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This article maintains that states can utilize place naming in their capitals to advance two foreign policy goals: first, promoting closer relations with other international actors, including states and international organizations, thereby complementing more traditional diplomatic means; second, supporting national branding efforts as the state strives to enhance the image it seeks to project to other international actors and its global reputation. Drawing on the case of Israel's extensive place naming efforts in Jerusalem in the period 1948–1967, which were designed to achieve these two goals, the article establishes that the use of place naming as a diplomatic tool should be viewed as part of what is often referred to as cultural diplomacy, namely, international actors' exchange of and collaboration regarding ideas, values, perceptions, and cultural gestures that serve to strengthen ties in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article finds that states can use street renaming as an act of retaliation against other international actors (states and international organizations). Specifically, it shows how states can employ street renaming to symbolically insult and thus diminish their opponent's sense of self. After situating the practice of retaliatory street renaming within the study of emotions in international relations (IR), and symbolic insults in diplomacy, in particular, the article surveys a multitude of cases in which states used street renaming to humiliate and defy other international actors. To further substantiate this thesis, the article then delves into one illustrative case: Israel's 1975 decision to rename all streets carrying the name of the United Nations 'Zionism Street' in response to UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which determined that 'Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination'. The article concludes by calling for more scholarly attention to street renaming and other symbolic acts in IR. La dénomination des rues comme insulte symbolique et gifle diplomatique en relations internationales [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]