Abstract
This chapter examines the evolution of foreign policy engagement and more specifically the role and typology of non-state and parastate soft tools characteristic of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries liable to promote national security interests. This analysis focuses on three key concepts in reassessing the relationship between entertainment (as an American cultural phenomenon) and diplomacy: soft power, public diplomacy, and nation branding. In an international context of increasing competition among powers, soft diplomacy fosters pop culture (entertainment, sports, infotainment, national traditions, and celebrities) in order to promote a country’s image and highlight foreign policy objectives; in this context, entertainment could therefore be defined as an essential part of any nation’s public diplomacy. However, entertainment as a twenty-first-century American cultural phenomenon has emerged as a preferred tool in US nation branding, involving all private actors liable to promote the “American brand” image, whereas public diplomacy requires the participation of institutional actors.
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Quessard, M. (2020). Entertainment Diplomacy. In: Balzacq, T., Charillon, F., Ramel, F. (eds) Global Diplomacy. The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28786-3_20
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