Beyond State-Centric Approaches—Network Diplomacy and Multi-Actor Cultural Engagement

In today's world of multipolarity and loss of legitimacy, where instead of 45 states, the world system consists of 193, some of which represent powerful and ambitious states in the Global South, in a world where old global players constantly violate the rules, and the isolation of states leads to an even deeper crisis, it is necessary to find new instruments of interaction, one of which is cultural diplomacy.
This panel compares state-led cultural diplomacy and the growing role of networks, epistemic communities, and non-state actors. Network diplomacy, characterized by horizontal relationships, transparency, and multidirectional information flows, has become particularly prominent in educational and scientific cooperation. New principles of sovereignty, non-intervention, and cultural diversity are being operated through decentralized institutional partnerships.
The panel addresses, but is not limited to, the following issues:
- How do non-state actors and transnational networks contribute to the pluralization of cultural diplomacy?
- What is the relationship between formal institutional frameworks and informal network diplomacy?
- How do network approaches differ across new multilateral bodies?
- Can digital cultural diplomacy bridge or deepen divides between the Global North and South?
The section welcomes both theoretical and applied papers based on various conceptual approaches, as well as analytically eclectic or empirically grounded methods, using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. The current crisis of legitimacy and the transformation of the world system require a multifaceted conceptual, empirical, and methodological approach to exploring the possibilities of cultural diplomacy opportunities and perspectives.