In the decades following the USSR’s collapse, the US has gone from unrivalled hegemon to a position of relative decline. With America ‘triumphant’ after 1991, its culture, like its diplomatic, military and economic power, remained unmatched. Such favourable circumstances seemed to undercut the need for cultural diplomacy. Why should the US government sell a product that was already selling so well? After 9/11, however, it was apparent the US image was less popular than previously assumed. To reverse this negative image, cultural diplomacy was revived. Despite being beset by internal and external challenges, US officials supported various cultural initiatives and partnerships to promote the American brand globally. Along the way, cultural diplomacy has made use of new forms of expression to promote American culture and build positive foreign relations. The arrival of the second Trump administration in 2025 has clearly signalled an end to using cultural diplomacy to further causes of empowerment and diversity, making the future uncertain for this field of activity. -- .
Introduction
Jeffrey H. Michaels and Giles Scott-Smith
Part I: Sites
1 Designing, displaying and engaging for reputational security: The death and resurrection of US expo diplomacy, from Seville 1992 to Dubai 2020
Nicholas J. Cull
2 Museums and US cultural diplomacy in the twenty first century
Hyojung Cho
3 Cultural platforms beyond the compound: American Corners and US diplomacy
Jeffrey H. Michaels
Part II: Sounds and Screens
4 Still ‘120,000 American ambassadors’?: Hollywood, the US Department of State and 21st century cultural diplomacy
Paul Moody
5 ‘A sixteen-inch broadside of soft power’: The New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang
Jonathan Rosenberg
6 Unresolved dissonances: Tensions and motivations in Next Level and OneBeat
Erica Fedor
Part III: Policy Settings
7 The president as cultural diplomat: Donald Trump, the presidency, and American cultural diplomacy
Andrew J. Gawthorpe
8 Washington’s see-saw: US public diplomacy and climate change
Mara Oliva
9 Bending the arc of history: Racial equity and protest in US cultural diplomacy
Oliver Elliott
10 Measuring the impact of 21st-century US cultural diplomacy
Mark Katz
Conclusion
Giles-Scott Smith and Jeffrey H. Michaels -- .
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