When Art and Commerce Collide: Colorization and the Moral Right

ABSTRACT

This article challenges the dominant framework that drives US public diplomacy initiatives and insists that, short of major structural changes, US public diplomacy lacks ethical legitimacy. Based on a review of past US public diplomacy practices, the article finds that these efforts were mainly characterized by a one-way flow of information and an emphasis on image management. Using the theories of hegemony, American exceptionalism, Orientalism, and cultural imperialism, the author lays a theoretical framework for analyzing public diplomacy. The author suggests that, for public diplomacy to move beyond propaganda, it needs to incorporate two-way communication and symmetry.     

Superficial,not Substantial: The Ambiguity of Public Support for Europe's Security and Defence Policy

Abstract

Surveys such as the European Commission's Eurobarometer regularly reveal high levels of public support for European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). This paper argues, however, that public support for ESDP is only superficial, not substantial. First, there is no homogeneous ‘European’ public support for ESDP. Second, security and defence, as covered by ESDP with its focus on global crisis-management, rank very low among Europeans’ priorities. Third, Europeans are very sceptical about the appropriateness of military means, and hence a core element of ESDP, as a legitimate instrument in international affairs. These reservations are likely to have constraining effects on ESDP's future development. At the same time, there are compelling reasons for the further development of ESDP. Therefore, Europe's political elites should initiate a public diplomacy campaign inside the EU in which the case for Europe's further evolution as a strategic security and defence actor is made. ESDP operations are the most promising starting points as they illustrate both the normative and the ‘realist’ necessities of European engagement in global security affairs.     

State,identity, and the politics of music: Eurovision and nation-building in Azerbaijan

Albeit often – and fairly – degraded in the world of high culture as a populist and politicized representation of music, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) – by sheer virtue of the populist and politicized nature of its essence – stands among the most consequential cultural encounters to which post-independence Azerbaijan has been exposed, in that the extent to which Baku's victory in the ESC-2011 – and the further developments this victory has generated – can potentially impact on, and contribute to, the very process of nation-building and national identity formation, with which this post-Soviet Muslim-majority country is currently struggling, is unparalleled by any of the state's earlier encounters of the kind. This paper focuses on, and examines, four intimately related ways in which the ESC and Azerbaijan's successful involvement with the latter worked to interfere with the country's nation-building: as a dubious factor in the evolution of the Western sense of self among Azerbaijanis; as a unifying force within the structure of the country's rapidly maturing civil society; as a medium working to open up a channel through which Western popular cultural elements could interfere with the evolving dynamics of, and work to globalize, indeed de-endogenize, indigenous Azerbaijani culture, on one hand, and unify the discursive realm within which the country's cultural domain is to further evolve, on the other; and, finally, as an important element serving to decouple the evolving processes within the country's cultural domain from the unfolding dynamics of conflict settlement and hence conducive to the diversification of public discourse in Azerbaijan.     

游客形象对中国公共外交的影响分析

中国已经成为世界第一旅游消费大国,庞大的出国人群原本可以成为公共外交的使者和国家形象的代言人,遗憾的是,此起彼伏的中国游客不文明行为,不仅引起目的地居民的反感,而且降低了中国政府公共外交的可信度,使国家形象受损。在全民外交时代,应加强对游客形象问题的研究,探究其对公共外交的影响程度,充分发挥个体在公共外交中的积极作用。     

习近平总书记的外交思想与实践

十八大后,以习近平总书记为核心的新一届党和国家领导,高屋建瓴地提出一系列对外战略思想和外交策略方针,积极倡导一个“命运共同体”的总体目标,认真做好把握战略机遇、应对挑战的两手准备,努力处理好争取维护国家利益与承担国际责任、维持软实力和硬实力、坚持韬光养晦与积极有所作为三个平衡,妥善处理中国与大国、周边国家、发展中国家以及国际组织的四对关系。其扎实的外交开局,为推动我国向“负责任大国”方向迈进奠定了良好基础。     

试析美国对华政策的利益集团因素

在美国的外交决策中,利益集团有着不可忽视的影响力.冷战后,利益集团更是公开走到了前台,通过游说等手段间接地影响着美国对外政策的制定.为此,中国在处理中美关系时,必须把美国各利益集团因素考虑进去,大力开展第二渠道外交.     

全球和合共生系统理论与中国周边命运共同体

全球和合共生系统理论是共生理论与系统理论相互融合而形成的全新框架体系,可以作为构建人类命运共同体和中国周边命运共同体的理论分析范式和理论依据。全球和合共生系统理论认为,世界上的一切事物都是一个大系统中的共生体,必须从全球的角度来构建命运共同体。国际体系各组成部分之间的关系是辩证的,即对立的统一。全球体系内部与中国周边体系内部的互相依赖既有积极的一面,又有消极的一面。积极的相互依存是指相互依存的双方都从关系中受益,而消极的相互依存是指任何一方对相互依存关系的破坏都可能给另一方甚至双方带来损失。构建中国周边命运共同体是全球共生体系高级阶段的目标。全球和合共生系统理论的相互依存论决定了优化中国周边体系以实现中国周边命运共同体的必要性。以相互尊重为前提,以公平正义为核心,以合作共赢为目标,应成为构建中国周边命运共同体的三个关键要素。我们应以此来推进构建新型国际关系,进而建立中国周边命运共同体。     

理解当代中国的安全哲学

通过分析安全主体在安全政治中的思维逻辑和行为方式,可以抽象出其所信奉的安全哲学。以当代中国的安全哲学为例,自改革开放以来,基于自身关于和平与发展是当今时代主题的战略判断,中国提出与之相匹配和呼应的新安全观,并且分为互信、互利、平等、协作的新安全观,以及共同、综合、合作、可持续的新安全观两个阶段。同时,中国所主张的新安全观与旧安全观在政治基础、安全结构、安全战略、争端因应、和平保障五个方面形成鲜明对比。以此为线索,当代中国安全哲学的具体内涵可以被理解和概括为一体安全、兼容安全和发展安全,倡导树立忧患意识与发扬斗争精神。当然,当代中国的安全哲学还面临包括启动成本、维持成本和机会成本在内的成本问题,包括不对称问题和道德风险问题在内的行动问题,以及包括安全感问题、实践转化及其效力问题和他者问题在内的竞争力问题等现实困境和理论困难,这也是当代中国的安全外交需要作答和完成的理论命题与实践课题。     

中国共产党百年外交实践的重大成就和历史经验

中国共产党在领导全国各族人民实现民族独立、国家富强、人民幸福的百年历程中,对外交往工作取得了一系列的重大成就和历史经验。一百年来,中国共产党对外交往工作经历了四个不同的历史阶段:新民主主义革命时期的探索和准备、社会主义革命和建设时期的联盟外交、改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期的和平外交、新时代中国特色大国外交。中国共产党百年外交的历史经验表明:党和国家的外交事业必须坚持中国共产党的领导;坚持以国家和人民利益为中心,牢记初心使命;坚持独立自主原则,反对外来干涉和霸权主义;准确把握时代特征和世界大势,高瞻远瞩,与时俱进。     

冷战期间缅甸的中立外交政策

独立后的缅甸一直奉行独立自主的中立外交政策,在与中美苏三大国的关系上表现的尤为突出。冷战期间,缅甸与三大国的外交关系有以下特点:其一,缅甸与三大国都基本上保持着正常的关系,没有产生大的矛盾和冲突;其二,不与任何大国结盟,从不倒向任何一方。其三,在与三大国的关系中,缅中关系显得更为密切,但两国仍属于正常的国家关系,并没有结成同盟。总的来说,缅甸的对外政策确实是中立和不结盟的。