PRECONDITIONS

Cultural policy abroad is the cultural dimension of a country's foreign policy. German policy toward the United States since 1949 has sought to cultivate partnership with the hope of cultivating friendship. This policy corresponded to the general principle behind West Germany's cultural policy outside its borders, which was always directed at “cultural exchange.”

Traditionally, governments did not take the initiative in German cultural policy abroad; rather, it was left to nongovernmental organizations and individuals. Whereas the main aim before World War I had been to preserve the German language and culture among Germans living abroad and to maintain the significance of German as a language of international standing, “cultural propaganda” after World War I sought to change Germany's negative image abroad. Establishment of the cultural department of the Foreign Ministry signaled an increasing commitment to this goal on the part of the government. In the Stresemann era, cultural policy abroad began to be conceived of in terms of “reciprocity.” National Socialism's Volkstumpolitik and its ideology of Lebensraum (“room to live”), by contrast, reverted to the idea of geopolitical expansion.