‘Germany – Land of Ideas’, ‘You deserve Spain’, ‘The New Philippines’ – countries now advertise themselves like corporations. With glossy videos, catchy slogans and perfectly orchestrated campaigns, they vie for tourists, investors, skilled workers – and political sympathy.

But the game of national image is older than it seems: since the First World War, democracies and dictatorships alike have been engaging in strategic nation branding to secure influence, alliances and prestige.

In Vom Staat zur Marke (Reclam, 2025), historian Jessica Gienow-Hecht traces this global history of self-promotion – from superpowers such as the USA and China to small island states. In conversation with journalist and filmmaker Nicola Graef, the core question is addressed: does branding make countries stronger – or does it quietly and subtly change their political identity?

An event of the Cluster of Excellence ‘SCRIPTS’ in cooperation with Reclam Verlag and Urania Berlin.

Nicola Graef is a journalist, documentary film director and producer with her Berlin-based company Graef Screen Productions. For over 20 years, she has been making films for cinema, ARD, Arte and ZDF on cultural, political and social topics. These include Neo Rauch – Gefährten und Begleiter (Neo Rauch – Companions and Companions), Eine einsame Stadt (A Lonely City) and, most recently, the documentaries Einsame Spitze (Lonely Top) about the crisis management of six German CEOs (ARD) and Außenpolitik am Limit (Foreign Policy at the Limit) about international crisis diplomacy with Annalena Baerbock (ARTE). She has received numerous awards for her work, including the CIVIS Media Prize.

Jessica Gienow-Hecht is Professor of International History at the John F. Kennedy Institute of Freie Universität Berlin and Principal Investigator at the SCRIPTS Cluster of Excellence. Her research focuses on cultural foreign policy, nation branding and the history of emotions in international relations. Her current book, Vom Staat zur Marke (Reclam, 2025), examines the history of state image campaigns since the First World War. Her book Sound Diplomacy: Music and Emotions in Transatlantic Relations since 1850 (Chicago 2009, 2012) was awarded the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award.

About the series "Futuring the Liberal Script"

Is the liberal script agile and flexible enough to meet today’s challenges? What possible futures can be imagined for a political project increasingly under strain? Five core theses from a recent publication provide the guiding thread for the “Futuring the Liberal Script”conversation series. Since 2021, SCRIPTS researchers have engaged with guest speakers in critical and multi-perspective dialogues on the crises confronting liberal democracies – and on the liberal script as a “script in trouble.”

Recordings of all past episodes are available here.

About SCRIPTS

The Cluster of Excellence ‘Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS)’ is a research network investigating current debates surrounding the model of liberal democracy and market economy. Interdisciplinary research teams are investigating why the liberal model of society has fallen into crisis despite its political, economic, and social achievements, why alternative models of society are gaining influence, and how current challenges differ from previous ones. SCRIPTS has been in existence since 2019 and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Excellence Initiative until the end of 2025. SCRIPTS is based at Freie Universität Berlin and comprises a total of eight major Berlin research institutions.