Cultural value: cultural relations in societies in transition: a literature review

The Cultural Value Project is a joint research project commissioned by the British Council and the Goethe-Institut. It aims to build a better understanding of the impact and value of cultural relations in terms of their ability to make a difference, in particular to supporting stability and prosperity in societies going through substantial change. As part of the research, the partners have undertaken a detailed literature review. This draws on a detailed investigation of the existing academic literature in German and English on cultural relations, soft power, and related concepts

The cultural value project cultural relations in ‘societies in transition’

The Cultural Value Project (CVP) is a joint research project commissioned by the British Council and the Goethe-Institut (January 2017-June 2018). It aims to build a better understanding of the value of cultural relations (CR) in societies facing difficult challenges–in particular, in Egypt and Ukraine. The project seeks to identify the difference cultural relations activities make to important international challenges, including supporting stability and prosperity in societies going through substantial change. It aims to contribute to current political, policy and academic debates about the role of culture in conflict, diplomacy and development. The British Council and Goethe-Institut wish to collaborate on this research in order to gain a better understanding of how different forms of cultural relations work in different contexts, and explore wider possibilities for partnerships in the field of cultural relations. This initiative occurs at a time when challenging transnational issues of conflict, security, migration, poverty and environmental degradation, beyond the control of any nation-state, make cooperation in international relations more difficult but more important than ever