Museums, exchanges, and their contribution to Joseph Nye’s concept of ‘soft power’

摘要

This paper discusses the role that museums and art institutions have in recentyears played in international relations, and their contribution to the concept ofsoft power, coined by Joseph Nye; referring to a country’s ability to persuaderather than coerce through elements of ‘hard’ power such as the threat of a strongmilitary (Nye 2004). Using as examples the exchanges of the Cyrus Cylinderbetween Iran and the British Museum, and the loan of Picasso’s Buste de Femme(1943) from the Dutch Van Abbemuseum to the International Academy of ArtPalestine, the paper argues that through their role as ‘national expressions ofidentity’ and ‘memory institutions’, museums and art institutions are able to makea positive contribution to international relations by engendering mutual respectand understanding in ways that other forms of dialogue may be unable to. Assoft power is an area that still requires significant research, this paper aims tocontribute observations and case studies that may affirm its influence