Culture in International Relations 2100-ERASMUS-CINR

This course focuses on the complex and multidimensional role of culture in international relations, where culture is understood broadly as a range of practices, values, norms and systems that influence how people and societies interact, communicate, and manage their relationships. Assuming that all international relations are ultimately intercultural relations (Iriye 1979), the course explores how culture features in international agreements and economic relations, how it functions as an instrument of foreign policy through cultural diplomacy, how it structures questions of diversity, heritage and diaspora in world politics, and how it can provide a lens for understanding global politics. Drawing on case studies drawn from the European Union and the Indo-Pacific, students will develop both conceptual frameworks and qualitative research skills for analysing culture’s role in international relations as an active force shaping the international system itself.