Russia’s Cultural Statecraft

<p>This book focusses on Russia’s cultural statecraft in dealing with a number of institutional cultural domains such as education, museums and monuments, high arts and sport. It analyses to what extent Russia’s cultural activities abroad have been used for foreign policy purposes, and perceived as having a political dimension.</p><p>Building on the concept of cultural statecraft, the authors present a broad and nuanced view of how Russia sees the role of culture in its external relations, how this shapes the image of Russia, and the ways in which this cultural statecraft is received by foreign audiences. The expert team of contributors consider: what choices are made in fostering this agenda; how Russian state authorities see the purpose and limits of various cultural instruments; to what extent can the authorities shape these instruments; what domains have received more attention and become more politicised and what fields have remained more autonomous. The methodological research design of the book as a whole is a comparative case study comparing the nature of Russian cultural statecraft across time, target countries and diverse cultural domains.</p><p>It will be of interest to scholars and students of Russian foreign policy and external relations and those working on the role of culture in world politics.</p> <p>1. Introduction: Russia’s Cultural Statecraft 2. Higher Education as a Tool for Cultural Statecraft? 3. Fine Arts and International Relations: Russian Museum Diplomacy 4. Forging Common History: Russia’s Cultural Statecraft and the Soviet Second World War Monuments in Europe 5. ‘Russian literature will fix everything’: The <i>Read Russia</i> Project and Cultural Statecraft 6. The Future State: Russian Cinema and Neoliberal Cultural Statecraft 7. Soviet Legacies and Global Contexts: Classical Music and Russia’s Cultural Statecraft 8. Stagecraft in the Service of Statecraft? Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 9. International Events in the Service of Cultural Statecraft: The Sochi Olympics and the World Festival of Youth and Students 10. Sport as Cultural Statecraft: Russia and the Kontinental Hockey League 11. In Search of Past Glory: Russia’s Cultural Statecraft in the Age of Decline </p>