Austria’s “Auslandskulturpolitik”: A nebulous cultural object in Europe?

This article examines Austria’s “Auslandskulturpolitik” (foreign cultural policy) as a distinctively Austrian form of cultural diplomacy. Unlike Germany, France, Italy, or the United States, Austria faces the challenge of representing a small, neutral European country with special ties to Central and Eastern Europe while aspiring to a leading cultural role. The study is based on legislative acts, parliamentary debates, and documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), enabling an analysis of Austrian cultural diplomacy as both a function of a democratic state and a reflection of the political elite’s perceptions of culture’s role in foreign policy. In Austria’s parliamentary democracy, debates on foreign cultural policy were largely driven by a few conservative and hard-right legislators and took place mainly in the late 1970s. Within the MFA, “Auslandskulturpolitik” remained largely undertheorised for an extended period. Austria’s foreign cultural policy centres on classical high culture – supplemented to a lesser extent by folk traditions – as well as modern art and literature. The MFA also seeks to promote Austrian German while avoiding direct competition with Germany’s well-established Goethe Institutes, instead leveraging university environments in target countries to establish Austrian Institutes, Cultural Forums, and Libraries. At the same time, Austria’s foreign cultural policy competes with other forms of the country’s cultural presence abroad. Although culture is widely regarded as one of Austria’s most prominent exports, foreign ministry officials engaged in this field do not occupy a primary role within the broader framework of Austrian foreign policy. Their public outreach lags behind that of independent institutions based in Vienna and the federal states.