Cultural diplomacy and international economic relations. The influence of french linguistic and cultural policy in higher education in Romania (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: 78% i.e First class, University of Birmingham, language: English, abstract: Cultural Diplomacy has played a vital part in the history of France's international relations. In a report to the Chamber of Deputies on the functioning of the newly established educational and cultural institutes in East Europe in 1900, the French deputy Manuel Boucher set the rhetorical question, "What political operation or armed invasion was ever able, with less expenditure, to produce such important results?" (cited in Haigh 1974, p.22). France's foreign policy in Central and Eastern Europe focused primarily on Poland and Romania. Political and cultural relations to Romania date back until the 18th century and still today Romania remains to be perceived as a strategic partner for France in Eastern Europe. One reason for this is the fact that Romania remains the most francophone European country whose official language is not French.Nearly a quarter of its population (22.44%) is estimated to be francophone and over half of its pupils at primary and lower secondary level study French. This represents the highest quota in a European country in which French has not the status of an official language (Eurostat 2013).Moreover, Romania has a strong affinity towards French culture and very good, long-standing political relations. According to the current Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta,it are these sound cultural and political relations which foster bilateral economic relations (Baragan, 2013). This allusion to the correlation of culture and economic collaboration represents the premise of this dissertation. The purpose of this research is to attempt an assessment of the long-term impact of France's educational and cultural policies in Romania under the concept of Cultural Diplomacy for its economic relations with Romania in the late 20th and early 21st century.