Niemiecka zagraniczna polityka kulturalna po zjednoczeniu: bezpieczeństwo, dialog, promocja

The German foreign cultural policy has been attracting more and more attention of the academia. The aim of the article entitled “German foreign cultural policy after the reunification – security, dialogue, promotion” is to discuss its development and stress its specifics after the reunification of Germany in 1990. The analysis of the German foreign cultural policy poses a relevant research problem as it exceeds the traditional approaches rooted in similar cases in the studies on public diplomacy or nation branding. The author verifies the hypothesis that German foreign cultural policy contributes not only to the development of the international cultural cooperation and country promotion but also to wider purposes as security and international dialogue. Consequently, foreign policy analysis is the research method in the current study. The author indicates the historical and internal context for the structures, aims and strategies of German foreign cultural policy, as displayed in documents, reports and public debate. The German model is verified on two cases of foreign cultural policy (case studies): German Year in Russia 2012-2013 and the Year of German Language and Literature in Russia 2014-2015, realized by Germany directly before and during the Ukrainian crisis. The cases studied allowed to check, how the structures and strategies of German foreign cultural policy worked at the time of war in the eastern Ukraine as and international conflict. Their goals, programs and effects serve as proofs for the persisting relevance of dialogue in the German approach to international conflicts and for the growing politicization of German foreign cultural policy.