Since there is not enough space in the discussion of documents in Chapter 4 to include more detailed information on the respective agents and institutions in German and Austrian foreign cultural policy, we have included a summary of the main actors and initiatives in this appendix.

Agents and institutions in German foreign cultural policy

The promotion of the German language in foreign countries is identified as one of the most important tasks of foreign cultural policy, and it is coordinated and funded by the Foreign Ministry. About half of the budget for foreign cultural policy is used to this end (more than 200 million euros). The actual work is ‘contracted out’ to several independent – or quasi-independent – organisations that receive public funding (see http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/AAmt/Abteilungen/KulturUndKommunikation.html).

The most important of these cultural brokers is the Goethe-Institut (GI), which offers a differentiated system of language courses, trains teachers of German and offers teaching and learning materials. It is an institution that is pro-forma independent but de facto exclusively works for the German government, and it is active at the global level to promote knowledge of the German language and international cultural cooperation. It collaborates with public and private cultural agencies, the federal state governments, municipalities and private enterprise. A large part of its 278 million euro budget comes from the Foreign Ministry and the Bundespresseamt, and the relationship between GI and the financing institutions are set out in a framework contract (Rahmenvertrag) (see http://www.goethe.de).