Proceedings of The 7th International Conference on Social sciences, Humanities and Education
Year: 2022
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/7th.icshe.2022.12.10
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Cultural Diplomacy A Case Study of Municipality of Chania
Antonia Stefanidou, Konstantinos Zopounidis, George Atsalakis
ABSTRACT:
The concept of “Cultural Diplomacy” highlights the exchange of ideas, information and cultural expressions among nations and their people, promoting mutual understanding, inspiring cultural cooperation, exchanges and relations. According to Cummings (2003), cultural diplomacy results in creating respect and trust with other nations, strengthening cooperation and dialogue, promoting good practices that concern culture, urban revival, science and research, as well as the tolerance of diversity. Bound et al (2007) argue that modern cultural diplomacy, which is based on dialogue, engagement and reciprocity, affects positively the development of communication, networking and the exchange of different ideas as far as intercultural dialogue is concerned. The paper aims to analyze the recent trend of cultural decentralization, in the sense that Local Government takes initiatives, in an effort to connect culture with regional and sustainable development. Nowadays, cities play a crucial role promoting intercultural dialogue and peace through the exercise of cultural diplomacy. The analysis of the theoretical framework, the relevant literature and bibliography, follows the empirical research on the Municipality of Chania case. The cultural policies and actions of the Municipality are examined and analyzed as well as specific measures are proposed so that the Municipality will use cultural diplomacy tools for its external agenda, socioeconomic benefit and development.
keywords: Chania, City diplomacy, Cultural development, Cultural diplomacy, Intercultural dialogue