Although the game of soccer is known by many names around the world—football, fútbol, Fußball, voetbal—the sport is a universal language. Throughout the past century, governments have used soccer to further their diplomatic aims through a range of actions including boycotts, carefully orchestrated displays at matches, and more. In turn, soccer organizations have leveraged their power over membership and tournament decisions to play a role in international relations. In Soccer Diplomacy, an international group of experts analyzes the relationship between soccer and diplomacy. Together, they investigate topics such as the use of soccer as a tool of nation-state–based diplomacy, soccer as a non-state actor, and the relationship between soccer and diplomatic actors in subnational, national, and transnational contexts. They also examine the sport as a conduit for representation, communication, and negotiation. Drawing on a wealth of historical examples, the contributors demonstrate that governments must frequently address soccer as part of their diplomatic affairs. They argue that this single sport—more than the Olympics, other regional multisport competitions, or even any other sport—reveals much about international relations, how states attempt to influence foreign views, and regional power dynamics.

Drawing on wide-ranging archival research, this authoritative new history examines the cultural diplomatic role played by British football in international affairs, British foreign policy, and international football during the 1930s. For British governments, soccer diplomacy emerged as a favoured instrument of soft power when facing Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Hirohito’s Japan, and Stalin’s Russia on and off the field. Examining the evolving relationship between successive governments and the Football Association, this book records how governments, though publicly espousing the distinctive autonomy of British sport, pursued privately a progressively interventionist role regarding international matches played by England and Football League clubs. Embedding its central themes in the wider context of international relations, the war of ideas between the liberal democracies and the dictatorships, and international football, the book also interrogates one of the most shocking moments in British sporting history, when England players gave Nazi salutes in Berlin in 1938, an episode in which virtue signalling was used in support of footballing appeasement. Offering readers an informed historical perspective on some of the modern world’s most significant issues, from the divide between dictatorships and liberal democracies to the use of sport as cultural diplomacy aka cultural propaganda, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the history of Britain, sport history, football, international politics, diplomacy or international institutions.

This book offers an accessible overview of the role sport plays in international relations and diplomacy. Sports diplomacy has previously been defined as an old but under-studied aspect of the estranged relations between peoples, nations and states. These days, it is better understood as the conscious, strategic and ongoing use of sport, sportspeople and sporting events by state and non-state actors to advance policy, trade, development, education, image, reputation, brand, and people-to-people links. In order to better understand the many occasions where sport and diplomacy overlap, this book presents four new, inter-disciplinary and theoretical categories of sports diplomacy: traditional, ‘new’, sport-as-diplomacy, and sports anti-diplomacy. These categories are further validated by a large number of case studies, ranging from the Ancient Olympiad to the recent appearance of esoteric, government sports diplomacy strategies, and beyond, to the activities of non-state sporting actors such as F.C. Barcelona, Colin Kaepernick and the digital world of e-sports. As a result, the landscape of sports diplomacy becomes clearer, as do the pitfalls and limitations of using sport as a diplomatic tool. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, sports studies, and International Relations in general.

This book is the first in a dedicated series that explores questions of cultural diplomacy and international cultural relations. Drawing on a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, it throws new light on the function and operation of policies that seek to change attitudes, values and behaviours across national boundaries and in diverse geocultural contexts. The specific policies explored relate to ways in which sites of past violence and atrocity are deployed in strategies of soft power; to the contribution of culture to EU enlargement; to the use of the Russian language as a soft power resource; to the singularities of the Indian cultural diplomacy; to cultural diplomacy as elite legitimation; to the role of diaspora relations in European cultural diplomacy; to the use of film in post-war cultural diplomacy; and to the role assigned to culture in the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement. Scholars interested in how cultural and foreign policy intersect in widely differing national contexts will find this book an invaluable resource. It was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy.

Recent studies on the meaning of cultural diplomacy in the twentieth century often focus on the United States and the Cold War, based on the premise that cultural diplomacy was a key instrument of foreign policy in the nation’s effort to contain the Soviet Union. As a result, the term “cultural diplomacy” has become one-dimensional, linked to political manipulation and subordination and relegated to the margin of diplomatic interactions. This volume explores the significance of cultural diplomacy in regions other than the United States or “western” countries, that is, regions that have been neglected by scholars so far—Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. By examining cultural diplomacy in these regions, the contributors show that the function of information and exchange programs differs considerably from area to area depending on historical circumstances and, even more importantly, on the cultural mindsets of the individuals involved.

This is the first-ever book about product and country images. It discusses the nature and role and influence of product-country images in international marketing strategy and consumer behavior. Thousands of companies use country identifiers as part of their international marketing strategy, and hundreds of researchers have studied the ways in which these identifiers influence behavior. As markets become more international, the more prominently the origin of products will figure in sellers' and buyers' decisions. The time is ripe for practitioners and academicians to delve into the insights offered in this seminal volume so as to better prepare for meeting the competitive challenges of the global marketplace. Product-Country Images is a wide-ranging and state-of-the-art book offering specific information and case studies to further understanding of the various aspects of this complex topic.

As a bridge between Europe and Asia, the West and the Middle East, Turkey sees its influence increasing. Its foreign policy is becoming more complex, making sophisticated public diplomacy an essential tool. This volume - the first in English about the subject - examines this rising power's path toward being a more consequential global player.