As part of the Science Week, a competition for the best student group is being held at Ushynsky University. The student scientific group “International Relations and Diplomacy” in specialty 052 “Political Science” passed the second presentation round and presented the open event “Cultural Diplomacy as an Instrument of the State’s Soft Power”. The meeting was attended by representatives of the competition commission: Oleksii LYSTOPAD, secretary of the competition commission, Dr. Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Preschool Pedagogy, and Yevhenia RADIEVA, head of the scientific society of students, postgraduates, doctoral students and young scientists.
The meeting was opened by the head of the scientific group “International Relations and Diplomacy” Candidate of Political Science Svitlana DMYTRASHKO, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science, who drew attention to the fact that universities are temples of culture, education, and science, therefore the topic is not only consistent with the research activities of the scientific circle, but also reflects the modern needs of cultural and educational diplomacy of Ushynsky University.
A scientific multimedia report with visualizations was presented by the main speaker Kateryna PISKUN, a 1st year master's student majoring in "Political Science. Ukrainian and European Studies", who analyzed scientific approaches to the soft power of states and, using the cases of cultural diplomacy of China and Turkey, explained that cultural diplomacy should be considered not as an alternative to "hard power", but as an important axiomatic element of an integrated strategy of foreign policy activity, combining various instruments of state influence into a single system.
Speaker-disputant Valery MINITSKY, 1st year student majoring in "Political Science. Ukrainian and European Studies” analyzed the French experience, which shows that culture is able to support the international authority of a state even in conditions of changing the global balance of power. At the same time, the Ukrainian example demonstrates that culture can be extremely effective even in crisis conditions, when a state is forced to fight not only for territory, but also for its own international subjectivity and information presence.
The following participants of the scientific group were included in the discussion: 4th-year student majoring in 052 “Political Science” Maria NIKOLAIEV-DOMBROVSKA, 1st-year graduate student majoring in “Political Science. Ukrainian and European Studies” Yulia SIVAK, who believe that in the 21st century, cultural diplomacy is becoming a strategic element of the state’s foreign policy, which allows for the formation of trust, support and international influence of the state.
The closing remarks to the guests and participants of the scientific circle were made by Svitlana NAUMKINA, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department, who noted the practical importance of studying cultural diplomacy by students of the Department of Political Sciences and Law, because in the future, political scientists will be able to work as political advisors in Ukrainian missions abroad.
