EU-Morocco Cultural Relations : A Study on Cultural Policies Between the EU and Morocco

Sammanfattning: Although cultural policy and cultural diplomacy are just some of various forms soft power, there is a lack of research between the EU and Morocco despite an increased interest from the EU in various Southern Mediterranean countries. There is a general research gap in the academic world regarding the evaluation the EU’s external cultural policy in Morocco, which this research paper seeks to contribute to fill in the soft power and global context. This paper seeks to examine the role that cultural diplomacy has in the soft power process, specifically with the case of the EU and Morocco.From this research paper it was found that although culture has generally played an increasing role in EU and Morocco relations, when examining EU-Morocco cultural relations pertaining to their soft power potential, it was unveiled that the EU and Morocco are not fully utilizing their soft power abilities in relation to their cultural policy practices. For instance, in relation to EU-Morocco cultural policy there is a distinctive lack in clarity in government objectives which negatively impacts soft power potential. In EU cultural documents, there is also a clear and different role in internal and external relations also affecting cultural relations with Morocco. However, despite these shortcomings, the EU and Morocco continue to build on their relations with future plans to deepen their agreements. It is in the interest of the EU and Morocco to invest and refine their cultural policy in order to fully utilize the cultural opportunities and benefits for both states in these future agreements. The specific benefits and motivations for the EU and Morocco are also discussed. The theoretical outline for this paper involved power, especially Nye’s conception of soft power, along with public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, as well as cultural relations. The focus of analysis of this thesis included EU documents such as, treaties, joint agreements, declarations, conclusions, and so on will be the main source of document analysis for this paper in order to trace the evolution of EU-Morocco cultural policy and relations. Additionally Chodubski’s framework derived from the political science field was used alongside critical political discourse analysis.