When a country hosts a major event, it’s not just opening its doors to tourists, delegations, and media. It’s writing a chapter in its own international narrative. It is building or rebuilding its reputation. A global event, whether a world expo, the Olympics, a European Capital of Culture, or a transnational festival, is today a fully-fledged diplomatic instrument. A strategic laboratory where politics, culture, economy, and tourism intersect to generate image, influence, and trust.
In the past five years, following the pandemic suspension, we’ve witnessed the resurgence of major events as levers for international positioning, but also as responses to image crises, geopolitical tension, or identity revival. Some countries have leveraged them masterfully; others have missed the opportunity. But all demonstrate that such events are not one-off spectacles; they are narrative architectures: designed, purposeful, and powerfully relational.
In this article, we explore how the conception and management of an event can become an act of image diplomacy, and how, when well conceived, it can generate lasting benefits for the entire nation. We do this through selected cases from 2019 to today, including major Capitals of Culture and smaller yet highly resonant events.
Beyond the Spectacle: The Event as a Diplomatic Instrument
A major event is more than just a sum of activities; it’s a device of meaning. An event is what a country decides to show the world, but also how it shows it, to whom, and with what intent, tone, and message.
The diplomatic aspect lies precisely here: in its intentionality. Organizing an event means declaring, “This is the image we wish to project.” But also, “this is the kind of relationship we want to establish.” It is soft political communication, where guests are not mere attendees but interlocutors in a vision. When well-designed, these events move entrenched perceptions, dismantle stereotypes, and reorient global views toward a country. When poorly conceived, they risk reinforcing the very prejudices they sought to dismantle.
Paris 2024: European Repositioning Amid Domestic Fragility
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are a key case, not only for the scale of the event, but for the political and symbolic message France seeks to convey. In an internal Europe marked by migration crises and polarization, France proposes an updated model of universalism: inclusive, urban, and sustainable.
The narrative of Paris 2024 is built around keywords such as “closeness,” “citizenship,” and “public space.” Ceremonies will take place on the Seine and Olympic villages in working-class neighborhoods. France, central yet torn by internal divisions, is seeking reputational renewal through urban and popular diplomacy.
The challenge is clear: it’s not only about logistics, but about manifesting a credible model of European coexistence and leadership. Success will bring a new paradigm, and failure could amplify reputational damage.
Eleusis 2023: A Capital of Culture as Act of Redemption
The small Greek town of Eleusis, European Capital of Culture 2023, stands as one of the most intelligent examples of a cultural event serving as identity diplomacy. A post-industrial town hit by economic and environmental crisis, Eleusis did not hide its wounds; instead, it placed them at the project’s center.
It proposed a model of cultural regeneration that dialogues with the past (the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries) while using contemporary language: urban theatre, public art, and social innovation. It is a bottom-up reputational rewrite, supported by an event that builds a bridge between Europe and post-industrial memory.
Eleusis didn’t attract masses of tourists, but it earned symbolic recognition at the European level. And in diplomacy, recognition often outweighs attendance.
Timișoara 2023: Eastern Europe Telling Its Own Story
Another 2023 Capital of Culture, Romania’s Timișoara, used the event to craft a new international image of Eastern Europe. Far from folkloric tropes, the city relied on innovation, pluralism, and cultural dialogue. It attracted artists, networks, and institutions, turning its previously little-known image into a laboratory of European cohesion.
The diplomatic message is clear: the East is no longer Europe’s periphery, but an active cultural center. In doing so, Timișoara has reshaped perceptions of Romania, reinforcing its position in international forums.
Novi Sad 2022: Culture and Cohesion in the Balkans
As European Capital of Culture 2022, Novi Sad (Serbia) played a decisive role in rewriting the Balkan narrative. It showcased the linguistic, religious, and ethnic pluralism of Vojvodina, transforming the event into an implicit diplomatic platform to reposition Serbia beyond the conflicts.
In a region marked by historical tension and international wariness, Novi Sad demonstrated how a cultural event can become a political gesture. Not shouted, not rhetorical, but real.
Expo Osaka 2025: Innovation, Peace, and Asian Soft Power
Japan has conceived a symbolic and strategic event. This is not just about showcasing technology or hospitality; the diplomatic goal is to reposition Japan as a stabilising and humanistically innovative actor in Asia. This comes at a time when the country faces rivalry with China, Pacific geopolitical tensions, and global decarbonization efforts.
The chosen theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”, is deliberately inclusive and oriented toward the common good. The Japanese pavilion will not be a monument to power, but a symbolic laboratory proposing a cooperative vision of humanity’s future. A profound, long-term strategy in reputational diplomacy.
The Expo also serves to rebalance internal and external images post-pandemic, reinvigorate the Kansai region, and give a boost to international tourism, still fragile since 2020.
Small Events, Big Impacts: When Scale Doesn’t Matter
Even lesser-known or smaller-scale events, when led by strategic vision, can become powerful instruments of cultural diplomacy. Here are recent examples that helped reposition cities or countries on the global mental map:
Kaunas 2022 (Lithuania): reinvented its post-Soviet identity using design, public art, and civic engagement.
Esch-sur-Alzette 2022 (Luxembourg): transformed an industrial history into a transnational artistic platform focused on relational quality.
Sharjah Biennale 2023 (UAE): demonstrated curatorial courage and independent cultural positioning in the Gulf, spotlighting Africa and the Global South.
Medellín Book Festival (Colombia): shifted the narrative of a city once marked by violence to a South American cultural hub.
Venice Biennale 2022: under Cecilia Alemani, offered a powerful vision of feminism, bodies, and ecological utopias—reflecting geopolitical tensions and repositionings.
Writing a Diplomatic Chapter
In each case, the event wasn’t an end in itself. It wasn’t just a collection of sessions, guests, and banners; it was a cultural-political statement, a structured reputational strategy, a genuine declaration of intent. This is where the diplomatic heart of events lies: in their performative power, not neutral, but decidedly aimed at shifting perceptions of the host country.
Designing a major, or even a small yet vision-driven, event means:
Redefining how the world perceives you, while acknowledging that the external image is inseparable from the internal narrative;
Building institutional and cultural alliances, often unseen yet powerful, between cities, embassies, international institutions, and civic groups;
Stimulating economic attractiveness through trust, because a destination that produces visions becomes appealing for investment, cooperation, and exchange;
Strengthening internal cohesion through shared storytelling, because a quality event builds recognition, pride, and belonging.
A well-thought-out event becomes a mobile diplomatic platform. It doesn’t merely promote a country, it lays it open, connects it, links it.
A Collaborative Ecosystem for Cultural Diplomacy
Facilitating international events should not be the privilege of a few, but a shared strategy. Every well-designed event strengthens the national ecosystem, provided it is backed by a real alliance between public and private actors: diplomacy, tourism promotion, culture, hospitality, and local territories.
We need a new grammar of collaboration capable of:
Strengthening bilateral relations.
Activating sustainable exchanges.
Attracting quality tourism.
Regenerating credibility and reputation.
In times of fragile reputations and instant judgment, major events remain among the few spaces where countries can propose, narrate, and build. Doing it well requires vision, listening, and alliances. And today, more than ever, it’s time to put them into action.
