Cultural Diplomacy of France: Essence, Main Directions and Tools

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of "cultural diplomacy" of France in recent history. The relevance of the topic is conditioned by the fact that states use new, non-leverage levers of influence more and more, striving to spread their values and culture in the world to expand and strengthen their presence in the international arena. The French Republic, in order to revive its former greatness, has accelerated the activities of its institutions over the past decades, which can be interpreted as the manifestations of “soft power” in general, and “cultural diplomacy” in particular. The increase of the French language, culture and history status among the population of Europe, America, Africa and the Middle East is becoming an increasing priority task of the state foreign policy. This, in particular, is evidenced by the statements of the French leadership, as well as the reforms carried out in internal structures to increase the effectiveness of its "cultural diplomacy" concept implementation. The authors of the article concluded that over the past ten years, France has not only stepped up and renewed its cultural and partnership relations around the world, but also opened up new opportunities for the dissemination of information and cooperation, adapting to the diverse expectations of the audience, taking into account, first of all, the factors of multilateral diplomacy and interculturalism. This, in its turn, makes it possible to expect the increase of France foreign policy potential in the international arena. The obtained results are consistent with the conclusions of a number of researchers and expand the existing ideas about the nature, the application of "cultural diplomacy" approaches and the specifics of its influence in the world. The reliability of the study is based on a wide range of published materials, and the obtained results make a significant contribution to knowledge expansion about this problem. At the end of the article, on the basis of France experience study, they determined the potential opportunities for the development of "cultural diplomacy" of Russia.