Collegium Civitas students and faculty are cordially invited to join the Politics and International Relations Research Seminar on Thursday, March 31 at 13.15 CET for an online presentation by Dr Pawel Surowiec (Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, UK).
‘Cold War Effect: Poland’s nation branding as path dependence bridging the past and the present’
Abstract
Using Poland’s diplomacy and statecraft as a field of inquiry, we explore the shift of the relationship between nation branding and nationalism in the aftermath of 2015 illiberal turn in politics. By deploying qualitative framing analysis on the assemblage of strategic policies, our messo-level examination reveals threefold insights about the hijacking of nation branding by the Law and Justice (org. the PiS) governments. First, in spite of aspirational goals, legitimacy claims underpinning nation branding are framed as inherently backward-facing. Second, in addition to commercial undercurrents, nation branding is increasingly a multi-layered expression of cultural nationalism enveloped in populist technocratic-style for communicating nationhood. Third, framing analysis reveals misalignments between the policy regime on, and the practice of, nation branding. Finally, our analysis leads to the advancement of ‘Cold War effect’– a concept capturing the bearing of political cleavages about the nation, which are anchored in the past, on statecraft and policy regimes shaping communicative practices for its representations among the international community.
Paweł Surowiec, PhD, is Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, UK, specialising in strategic communication, public diplomacy and political campaigning in the context of European politics.