Cultural Awareness in Peace Operations: Effective Marketing or Strategic Communications

Cultural awareness is receiving a growing attention in disciplines studying the effects of communication. It is understood as the ability to attain knowledge about the particular cultural characteristics of the people of a certain terrain (state or region). They often reflect a cluster of certain beliefs and practices, which may substantially differ from one region to another. Cultural awareness has also gained prominence in recent academic discussion as regards international conflict resolution and crisis management. The importance of cultural awareness as a crucial element in the conduct and planning of contemporary peacekeeping and stability operations is gaining wide acknowledgement. As in Touristic Marketing in which cultural awareness is often employed as the vehicle to increase the affiliation of xenos, (the foreign visitor) with the aspired touristic product, similar approaches have developed in the study of conflict resolution. In the context of peace operations or stability operations, “the peacemaker” is also a xenos (a foreigner and a stranger) to the region they are deployed. Importantly, the evolution of international peace operations in recent years has rendered communicating the credentials of the peace dividend to the local population, as the key factor in the effective evolution of the peace mission. Accordingly, cultural awareness is considered as the element of strategic importance since it is the vehicle through which effective communication is substantiated. It generates lines of communication between the providers and the receivers of the ‘peace product’ thus progressively creating the environment for the local population to become true affiliates of the credentials that the peace mission is providing.