Dear participants,

Here is some practical information as to accommodation and traveling inside and to Finland, as well as the conference committee's contacts.

This part of the blog will be updated with more information as it comes. Don't hesitate to be in touch for any problems.

General information

A few links towards general information related to Finland, Helsinki, and Turku - public diplomacy in action, if you wish...

The Visit Finland website:
http://www.visitfinland.com/

Two guides to Turku:
http://www.visitturku.fi/en
http://www.utu.fi/tiedostot/nakoislehdet/oppaat/Welcome_center/

A guide to Helsinki:
http://www.visithelsinki.fi/en/come/tourist-information/brochures

Travelling in Finland

The best way to go from Helsinki to Turku and back is the train. The trip is approximately two hours, and will get you to the center of both cities.

Here is the website of VR, the national railroad company:
http://www.vr.fi/en/index.html

Accomodation in Turku and Helsinki

Here are a few links providing information on accommodation possibilities in Helsinki and Turku.

Helsinki:

Booking in Helsinki through Booking.com:
http://www.booking.com/city/fi/helsinki.en.html

Hotels in Helsinki:
http://www.visithelsinki.fi/en/professional/whats-available/accommodation/accommodation

Hostels and other accommodation in Helsinki:
http://www.visithelsinki.fi/en/professional/whats-available/accommodation/hostels-and-camping-in-helsinki

Turku:

The conference has negotiated a batch of special-priced rooms for speakers in the hotel Centro, located in the city center, at a 15 minutes walk from the University. You should send them an e-mail mentioning your participation in the conference "Public Diplomacy in Context", and the booking number 54595.

There is only a limited number of rooms. Other solutions can be found here:

Researcher's accommodation in Turku:
http://www.utu.fi/en/research/mobility/housing.html

Booking in Turku through Booking.com:
http://www.booking.com/city/fi/turku.en.html

Contacts

Do not hesitate to be in touch with the members of the organizing committees (see e-mails on the right-hand side of the blog).

Louis Clerc: accommodation in Turku, general matters, academic program, general contacts, contacts with the University of Turku
Timo Heino: media contacts with the Foreign Ministry, organization of the first conference day
Elina Melgin: accommodation in Helsinki, academic program, contacts with ProCom
Kristina Ranki: accommodation in Helsinki, academic program, contacts with the University of Helsinki

Dear participants,

Thank you very much for attending the conference "Public Diplomacy in Context", organized in Helsinki and Turku, 26th-27th April 2013. We are looking forward to meeting you all during this event. It will be the second "national image management" conference hosted in the University of Turku; the first one took place in 1962, though, so there are certainly new things to contribute to a discussion on Nordic public diplomacy...

This post will give you more details as to the organization of the conference, and provide you with the conference papers for the second day. We grouped all practical information on traveling to and inside Finland, accommodation in Helsinki and Turku and the like into another post.

GENERALITIES

The conference will be a two-day event.

. The first day, Friday 26th, will take place in the building of the Finnish Foreign Ministry's Department for Communication and Culture, Kanavakatu 3C, in Helsinki. This first day will deal with the current state of Public Diplomacy in Finland and in the Nordic Countries. This first day will be an invitation-only event, reserved to the conference's academic participants, keynote speakers, panelists, and those persons invited by the Foreign Ministry. All participants to the conference will receive the invitation necessary to attend this first day.

The day will start with a series of keynotes, from director Timo Heino, Artek CEO Mirkku Kullberg, professor Jan Melissen, and Associate Professor Jozef Batora.

These keynotes will be followed with a panel discussion on the theme "Post-Cold War Public Diplomacy in Small Nordic States."

This first day in Helsinki will be organized by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it will be attended to by representatives from ministries, universities, corporations and NGO´s, both from Finland and Scandinavia.

. The conference will then move to Turku for its academic day. This second day will be open to students and researchers, and it will deal with the History of Public Diplomacy and National Image Management in the Nordic Countries. This academic part will take place in the University of Turku's Department of Political Science and Contemporary History.

Professor Nicholas Cull will open this second day with a keynote lecture, and it will be followed by a series of presentations and discussion.

A conference dinner will be organized at the end of the second day, to which keynote speakers and participants are gladly welcome.

CONFERENCE ACADEMIC PROGRAM

DAY 1, Helsinki

Friday, 26th April 2013

Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Communication and Culture, Kanavakatu 3 C

(Invitation only! Bring a printed copy of your invitation)

9.00–12.00: The Current State of Public Diplomacy in Finland

. Opening: Director Timo Heino / Secretary of State Pertti Torstila

. Jan Melissen, Professor and Head of Clingendael’s Diplomatic Studies Programme and Professor of Diplomacy at the University of Antwerp (Belgium)

. Timo Heino, Finnish Foreign Ministry, Department for Communication and Culture: Team Finland

. Jozef Bátora, Associate Professor, Comenius University in Bratislava: Small Nordic states and Public Diplomacy
. Mirkku Kullberg, CEO, Artek Corporation : The Image of Finland – work in process

12.00–13.00: Buffet lunch

13.00–14.15: Panel Discussion: Public Diplomacy in Finland during and after the Cold War

Main panel questions:

* What happened to National Image Management in the Nordic Countries after the end of the cold war?

* What were the main characteristics of Public Diplomacy before and after the cold war in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia (in terms of methods, actors, public/private contacts, emphases...)?

* What is the role of the EU in the Nordic Countries' current day Public Diplomacy?

* What are the biggest challenges for current and future Public Diplomacy practices in the Nordic Countries?

* Is there any way to evaluate the efficiency of PD/ cultural diplomacy, and what have been the criteria to which Public Diplomacy has been evaluated in the past, and is evaluated today?

* Can we consider nation branding as the new form of Public Diplomacy, or are the two concepts still different?

Participants:

. Reijo Kemppinen, European Council's director-general for press and communication

. Nicholas Cull, Professor, Director of the Public Diplomacy Master’s Program, University of Southern California

. Laura Kolbe, Professor of European History, University of Helsinki

. Petri Tuomi-Nikula, Finland's ambassador for Italy, Malta and San Marino

Moderated by Jan Melissen

14. 30: Closing

DAY 2, Turku

Saturday, 27th April 2013

University of Turku, Building Arcanum, lecture Room 1

(T22 on the campus map, http://www3.utu.fi/kartta/indexen.html)

9.00–10.00: Opening Session

. Opening words: Louis Clerc, Senior Lecturer, Contemporary History, University of Turku

. Keynote: Nicholas Cull, Professor, Director of the Public Diplomacy Master’s Program, University of Southern California

10.00-12.00: Panel 1: From Lobbying to Propaganda: The First Half of the 20th Century

Chair: Louis Clerc

. Andreas Åkerlund: Associations, foundations and the nationalization of cultural diplomacy. The Swedish Enlightenment board 1935‑1945 and the impact of civil society actors on state politics

. Michael Jonas: Arguing Åland: The Åland Question in Great Power Politics and International Law, c. 1917–1921

. Kaarel Piirimae: Public Diplomacy in a Total War: Estonian Efforts to Guide Opinion in Neutral and Allied Countries, 1940–1945

. Hanna-Leena Paloposki: Art Exhibitions and the Promotion of Finland in the 1930s: Finnish Art Exhibition in Italy as an Example

12.00–13.00: Buffet lunch

13.00-14.30: Panel 2: Country Perspectives

Chair: Nikolas Glover

. Nikolas Glover: Controlling cultures. Institutions and policies of public diplomacy in the Denmark, Sweden and the UK, 1945–1987

. Andreas Hellenes: Promoting the Swedish Model in France: The Swedish Cultural Center in Paris, 1968–1971

. Sven-Ivar Angell & Mads Mordhorst: National Reputation Management and the Competition State: the Cases of Denmark and Norway

14.30–16.00 Panel 3: The Cold War and Beyond

Chair: Elina Melgin

. Pertti Grönholm: Narratives of Suffering and Survival in Post-Soviet Estonian image-management

. Johanna Rainio-Niemi: Ideological Cold War and the Politics of Neutrality in Austria and Finland

. Elina Melgin: Propaganda, Diplomacy and the arts in Finland, 1937–1947

16.00–17.30 Panel 4: Branding Nations, Building Nations?

Chair: Paul Jordan

. James Pamment: Scandinavian Perspectives on Public Diplomacy and Nation Brands

. Beata Ociepka: Neither North nor South, Neither Big nor Small: Positioning Poland with Public Diplomacy

. Paul Jordan: Nation Branding in Estonia: Simply a more palatable version of nationalism?

. Catharina Backer: The Reason Why Nordic Cooperation is so Difficult: A Nation’s Branding is more Important than Branding of the Region

17.30–18.00: Coffee Break

18.00–19.00 Panel 5: Who Cares? External Perspectives on the National Image Management Activities of Small Nordic States

Chair: Kristina Ranki

. Carl Marklund: Nordic models, American mirrors, and Swedish self-portraits: The Swedish model in North America

. Louis Clerc: How can anybody be a Finn? Finland through French eyes and Finnish propaganda, 1900-1939

. Molly Bettie: Getting Uncle Sam’s Attention: Public Diplomacy in the Context of US-Finnish Relations

19.00: Closing Words

PRINT-OUT PROGRAM AND CONFERENCE PAPERS

Conference papers

Conference program

SOCIAL PROGRAM

. Thursday 25^th April, 18.00: Visit and Buffet at the Mannerheim Museum, Helsinki

A reception will be organizaed for the conference’s participants and attendants in the home of G. Mannerheim, Commander in Chief, Marshall, President of Finland, and probably one of the best-known Finnish political personnalities.

The Museum is situated in the Kaivopuisto-area (www.mannerheim-museo.fi)

Address: Kalliolinnantie 14

The house will provide a short introduction to the life of Mannerheim, and an opportunity to meet, discuss and have a glass of wine together in unique surroundings. Kristina Ranki, the Museum’s curator, will be the host of this reception.

. Saturday 27^th April, 20.00: Conference Dinner, restaurant Aula, Turku

A conference dinner will be organized in Turku for those keynote speakers and participants willing to participate, on Saturday evening. This dinner will take place in the restaurant Aula, and will be co-hosted by the city of Turku.

The restaurant is situated next to the Museum Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, on the banks of the river Aura (the website of the restaurant Aula).

On behalf of the conference committee:

Post-doc researcher Kristina Ranki
Managing director Elina Melgin

Director Timo Heino
Senior Lecturer Louis Clerc

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to be in contact with any members of the organizing committee.

Public Diplomacy in Context

Public Diplomacy in context

Friday, April 12, 2013

Two weeks to go...

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Practical information and contacts...

Final program, conference papers, social program...