Abstract

This thesis explores the online dimension of non-state cultural diplomacy, as a new form of contemporary cross-cultural communication in a highly globalized and multilateral environment of contemporary international politics. By looking at the Guggenheim museum, this thesis investigates how this powerful cultural institution with a world recognized global brand engages international audiences and exerts strong cultural impacts. Focusing on one of the Guggenheim’s online global communication activities, the YouTube Play project, implemented in cooperation with Google in 2010, this thesis analyzes a new form of cultural diplomacy exercised in an online environment through social media channels.
Understanding the Guggenheim as a non-state actor in the international arena and its YouTube Play project as an example of digital diplomacy, the research demonstrates that the new epoch of neoliberal globalization and digital forms of human interactions have given birth to a completely new phenomenon in the field of cross-cultural communication. This type of communication, unlike governmental forms of cultural diplomacy between nation states, projects cosmopolitan messages and values, going beyond a traditional promotion of national cultures and traditions. Furthermore, this new form of cultural diplomacy has a strong economic component. On one hand, this component ensures the autonomous character of the international activity, distancing it from the direct control of the government. On the other hand, the economic component brings new corporate politics into play. However, like state forms of diplomacy, online manifestation of contemporary cultural diplomacy has two dimensions: cultural projection and public relations. On the level of cultural projection, the YouTube Play exerts a powerful influence upon international audiences, pushing forward global forces of cultural and linguistic homogenization. On the level of cultural relations, the project brings together people from different countries for productive cross-cultural exchanges with strong educational impacts leading to better understanding and respect between participants.