The Phenomenon of Cultural Relations

Abstract

Lurking in the background of debates over trade in cultural products, transnational mass media and global news flows is the assumption that seemingly innocent items of entertainment, such as TV programmes and recorded music, are ideological tools of governments. These ideas make the relationship between international power and international communication seem even more sinister. Before governments of countries that are large generators of cultural products (such as France, Britain and the United States) can disseminate their own propaganda it seems that images of these countries, for better or worse, have been created in the minds of foreign populations. Some thinkers have explored how governments have actually deliberately used cultural industries, especially commercial movie production, to further their foreign policy objectives.1 In comparison, the cultural industries of some countries can create certain images of some other nations or races, making it a task for these peoples to dispel stereotypes,2 or creating pretexts for specific forms of international behaviour.3 When governments decide to forsake the vagaries of mass media and international news to create and manage their own public relations they resort to ‘cultural relations’ and ‘cultural diplomacy’.KeywordsInternational CommunicationCultural RelationCentral Intelligence AgencyBritish CouncilBritish Broadcasting CorporationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.