The author has used a field-based approach. The conclusions presented here are based on her own experiences in Mali, as well as hundreds of conversations with Malian colleagues and officials. The cultural diplomacy/soft power/hard power framework for the article is based on her own experiences as US Ambassador to the Netherlands, 1998–2001.

Culture, especially music, has unparalleled and untapped capacity to bring people together across differences in Mali, and to inspire them to envision a positive future for their country, and to work to achieve it. The lessons from the Mali case studies can be applied elsewhere.

These Malian case studies demonstrate that culture belongs at the center and not the periphery of peace-building. They also show the efficacy of the “leverage local voices” approach to cultural diplomacy. The findings here are based on my experiences and those of others working in Mali.

Based on the findings from these Malian case studies, local cultural expression and actors should be integrated into efforts to build peace and counter violent extremism.

These Malian case studies also demonstrate that shared cultural events help build social cohesion in societies frayed by conflict and/or violent extremism. In countries with high illiteracy rates like Mali, song lyrics help convey socio-political messages of peace, tolerance, and unity.

The “leverage local voices” approach to cultural diplomacy offers a different model than the traditional method of sending artists from the originating country (such as the USA) abroad. Local voices – whether living or from the past, as in the case of the Timbuktu manuscripts – have greater credibility and resonance than foreign ones. That culture works so effectively toward reconciliation, social cohesion and building peace in one of the most challenging environments in the world – Mali – suggests that other countries and regions should also explore and exploit the power of culture to dampen violence and orient the population to living together harmoniously.

Science and technology diplomacy (STD) is an emerging area in the field of public policy and technology management. The purpose of this study is to overview the concept of STD based on the two approaches “Science and Technology” and “Diplomacy” to explain its necessity for Non-Aligned Movement member countries.

To design the work, principal domains and sub-domains of STD are identified based on the thematic analysis. By using MAXQDA software, the initial codes are analyzed and validated for the case study. Then, six areas and 29 sub-areas are identified based on the fuzzy Delphi and the framework is designed.

STD is defined from six scopes, including political, economics, law and legal issues, social sciences, philosophy and science and technology. Each scope has its own mechanism that is discussed in the article.

This work is one of the first in the literature of science and technology policy making.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing public diplomacy literature as it focuses on the crucial, but so far largely unnoticed negative dimension of public diplomacy by analyzing information campaigns targeting unwanted people as one instrument of public diplomacy.

Using the cases of Australia and Germany this paper analyses the public diplomacy narratives of these two countries and contrasts those with the messages both countries communicate to potential migrants/refuges through a number of information campaigns. Based on this assessment the paper highlights the negative dimension of public diplomacy and discusses how this negative dimension influences the conduct of public diplomacy.

Both cases clearly exemplify that public diplomacy is no altruistic affair and that public diplomacy is facing new challenges due to this concurrence of opposing images it aims to communicate. It further illustrates that this negative dimension not only challenges the understanding of public diplomacy, but at the same time exemplifies a communicative predicament which, it is argued, cannot be solved satisfactory and requires a trade-off between deterrence and attraction. The predicament arises from the dichotomy of presenting a positive image of a country to produce endorsement and sympathy as well as to attract tourists and investment, while at the same time communicating a negative image to deter uninvited people from entering the country.

Referring to this communicative predicament, the paper suggests that those campaigns are unrewarding for two reasons: first, they apparently do not achieve their objectives and at the same time undermine other public diplomacy initiatives.

The paper highlights the normally neglected fact that public diplomacy is not only concerned with presenting a positive image of a country and winning hearts and minds, but that public diplomacy also has a negative dimension which needs more academic analysis and practitioner’s attention.

Economic diplomacy refers to methods and processes by which states take advantage of cross-border economic activities to achieve their national interests. It makes connections between the sphere of corporate players, who export or invest abroad, and the sphere of diplomats, who represent the state on the international scene and implement geopolitical decisions. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an overall and coherent framework for asking, classifying and discussing the main issues raised by economic diplomacy. It investigates concepts such as national interest, power and influence. It surveys the relevant literature and deals with various expressions of economic diplomacy such as export promotion agencies, economic role of embassies and consulates, or international economic sanctions. It analyzes the two-way relationship between international economics and international politics, which is at the core of economic diplomacy, and tries to answer the following questions: on the global scene, is diplomacy just accompanying the economy? Is diplomacy driving the economy?