Cultural Diplomacy: Strategies for Psychological Evolution of the Levant

Abstract

Culture is the finest flower of human social evolution containing the essence of knowledge and experience accumulated through long centuries of history and civilization. It has an unrivalled capacity to generate positive, constructive human relations. Cultural diplomacy is the highest in an ascending series of social measures that can be applied to sublimate humanity's aggressive instincts and reliance on physical violence and political power to resolve disputes and forge cooperative interactions between individuals and social groups. Because of its subtle character, cultural influences permeate by osmosis from one society to another, defying the political and social barriers that often obstruct understanding and recognizing the value of other societies. Experience suggests that the comprehensive, systematic application of cultural diplomacy in concert with appropriate economic and other strategies can achieve a sudden breakthrough in relations within the Levant, which have defied resolution for decades through more conventional forms of diplomacy.