Česká kulturní diplomacie v Itálii

Diploma thesis "Czech Cultural Diplomacy in Italy" is build on the project entitled "The Analysis of activities of Czech Centre Milano" which was written based on the author's experience obtained during the four-month internship in Czech Centre Milano - the main protagonist of Czech cultural diplomacy in Italy. The first part of the thesis focuses on the concepts of public diplomacy, nation branding, but primarily on cultural diplomacy. These terms are explained, compared to each other and set in historical context. In the theoretical part of the thesis, the author also focuses on the main protagonists of Czech cultural diplomacy, primarily on Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and its departments. Theoretical knowledge of the cultural diplomacy acquired in the first part of the thesis was used for creating the second part of the thesis, which already focuses specifically on the effectiveness of Czech cultural diplomacy in Italy. The author set up a hypothesis saying that the "Czech culture is perceived positively in Italy because Czech Republic is actively and successfully engaged in the field of cultural diplomacy on Italian territory". This statement would be confirmed/disproved by analysing the current situation in the Czech Centre Milano and by the success or failure of the Czech participation at EXPO 2015 Milan. Whether Italian citizens themselves perceive Czech culture positively and Czech cultural diplomacy to be successful would come up from the information obtained from Nation Brand Index by Simon Anholt and from the results of author-made survey entitled "Czech culture in the eyes of Italians". Valuable opinion on the effectiveness of Czech cultural diplomacy was also provided by the person who directly influences the activities in the field of Czech cultural diplomacy in Italy - the director's assistant of Czech Centre Milano.