Research opportunity: comparative analysis of cultural relations organisations

We and our UK funders and partners seek to understand how the UK’s cultural relations/soft power infrastructure compares with other countries’. We are commissioning a review of publicly available information to collect further data, and analyse what this means for the UK. This will inform our strategy and plans for the future and should cover our structures, governance, level of public investment, and activities.

The research should focus on the UK and at least six other case-study countries. It should allow our organisation and its stakeholders to:

• better understand the motivations, opportunities and constraints that inform countries' approaches to cultural relations/soft power
• get an objective view of who is doing well, badly, where and why
• identify who the UK might learn from, and who might be potential partners as well as competitors
• use this to inform our organisational strategy and the thinking of our stakeholders and partners
• better explain the different channels for cultural relations and why they matter in international relations
• articulate the rationale for our own model and license to operate in the context of a range of analogue organisations.

We envisage that the research and analysis would include the following key elements:

• A review of academic literature and data as well as grey literature and data sources (including our publications available online). The review should also identify gaps in the literature and datasets currently available.
• Identification and use of publicly available datasets which can be used for comparative analysis of the size/scale and nature of cultural relations organisations’ international infrastructure, activities and impact (or proxies).
• Gathering of data from online/published official documents by relevant governments and institutions on the historical origins, structures, governance, operating models and funding of other countries cultural relations/cultural diplomacy/soft power instrument(s).
• Data requests/interviews (phone/virtual only) to access data from head quarter organisations of key countries included in the comparison (as necessary).
• Interviews (up to 25) with British Council staff and stakeholders in key countries.
• Outline of each comparison country’s approach and profile and comparative (quantitative and qualitative) and analysis of  the effect of this.

The research is expected to commence 20 April 2020, with the analysis and data output being delivered 22 May 2020. 

For further information please visit this webpage.