Abstract:
This final project paper aims to research the situation in which the concept of Cultural
Diplomacy plays a part in a music contest, in particular the Eurovision Song Contest (or
ESC), an international music competition that has long been held since 1956 mainly
between European countries. New reports in 2022 suggest that the Eurovision Song
Contest brought a huge impact towards the social, economic, cultural and of course,
musical impact on and off screen, particularly to the European countries participating in
the song contest. ESC is a program under an institution called European Broadcasting
Union (or EBU) and is not related to the cultural policies of the European Union, but it
also shows that the song contest can be some of the ways of cultural diplomacy practices
that has been long running until now.
This paper will discuss if Eurovision was created to build a positive image, because as
the initial intention of creating this contest was so that the countries in Europe could unite
in togetherness on the sidelines of the war that befell Europe at that time. It will also
argue whether the creation of the Song Contest itself is effective and will list all the effects
of ESC in the context of cultural diplomacy in Europe.
Soft Power through Cultural Diplomacy will be used as a theoretical framework to
support this paper. The method used in this paper will be both quantitative and
qualitative, with quantitative data taken from Eurovision Song Contest Brand Impact
Report 2022 (published by the European Broadcasting Union’s Media Intelligence
Service, produced by Matthieu Rawolle & Francesca Cimino) and qualitative data taken
from journals and web articles from official sources.
