CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN EURASIA: RUSSIA AND KAZAKHSTAN CASES

Date

2024-8-21

Author

Demirtaş, Melih

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In this thesis, taking the terms diplomacy and culture into the orbit within the rapidly-changing world politics of the 21st century, processes of cultural diplomacy will be examined with case studies on Eurasia. Despite the liberal arguments on ‘soft-power’ have become more importance following the end of the Soviet Union, historical, social, economic and political structures have continued to support Realpolitik as the dominant ideology in foreign policy and diplomacy. And in this Realist framework, culture and cultural openings continued to be regarded as supportive components, but not the most essential ones. In this respect, with a unifying Constructivist approach, this thesis will focus on two crucial and different players in the wide Eurasian area: Russia with its historically stronger position in regional and global affairs and Kazakhstan as a currently-pioneering Eurasian and Central Asian state. The general argument will exemplify that culture, taken as constructed set of different values and practices in societies, can be regarded genuine part of a nationalist instrumentalization-process at the hands of specialists, diplomats and governing elites in Eurasian states as observed in Kazakhstan. But cultural diplomatic acts can be seen additionally as tools used by powerful actors of Eurasia to maintain their hegemony, mostly with some historically Orientalist inclinations as seen in the Russian case. Examining these issues, the thesis will be based on qualitative and interdisciplinary research methods and analyzes culture, cultural diplomacy and discussions around them in the Eurasian region from a constructivist and historicizing critical perspectives.

Subject Keywords

Cultural Diplomacy, Russia, Kazakhstan, Eurasia, Orientalism

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/110591

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis