Images and Nations: A Comparative Perspective of the Role of Cultural Institutes in USA and Romania.

The paper approaches the theme of creating the image of a nation in the context of a globalized society defined as a network society with a focus on culture. The importance of culture is discussed from an interdisciplinary perspective that includes intercultural communication, international public relations, branding and public diplomacy in order to identify the convergent points and underline the differences between different perspectives. The concept of cultural diplomacy is further analyzed and comparative practices in Romania and USA are presented, in order to reveal the challenges faced today by the cultural diplomacy in action. The study opens the discussion on the role of cultural institutes in this context and analyzes them as integrated in the cultural diplomacy strategy of the USA and Romania. The paper focuses also on possible role cultural institutes could play as initiators of cultural transformation of the national society. They should be first internally oriented and only then interested in communicating externally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]