Italy’s Cultural Diplomacy: From Propaganda to Cultural Cooperation

• Authors: Lorenzo Medici

Title variants

PL

Dyplomacja kulturalna Włoch: Od propagandy do kooperacji kulturowej

Abstracts

PL

Dyplomacja kulturowa zawsze była ważnym narzędziem w polityce zagranicznej Włoch. Kultura była ważną wartością już w okresie liberalnym, a także w znacznym zakresie używana przez włoskich faszystów. W okresie międzywojennym promocja kultury poza granicami kraju miała na celu szerzenie pewnego organizacyjnego modelu ustroju społeczno-politycznego. Po drugiej wojnie światowej zasoby kulturowe odgrywały fundamentalną rolę we włoskich stosunkach międzynarodowych. Rząd demokratyczny dokonał zmiany metod działań od zasadniczo propagandowych, stosowanych przez faszystów głównie w drugiej połowie lat 30. XX wieku, do dyplomacji kulturowej, bardziej wyczulonej na kwestie dialogu i współpracy. Soft power polityki kulturowej zaczęło nabierać coraz większego znaczenia. Ze względu na brak efektywnych narzędzi dyplomatycznych o charakterze politycznym i ekonomicznym, klasa rządząca skupiła się na promowaniu tradycji kulturowych swojego narodu. Demokratyczne Włochy wciąż wykorzystywały środki i personel zapewniony przez faszystów, jednak przyjęto innowacyjny program dyplomacji kulturowej z uwzględnieniem nowych przesłanek i celów. Taka polityka była umiarkowana i z pewnością pozbawiona motywów kulturowych, jednak w rzeczywistości i dłuższej perspektywie nastawiona była na pozyskiwanie kontaktów z nowymi krajami, zaprzyjaźnienie się z nimi i zyskanie sympatii ich elit, a w ostateczności na nawiązywanie z nimi relacji ekonomicznych i politycznych. W ramach struktury szeroko zakrojonych działań nastawionych na wspieranie multilateralnej dyplomacji, nowi liderzy post-faszystowskich Włoch promowali międzynarodową współpracę kulturową, która odeszła od torów polityki siły wyznaczonych przez poprzedni reżim, oraz uznanie integralności kulturowej Włoch. Mimo to pozostawali czujni, by chronić interesy narodowe. Wymiar zamierzonej przez nich współpracy był realizowany przede wszystkim poprzez uczestnictwo Włoch w UNESCO.

EN

Cultural diplomacy has always been an important tool in Italian foreign policy. Culture represented a significant resource already in the liberal period and was also widely used by Fascism. During the inter-war period, cultural promotion abroad aimed at spreading the regime’s political-social organizational model. In the second post-war period, cultural resources played a fundamental role in Italian international relations. The democratic government carried out a transition from an essentially propagandistic action, which Fascism implemented especially in the second half of 1930’s, to a cultural diplomacy more attentive to the issues of dialogue and cooperation. The soft power of culture grew in importance. Lacking effective diplomatic tools of a political and economic nature, the new ruling class promoted the nation’s cultural tradition. Although with means and personnel widely used already during the Fascist period, democratic Italy adopted an innovative cultural diplomacy with regard to premises and goals. This policy was apparently low-key and devoid of political themes, but in reality it was aimed at acquiring, in the long run, the friendship and the sympathy of the elites of other countries, so as to bolster political and economic relations. In the framework of a broader course of action, aimed at supporting multilateral diplomacy, the new leaders of post-Fascist Italy also promoted an international cultural cooperation which reversed the previous power politics and the unilateral assertion of Italian culture, but was still careful to defend the nation’s interests. This cooperative dimension was realized above all with the participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Keywords

EN

soft power; cultural diplomacy; propaganda; cultural cooperation; foreign cultural policy; Fascism; Italian foreign policy; UNESCO

PL

soft power; dyplomacja kulturowa; propaganda; współpraca kulturowa; kulturowa polityka zagraniczna; faszyzm; polityka zagraniczna Włoch; UNESCO

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Świat Idei i Polityki
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 18
• Pages: 25-46

Dates

published

2019

Contributors

author

Lorenzo Medici

• University of Perugia

• https://orcid.org/0000000169736639

References

• Aldrich, R.J. (2003). Putting Culture into the Cold War: The Cultural Relations Department (CRD) and British Covert Information Warfare. Intelligence & National Security, 18, no. 2, pp. 109–133.
• Archibald, G. (1993). Les États-Unis et l’Unesco: 1944–1963: Les rêves peuvent-ils résister à la réalité des relations internationales?. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne.
• Arndt, R.T., & Rubin D.L., (eds.) (1993). The Fulbright Difference, 1948–1992. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
• Azzario Chiesa, M.P. (1999). L’Italia per l’UNESCO: 50 anni della Commissione Italiana. Roma: Armando Editore.
• Behrstock, J. (1987). The Eight Case: Troubled Times at the United Nations. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
• Belmonte, L.A. (2008). Selling the American Way: U.S. Propaganda and the Cold War. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Beresford, C. (1959). The B.B.C.’s External Services. International Affairs, 35, no. 2, pp. 170–180.
• Burrows, M. (1986). ‘Mission civilisatrice’: French Cultural Policy in the Middle East, 1860–1914. The Historical Journal, 29, no. 1, pp. 109–135.
• Cannistraro, Ph. V. (1975). La fabbrica del consenso: Fascismo e mass media. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
• Caparelli, F. (1985). La “Dante Alighieri”: 1920–1970. Roma: Bonacci.
• Caprariis, L. de. (2000). ‘Fascism for Export’?: The Rise and the Eclipse of the Fasci Italiani all’Estero. Journal of Contemporary History, 35, no. 2, pp. 151–183.
• Carruthers, S.L. (1995). Winning Hearts and Minds: British Governments, the Media and Colonial Counter-Insurgency 1945–1960. Leicester: Leicester University Press.
• Cavarocchi, F. (2010). Avanguardie dello spirito: Il fascismo e la propaganda culturale all’estero. Roma: Carocci.
• Chaubet, F. (2006). La politique culturelle française ou la diplomatie de la langue: L’Alliance Française (1883–1914). Paris: L’Harmattan.
• Coleman, P. (1989). The Liberal Conspiracy: The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Struggle for the Mind in Post War Europe. New York: Free Press.
• Costa Bona, E., & Tosi, L. (2007). L’Italia e la sicurezza collettiva: Dalla Società delle Nazioni alle Nazioni Unite. Perugia: Morlacchi.
• Cull, N.J. (2008). The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Cull, N.J. (2009). Public Diplomacy: Lessons from the Past. Los Angeles: Figueroa Press.
• Cuzzi, M. (2005). L’Internazionale delle camicie nere: I CAUR, Comitati d’azione per l’universalità di Roma, 1933–1939. Milano: Mursia.
• Di Nolfo, E. (2010). La guerra fredda e l’Italia (1941–1989). Firenze: Polistampa.
• Donaldson, F. (1984). The British Council: The First Fifty Years. London: Cape.
• Dudden, A.P., & Dynes, R.R., (eds.) (1987). The Fulbright Experience, 1946––1986: Encounters and Transformations. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books.
• Ebon, M. (1987). The Soviet Propaganda Machine. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Ferraris, L.V. (1954). L’amministrazione centrale del Ministero degli Esteri Italiano nel suo sviluppo storico (1848–1954). Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali, 21, nn. 3–4, pp. 426–461, 605–663.
• Floriani, G. (1974). Scuole italiane all’estero: Cento anni di storia. Roma: Armando Editore.
• Fotia, L. (2018). La diplomazia culturale del regime fascista: Una rassegna storiografica. Mondo contemporaneo, no. 1, pp. 73–90.
• Fotia, L. (2019). Diplomazia culturale e propaganda attraverso l’Atlantico: Argentina e Italia (1923–1940). Firenze: Le Monnier.
• Frank, R. (2003). La machine diplomatique culturelle française après 1945. Relations Internationales, no. 115, pp. 325–348.
• Franzina, E., & Sanfilippo M., (eds.) (2003). Il fascismo e gli emigrati: La parabola dei Fasci italiani all’estero (1920–1943). Roma-Bari: Laterza.
• Gaja, R. (1995). L’Italia nel mondo bipolare: Per una storia della politica estera italiana (1943–1991). Bologna: il Mulino.
• Garzarelli, B. (2000). Universitari fascisti e rapporti con l’estero: Le attività dei GUF in campo internazionale (1927–1939). Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica, 13, no. 2, pp. 225–264.
• Garzarelli, B. (2004). «Parleremo al mondo intero»: La propaganda del fascismo all’estero. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.
• Goglia, L. (1984). La propaganda italiana a sostegno della guerra contro l’Etiopia svolta in Gran Bretagna nel 1935–36. Storia contemporanea, 15, no. 5, pp. 845–908.
• Gould-Davies, N. (2003). The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy. Diplomatic History, 27, no. 2, pp. 193–214.
• Graham, S.E. (2006). The (Real)politiks of Culture: U.S. Cultural Diplomacy In Unesco, 1946–1954. Diplomatic History, 30, no. 2, pp. 231–251.
• Haize, D. (2012). L’action culturelle et de coopération de la France à l’étranger: Un réseau des hommes. Paris: L’Harmattan.
• Heil Jr., A.L. (2003). Voice of America: A History. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Hixson, W.L. (1997). Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture and the Cold War. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
• Kessel, T. van (2016). Foreign Cultural Policy in the Interbellum: The Italian Dante Alighieri Society and the British Council Contesting the Mediterranean. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
• Kroes, R. (1999). American Empire and Cultural Imperialism: A View from the Receiving End. Diplomatic History, 23, no. 3, pp. 463–477.
• Lucas, S., & Morris C.J. (1992). A Very British Crusade: IRD and the Beginnings of the Cold War. R.J. Aldrich (ed.), British Intelligence Strategy and the Cold War 1945–51 (85–110). London: Routledge.
• Martelli, E. (2008). L’altro atlantismo: Fanfani e la politica estera italiana (1958–1963). Milano: Guerini e Associati.
• Marzano, A. (2015). Onde fasciste: La propaganda araba di Radio Bari (1934–43). Roma: Carocci.
• Medici, L. (2003). La diplomazia multilaterale italiana nel secondo dopoguerra: Il caso dell’ammissione dell’Italia all’UNESCO. La Comunità Internazionale, 58, no. 1, pp. 69–95.
• Medici, L. (2006). Aspetti e momenti della partecipazione italiana all’UNESCO. F. Romero, & A. Varsori (eds.), Nazione, interdipendenza, integrazione: Le relazioni internazionali dell’Italia (1917–1989) (85–103). Roma: Carocci, vol. 2.
• Medici, L. (2008). La diplomazia culturale della repubblica italiana nel Mediterraneo. D. Melfa, A. Melcangi, & F. Cresti (eds.), Spazio privato, spazio pubblico e socjeta civile in Medio Oriente e Africa del Nord (553–569). Milano: Giuffrè.
• Medici, L. (2009). Dalla propaganda alla cooperazione: La diplomazia culturale italiana nel secondo dopoguerra (1944–1950). Padova: Cedam.
• Medici, L. (2010). Neoatlantismo e cooperazione culturale internazionale: L’azione di Vittorino Veronese nell’Unesco. A. Giovagnoli, & L. Tosi (eds.), Amintore Fanfani e la politica estera italiana (352–365). Venezia: Marsilio.
• Medici, L. (2011). Aldo Moro e la cooperazione culturale nel Mediterraneo. F. Perfetti, A. Ungari, D. Caviglia, & D. De Luca (eds.), Aldo Moro nell’Italia contemporanea (607–622). Firenze: Le Lettere.
• Medici, L. (2013). L’Italia nell’Unesco fra guerra fredda e decolonizzazione. L. Tosi (ed.), In dialogo. La diplomazia multilaterale italiana negli anni della guerra fredda (143–174). Padova: Cedam.
• Medici, L. (2017). L’Unesco fra guerra fredda e globalizzazione. M. Mugnaini (ed.), 70 anni di storia dell’Onu. 60 anni di Italia all’Onu (243–261). Milano, FrancoAngeli.
• Ministero degli Affari Esteri (1971). La cooperazione culturale scientifica e tecnica. Roma: Ministero degli Affari Esteri.
• Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Servizio del contenzioso diplomatico dei trattati e degli affari legislativi (1972). Accordi culturali e di cooperazione scientifica e tecnica fra l’Italia ed altri stati. Roma: Tipografia M.A.E.
• Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Direzione Generale delle Relazioni Culturali (1996). La promozione della cultura italiana all’estero. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato.
• Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Direzione Generale delle Relazioni Culturali (1997). Missioni archeologiche italiane. La ricerca archeologica, antropologica, etnologica. Roma: «L’Erma» di Bretschneider.
• Monzali, L. (2011). Mario Toscano e la politica estera italiana nell’era atomica. Firenze: Le Lettere.
• Mulcahy, K.V. (1999). Cultural Diplomacy and the Exchange Programs: 1938–1978. The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, 29, no. 1, pp. 28–29.
• Nye, J.S. (2004). Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: Public Affairs.
• Paronetto Valier, M.L. (1999). L’Italia e l’UNESCO. L. Tosi (ed.), L’Italia e le organizzazioni internazionali: Diplomazia multilaterale nel Novecento (235–256). Padova: Cedam.
• Parsons, A. (Winter 1984–1985). ‘Vultures and Philistines’: British Attitudes to Culture and Cultural Diplomacy. International Affairs, 61, no. 1, pp. 1–8.
• Partner, P. (1988). Arab Voices: The BBC Arabic Service, 1938–1988. London: BBC External Services.
• Pavolini, A. (n.d. but 1943). Rapporto sull’attività dell’Istituto nel triennio 1939-XVII – 1942-XX. Roma: I.R.C.E.
• Pendergast, W.R. (1976). UNESCO and French Cultural Relations 1945–1970. International Organization, 30, no. 3, pp. 453–483.
• Pretelli, M. (2010). Il fascismo e gli italiani all’estero. Bologna: Clueb.
• Petricioli, M. (1990). Archeologia e Mare Nostrum: Le missioni archeologiche nella politica mediterranea dell’Italia, 1898–1943. Roma: Valerio Levi.
• Pisa, B. (1995). Nazione e politica nella Società “Dante Alighieri”. Roma: Bonacci.
• Puddington, A. (2000). Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
• Renoliet, J.-J. (1999). L’Unesco oublié: La Société des Nations et la coopération intellectuelle (1919–1946). Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne.
• Riccardi, L. (2017). La grandezza di una media potenza: Personaggi e problemi della politica estera italiana del Novecento. Roma: Società editrice Dante Alighieri.
• Rocco, A. (1935). La cooperazione intellettuale. Cooperazione Intellettuale, 1, no. 1–2, pp. 7–16.
• Roche, F., & Pigniau B. (1995). Histoires de la diplomatie culturelle française des origines à 1995. Paris: La Documentation française.
• Salvetti, P. (1995). Immagine nazionale ed emigrazione nella Società “Dante Alighieri”. Roma: Bonacci.
• Santoro, C.M. (1991). La politica estera di una media potenza: L’Italia dall’Unità ad oggi. Bologna: il Mulino.
• Santoro, S. (2005). L’Italia e l’Europa orientale: Diplomazia culturale e propaganda 1918–1943. Milano: Franco Angeli.
• Sayah Chniti, E. (1997). La Grande-Bretagne et l’Unesco 1942–1957. 12 ans de relations entre une institution des Nation Unies et une puissance fondatrice. Thèse de Doctorat sous la direction de René Girault, 3 vols. Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.
• Scott-Smith, G. (2002). The Politics of Apolitical Culture: The Congress for Cultural Freedom, the CIA & Post-War American Hegemony. London–New York: Routledge.
• Smith, L. (1980). Covert British Propaganda: The Information Research Department, 1947–77. Millenium, 9, no. 1, pp. 67–83.
• Stonor Saunders, F. (1999). Who Paid the Piper?: The CIA and the Cultural Cold War. London: Granta.
• Taylor, P.M. (1981). The Projection of Britain: Overseas Publicity and Propaganda, 1919–1939. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Taylor, P.M. (1999). British Propaganda in the 20th Century: Selling Democracy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Varsori, A. (1998). L’Italia nelle relazioni internazionali dal 1943 al 1992. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
• Vaughan, J.R. (2005). The Failure of American and British Propaganda in the Arab Middle East, 1945–1957: Unconquerable Minds, Basingstoke–New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Weinstein, B. (1976). Francophonie: A Language-Based Movement in World Politics. International Organization, 30, no. 3, pp. 485–507.
• Willcox, T. (1983). Projection or Publicity? Rival Concepts in the Pre-War Planning of the British Ministry of Information. Journal of Contemporary History, 18, no. 1, pp. 97–116.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/siip201902

Biblioteka Nauki

2194025