Cultural Diplomacy during the Cold War: Britain and the UK-USSR Cultural Agreements

Abstract:Every two years between 1959 and 1989 the British and Soviet governments concluded formal cultural agreements that set out the framework for cultural and scientific relations between the two countries. For close to thirty years British and Soviet citizens and organizations were able to engage in a wide range of contacts and to visit each other's countries under the auspices of these cultural agreements. Each side had different priorities when engaging in cultural diplomacy, but both the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union saw advantages in maintaining cultural contacts even when political tensions between the two states were high. This article discusses the process by which the two governments asserted control of cultural and scientific contacts between the UK and the USSR in the late 1950s and examines how these regular diplomatic agreements continued to be concluded, even when the Cold War was at its height. Both Britain and the Soviet Union saw cultural diplomacy as an integral element in the Cold War so that, even when there were very public political disagreements between the two countries, cultural contacts continued apace.