Exporting national culture: histories of Cultural Institutes abroad

Abstract Cultural policy research has so far paid little attention to the field of external cultural policy. The multiple interactions between internal and external cultural politics, however, as well as the growing significance of external cultural policy in the contemporary global arena of cultural and linguistic antagonisms, necessitate its inclusion in the cultural policy research agenda. Focusing on the specific instrument of Cultural Institutes abroad, this paper traces their historical development from the time of their original deployment by the European great powers, to their recent adoption by a host of lesser and greater countries. The different phases of this policy instrument development demonstrate its unique versatility and adaptability to a variety of contexts and functions and, more generally, its strategic role in the workings and processes of external cultural policy. The current state of Cultural Institutes challenges the widespread belief in the declining cultural role of the nation state and affirms the persistence of the ideology of cultural nationalism. Keywords: external cultural policyCultural Institutescultural nationalismcultural diplomacy Acknowledgements I would like to thank those in attendance at the 5th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (Istanbul 2008) for their positive feedback on an earlier version of this article that I delivered there. Also, my sincerest appreciation to Christopher Gordon for his support, thoughtful suggestions and meticulous editing.