Diplomatic Gastronomy: The Convivial Nature of the Power of Prestige, Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power
The International Conference on Cultural Diplomacy & the UN "Cultural Diplomacy & Soft Power in an Interdependent World: The Opportunities for Global Governance" NYC & Washington DC, February 21st - 24th, 2012.
10 Pages Posted: 8 May 2015 Last revised: 3 Feb 2016
Date Written: February 21, 2012
Abstract
Paarlberg (2010), Schanbacher (2010) and Reynolds (2010) have begun re-introducing a food based agenda to political science that had been left dormant since Morgenthau (1985), by proposing that food is not only crucial to the survival of individual consumers but also to the survival and proliferation of the modern nation state. With Brown (2011) suggesting that food policy, food security, food sovereignty and food culture are all becoming determining factors in a nation state’s bank of food power. This paper will add to this aforementioned body of work by updating and expanding upon an idea raised by Morgenthau in Politics Among Nations (1985 86-97): The ‘power of prestige’. The power of prestige, can be understood to be a proto-conceptualisation of how elites use cultural diplomacy and soft power to achieve their goals. This paper will firstly examine this classic theory highlighting the similarities of the power of prestige to modern understandings of soft power and cultural diplomacy through the lens of food and conviviality. It will then investigate how food can be utilised by actors and elites as a form of cultural diplomacy.
Keywords: Food diplomacy, Diplomatic gastronomy, Soft power, cultural diplomacy, gastro diplomacy, gastro-diplomacy, culinary diplomacy
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