Routledge New Diplomacy Studies – serie

This volume provides a detailed discussion of the role of women in diplomacy and a global narrative of their current and historical role within it. The last century has seen the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) experience seismic shifts in their policies concerning the entry, role and agency of women within their institutional make-up. Despite these changes, and the promise that true gender equality offers to the diplomatic craft, the role of women in the diplomatic sphere continues to remain overlooked, and placed on the fringes of diplomatic scholarship. This volume brings together established scholars and experienced diplomatic practitioners in an attempt to unveil the story of women in diplomacy, in a context which is historical, theoretical and empirical. In line with feminist critical thought, the objective of this volume is to theorize and empirically demonstrate the understanding of diplomacy as a gendered practice and study. The aims of are three-fold: 1) expose and confront the gender of diplomacy; 2) shed light on the historical involvement of women in diplomatic practice in spite of systemic barriers and restrictions, with a focus on critical junctures of diplomatic institutional formation and the diplomatic entitlements which were created for women at these junctures; 3) examine the current state of women in diplomacy and evaluate the rate of progress towards a gender-even playing field on the basis thereof. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, gender studies, foreign policy and international relations.

This book examines Africa’s internal and external relations by focusing on three core concepts: orders, diplomacy and borderlands. The contributors examine traditional and non-traditional diplomatic actors, and domestic, regional, continental, and global orders. They argue that African diplomats profoundly shape these orders by situating themselves within in-between-spaces of geographical and functional orders. It is in these borderlands that agency, despite all kinds of constraints, flourishes. Chapters in the book compare domestic orders to regional ones, and then continental African orders to global ones. They deal with a range of functional orders, including development, international trade, human rights, migration, nuclear arms control, peacekeeping, public administration, and territorial change. By focusing on these topics, the volume contributes to a better understanding of African international relations, sharpens analyses of ordering processes in world politics, and adds to our comprehension of how diplomacy shapes orders and vice versa. The studies collected here show a much more nuanced picture of African agency in African and international affairs and suggest that African diplomacy is far more extensive than is often assumed.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, African politics and International Relations.

This book examines China’s contemporary global cultural footprints through its recent development of cultural diplomacy.The volume presents an alternative analytical framework to examine China’s cultural diplomacy, which goes beyond the Western-defined concept of ‘soft power’ that prevails in the current literature. This new approach constructs a three-dimensional framework on Orientalism, cultural hegemony and nationalism to decipher the multiple contexts, which China inhabits historically, internationally and domestically. The book presents multiple case studies of the Confucius Institute, and compares the global programme located around the world with its Western counterparts, and also with other Chinese government-sponsored endeavours and non-government-initiated programmes. The author aims to solve the puzzle of why China’s efforts in cultural diplomacy are perceived differently around the world and helps to outline the distinctive features of China’s cultural diplomacy.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, Chinese politics, foreign policy and International Relations in general.

This book is composed of interconnected essays which reflect on challenging new issues related to diplomacy, communication, and peace.This book begins by drawing out some of the challenges for diplomacy that arise from modern theories of semantics and of strategic communication, as well as those posed by the need for secrecy, and by the activities of agents of influence. It then proceeds to examine important issues in contemporary diplomacy, including refugee diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy, sovereignty, norms, and consular activities. It concludes with an exploration of dilemmas that confront attempts to promote peace through multilateral means, such as the limitations of peacemaking diplomacy, the difficulty of promoting democratic governance, and the problems associated with dealing with morally repugnant actors. The book is grounded in the conception of diplomacy as a social practice with multiple players, and recognises that ‘the state’ has many different elements, and that ‘state actors’ live in worlds shaped not just by their relations with other states, but also by their own complex domestic politics. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, and International Relations.

This book offers an accessible overview of the role sport plays in international relations and diplomacy.Sports diplomacy has previously been defined as an old but under-studied aspect of the estranged relations between peoples, nations and states. These days, it is better understood as the conscious, strategic and ongoing use of sport, sportspeople and sporting events by state and non-state actors to advance policy, trade, development, education, image, reputation, brand, and people-to-people links. In order to better understand the many occasions where sport and diplomacy overlap, this book presents four new, inter-disciplinary and theoretical categories of sports diplomacy: traditional, ‘new’, sport-as-diplomacy, and sports anti-diplomacy. These categories are further validated by a large number of case studies, ranging from the Ancient Olympiad to the recent appearance of esoteric, government sports diplomacy strategies, and beyond, to the activities of non-state sporting actors such as F.C. Barcelona, Colin Kaepernick and the digital world of e-sports. As a result, the landscape of sports diplomacy becomes clearer, as do the pitfalls and limitations of using sport as a diplomatic tool.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, sports studies, and International Relations in general.

This book examines how international organisations (IOs) have struggled to adapt to the digital age, and with social media in particular. The global spread of new digital communication technologies has profoundly transformed the way organisations operate and interact with the outside world. This edited volume explores the impact of digital technologies, with a focus on social media, for one of the major actors in international affairs, namely IOs. To examine the peculiar dynamics characterising the IO–digital nexus, the volume relies on theoretical insights drawn from the disciplines of International Relations, Diplomatic Studies, Media, and Communication Studies, as well as from Organisation Studies. The volume maps the evolution of IOs’ "digital universe" and examines the impact of digital technologies on issues of organisational autonomy, legitimacy, and contestation. The volume’s contributions combine engaging theoretical insights with newly compiled empirical material and an eclectic set of methodological approaches (multivariate regression, network analysis, content analysis, sentiment analysis), offering a highly nuanced and textured understanding of the multifaceted, complex, and ever-evolving nature of the use of digital technologies by international organisations in their multilateral engagements. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, media, and communication studies, and international organisations.

This book examines how international organisations (IOs) have struggled to adapt to the digital age, and with social media in particular. The global spread of new digital communication technologies has profoundly transformed the way organisations operate and interact with the outside world. This edited volume explores the impact of digital technologies, with a focus on social media, for one of the major actors in international affairs, namely IOs. To examine the peculiar dynamics characterising the IO–digital nexus, the volume relies on theoretical insights drawn from the disciplines of International Relations, Diplomatic Studies, Media, and Communication Studies, as well as from Organisation Studies. The volume maps the evolution of IOs’ "digital universe" and examines the impact of digital technologies on issues of organisational autonomy, legitimacy, and contestation. The volume’s contributions combine engaging theoretical insights with newly compiled empirical material and an eclectic set of methodological approaches (multivariate regression, network analysis, content analysis, sentiment analysis), offering a highly nuanced and textured understanding of the multifaceted, complex, and ever-evolving nature of the use of digital technologies by international organisations in their multilateral engagements. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, media, and communication studies, and international organisations.

This innovative new book argues that diplomacy, which emerged out of the French Revolution, has become one of the central Ideological State Apparatuses of the modern democratic nation-state.The book is divided into four thematic parts. The first presents the central concepts and theoretical perspectives derived from the work of Slavoj Žižek, focusing on his understanding of politics, ideology, and the core of the conceptual apparatus of Lacanian psychoanalysis. There then follow three parts treating diplomacy as archi-politics, ultra-politics, and post-politics, respectively highlighting three eras of the modern history of diplomacy from the French Revolution until today. The first part takes on the question of the creation of the term ‘diplomacy’, which took place during the time of the French Revolution. The second part begins with the effects on diplomacy arising from the horrors of the two World Wars. Finally, the third part covers another major shift in Western diplomacy during the last century, the fall of the Soviet Union, and how this transformation shows itself in the field of Diplomacy Studies. The book argues that diplomacy’s primary task is not to be understood as negotiating peace between warring parties, but rather to reproduce the myth of the state’s unity by repressing its fundamental inconsistencies.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, political theory, philosophy, and International Relations.

This book examines and systematises the theoretical dimensions of paradiplomacy - the role of subnational governments in international relations. Throughout the world, subnational governments play an active role in international relations by participating in international trade, cultural missions and diplomatic relations with foreign powers. These governments, including states in the USA and landers in Germany, can sometimes even challenge the official foreign policy of their national government. These activities, which are regularly promoting the subnational government’s interests, have been labelled as ‘paradiplomacy’. Through a systematisation of the different approaches in understanding constituent diplomacy, the author constructs an integrative theoretical explanatory framework to guide research on regional governments’ involvement in international affairs. The framework is based on a multiple-response questionnaire technique (MRQ) which provides the matrix of possible answers on a set of key questions for paradiplomacy scholarship. This comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of paradiplomacy sheds light on the development of federalism and multi-level governance in a new global environment and contributes to the debates on the issue of 'actorness' in contemporary international affairs. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, federalism, governance, foreign policy and IR, as well as practitioners of diplomacy.

This book is composed of interconnected essays which reflect on challenging new issues related to diplomacy, communication, and peace.This book begins by drawing out some of the challenges for diplomacy that arise from modern theories of semantics and of strategic communication, as well as those posed by the need for secrecy, and by the activities of agents of influence. It then proceeds to examine important issues in contemporary diplomacy, including refugee diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy, sovereignty, norms, and consular activities. It concludes with an exploration of dilemmas that confront attempts to promote peace through multilateral means, such as the limitations of peacemaking diplomacy, the difficulty of promoting democratic governance, and the problems associated with dealing with morally repugnant actors. The book is grounded in the conception of diplomacy as a social practice with multiple players, and recognises that ‘the state’ has many different elements, and that ‘state actors’ live in worlds shaped not just by their relations with other states, but also by their own complex domestic politics. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, and International Relations.

This innovative new book argues that diplomacy, which emerged out of the French Revolution, has become one of the central Ideological State Apparatuses of the modern democratic nation-state.The book is divided into four thematic parts. The first presents the central concepts and theoretical perspectives derived from the work of Slavoj Žižek, focusing on his understanding of politics, ideology, and the core of the conceptual apparatus of Lacanian psychoanalysis. There then follow three parts treating diplomacy as archi-politics, ultra-politics, and post-politics, respectively highlighting three eras of the modern history of diplomacy from the French Revolution until today. The first part takes on the question of the creation of the term ‘diplomacy’, which took place during the time of the French Revolution. The second part begins with the effects on diplomacy arising from the horrors of the two World Wars. Finally, the third part covers another major shift in Western diplomacy during the last century, the fall of the Soviet Union, and how this transformation shows itself in the field of Diplomacy Studies. The book argues that diplomacy’s primary task is not to be understood as negotiating peace between warring parties, but rather to reproduce the myth of the state’s unity by repressing its fundamental inconsistencies.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, political theory, philosophy, and International Relations.

This book examines the concept of new public diplomacy against empirical data derived from three country case studies, in order to offer a systematic assessment of policy and practice in the early 21st century.The new public diplomacy (PD) is a major paradigm shift in international political communication. Globalisation and a new media landscape challenge traditional foreign ministry ‘gatekeeper’ structures, and foreign ministries can no longer lay claim to being sole or dominant actors in communicating foreign policy. This demands new ways of elucidating foreign policy to a range of nongovernmental international actors, and new ways of evaluating the influence of these communicative efforts. The author investigates the methods and strategies used by five foreign ministries and cultural institutes in three countries as they attempt to adapt their PD practices to the demands of the new public diplomacy environment. Drawing upon case studies of US, British, and Swedish efforts, each chapter covers national policy, current activities, evaluation methods, and examples of individual campaigns. This book will be of much interest to students of public diplomacy, foreign policy, political communication, media studies and international relations in general.

This book examines the dynamics of relations and the substance of the negotiations between the international community and Iran over the latter's nuclear programme. Iran’s nuclear programme and the alleged threat to international peace and security remains one of the most important issues in the United States, as well as in European foreign affairs. In the US, Iran has dominated the political discourse for over three decades and Europe has spent considerable political capital in finding a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. While relations between both states remain subject to mutual hostility, the EU remains a channel of communication and since 2003 has maintained a multilateral negotiation framework. By and large, the narrative on nuclear negotiations is dominated by constructivist and realist literature, portraying relations between the US and Iran in ideological terms as a prolonged struggle for regional influence. Embedded within conflict resolution and diplomatic theory, this work attempts to bridge this gap. Drawing upon primary documents and interviews, the text examines negotiation behaviour, and strategies and tools of statecraft, as well as analysing technical aspects of initiatives concerning the nuclear programme. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, international diplomacy, Middle Eastern politics, security studies and IR in general.

This book illustrates the importance of global cities for world politics and highlights the diplomatic connections between cities and global governance. While there is a growing body of literature concerned with explaining the transformations of the international order, little theorisation has taken into account the key metropolises of our time as elements of these revolutions. The volume seeks to fill this gap by demonstrating how global cities have a pervasive agency in contemporary global governance. The book argues that looking at global cities can bring about three fundamental advantages on traditional IR paradigms. First, it facilitates an eclectic turn towards more nuanced analyses of world politics. Second, it widens the horizon of the discipline through a multiscalar image of global governance. Third, it underscores how global cities have a strategic diplomatic positioning when it comes to core contemporary challenges such as climate change.This book will be of much interest to students of urban studies, global governance, diplomacy and international relations in general.

This interdisciplinary book explores how terrorism is meant to target a government’s legitimacy, and advocates for sounder defensive measures when countering international attacks.The dramatic increase in global cooperation throughout the twentieth century—between international organisations and their state missions of diplomats, foreign officers, international civil servants, intelligence officers, military personnel, police investigators, judges, legislators, and financial regulators—has had a bearing on the shape and content of the domestic political order. The rules that govern all of these interactions, and the diplomats engaged to monitor and advocate for compliance, have undergone a mushrooming development following the conclusion of each world war. This dramatic growth is arguably the most significant change the international structure has experienced since the inception of the state-based system ushered in with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. International Law, New Diplomacy and Counterterrorism explores the impact of this growth on domestic legitimacy through the integration of two disciplines: international law and political philosophy. Focusing particularly on the cross-border counterterrorism actions launched by the United States, the author investigates how civil societies have often turned to the standards of international law to understand and judge the legitimacy of their government’s counterterrorism policies reaching across international borders. The book concludes that those who craft counterterrorism policies must be attentive to defending the target of legitimacy by being wholly mindful of the realms of legality, morality and efficacy when exercising force.This book will be of much interest to students of international law, diplomacy, counterterrorism, political philosophy, security studies and IR.

This book explores the transatlantic relationship between the US and Europe from multiple perspectives and disciplines.Since the end of the Cold War, a multi-polar world has replaced the dual power economic and political stranglehold previously shared by the US and Russia. Amid the shift in power politics, the transatlantic partnership between the US and Europe has retained its importance in shaping the outcome of future global developments. With the rise of the US as a major world power and the tremendous economic growths witnessed by countries such as China, India and Brazil, the political power structures within and outside the transatlantic relations have gradually undergone shifts that are important to recognise, understand and critically assess on a consistent basis. Transatlantic Relations and Modern Diplomacy assesses the strengths and weaknesses of this enduring transatlantic relationship from multiple perspectives and disciplines at a time when the US and European countries are facing increasing economic pressures, significant political changes and substantial security concerns. Examining this relationship through a range of different lenses including historical, economic and cultural, this book highlights the importance of examining the transatlantic relationship from a variety of different contextual and historical perspectives in order to herald the future changes as informed global citizens.This book will be of interest to students of transatlantic studies, diplomacy, political science and IR in general.

This book examines and systematises the theoretical dimensions of paradiplomacy - the role of subnational governments in international relations. Throughout the world, subnational governments play an active role in international relations by participating in international trade, cultural missions and diplomatic relations with foreign powers. These governments, including states in the USA and landers in Germany, can sometimes even challenge the official foreign policy of their national government. These activities, which are regularly promoting the subnational government’s interests, have been labelled as ‘paradiplomacy’. Through a systematisation of the different approaches in understanding constituent diplomacy, the author constructs an integrative theoretical explanatory framework to guide research on regional governments’ involvement in international affairs. The framework is based on a multiple-response questionnaire technique (MRQ) which provides the matrix of possible answers on a set of key questions for paradiplomacy scholarship. This comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of paradiplomacy sheds light on the development of federalism and multi-level governance in a new global environment and contributes to the debates on the issue of 'actorness' in contemporary international affairs. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, federalism, governance, foreign policy and IR, as well as practitioners of diplomacy.

This book is an authoritative account of the nuclear weapons inspections regime in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. Without a proper understanding of those years, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq after a futile WMD search remain unintelligible. In the 1990s, after adapting to a completely new kind of intrusive inspections with unprecedented access rights, the IAEA discovered and dismantled Iraq’s clandestine nuclear weapons program and put in place an efficient monitoring system which could have contained Saddam Hussein’s attempts to reconstitute his nuclear programs – had he ever tried to. However, the politicisation of the inspection process led to an end of the inspections in 1998. Based on various sources including inspection reports and other documents in the archive of the IAEA Iraq Action Team at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Dismantling the Iraqi Nuclear Programme presents completely new information about the weapons inspection regime in Iraq and offers valuable lessons for future non-proliferation and disarmament cases. The book also draws on discourse from Iraqi scientists, which provides a close look into not only the motivation of involved Iraqis, but also Iraqi concealment mechanisms.This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, arms control, Middle Eastern politics, diplomacy, international security and IR.

This book offers an accessible overview of the role sport plays in international relations and diplomacy.Sports diplomacy has previously been defined as an old but under-studied aspect of the estranged relations between peoples, nations and states. These days, it is better understood as the conscious, strategic and ongoing use of sport, sportspeople and sporting events by state and non-state actors to advance policy, trade, development, education, image, reputation, brand, and people-to-people links. In order to better understand the many occasions where sport and diplomacy overlap, this book presents four new, inter-disciplinary and theoretical categories of sports diplomacy: traditional, ‘new’, sport-as-diplomacy, and sports anti-diplomacy. These categories are further validated by a large number of case studies, ranging from the Ancient Olympiad to the recent appearance of esoteric, government sports diplomacy strategies, and beyond, to the activities of non-state sporting actors such as F.C. Barcelona, Colin Kaepernick and the digital world of e-sports. As a result, the landscape of sports diplomacy becomes clearer, as do the pitfalls and limitations of using sport as a diplomatic tool.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, sports studies, and International Relations in general.

This book examines Africa’s internal and external relations by focusing on three core concepts: orders, diplomacy and borderlands. The contributors examine traditional and non-traditional diplomatic actors, and domestic, regional, continental, and global orders. They argue that African diplomats profoundly shape these orders by situating themselves within in-between-spaces of geographical and functional orders. It is in these borderlands that agency, despite all kinds of constraints, flourishes. Chapters in the book compare domestic orders to regional ones, and then continental African orders to global ones. They deal with a range of functional orders, including development, international trade, human rights, migration, nuclear arms control, peacekeeping, public administration, and territorial change. By focusing on these topics, the volume contributes to a better understanding of African international relations, sharpens analyses of ordering processes in world politics, and adds to our comprehension of how diplomacy shapes orders and vice versa. The studies collected here show a much more nuanced picture of African agency in African and international affairs and suggest that African diplomacy is far more extensive than is often assumed.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, African politics and International Relations.

This book examines China’s contemporary global cultural footprints through its recent development of cultural diplomacy.The volume presents an alternative analytical framework to examine China’s cultural diplomacy, which goes beyond the Western-defined concept of ‘soft power’ that prevails in the current literature. This new approach constructs a three-dimensional framework on Orientalism, cultural hegemony and nationalism to decipher the multiple contexts, which China inhabits historically, internationally and domestically. The book presents multiple case studies of the Confucius Institute, and compares the global programme located around the world with its Western counterparts, and also with other Chinese government-sponsored endeavours and non-government-initiated programmes. The author aims to solve the puzzle of why China’s efforts in cultural diplomacy are perceived differently around the world and helps to outline the distinctive features of China’s cultural diplomacy.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, Chinese politics, foreign policy and International Relations in general.

This book makes the case for why cooperation is the key to security within and between states, and for dealing with complex threats and challenges to international peace and security.It argues that cooperation is not altruism or liberal internationalism, rather it is in the self-interest of states. Drawing on both theory and practice, it looks at how cooperation can be promoted within and between states as well as in the global community. It explains the concept of ‘cooperative security’ and its potential contribution to promoting integration against the current of fragmentation. Furthermore, the book explores the potential impact of technology on cooperation. It makes an urgent call for new ideas and approaches to encourage people and states to work together to deal with complex threats and challenges.This book will be of particular interest to students of diplomacy studies, foreign policy and international relations, and to practitioners dealing with security issues.

This book makes the case for why cooperation is the key to security within and between states, and for dealing with complex threats and challenges to international peace and security.It argues that cooperation is not altruism or liberal internationalism, rather it is in the self-interest of states. Drawing on both theory and practice, it looks at how cooperation can be promoted within and between states as well as in the global community. It explains the concept of ‘cooperative security’ and its potential contribution to promoting integration against the current of fragmentation. Furthermore, the book explores the potential impact of technology on cooperation. It makes an urgent call for new ideas and approaches to encourage people and states to work together to deal with complex threats and challenges.This book will be of particular interest to students of diplomacy studies, foreign policy and international relations, and to practitioners dealing with security issues.

This book provides a novel theoretical framework to understand EU-China diplomatic relations.The existing scholarly literature on EU-China relations is characterised by a dichotomous distinction between material and ideational factors and overemphasises the ‘interest versus value’ motif undergirding EU-China relations. The diplomacy and future direction of the relationship seem as opaque as their extent remains incalculably complex. This book takes us beyond binary motives by introducing a novel theoretical model of diplomatic relationship-building that brings to the fore the more nuanced and latent factors to make sense of EU-China diplomatic relationship-building; the new theory captures the ‘relational’ nature of diplomatic relationship-building by integrating the social layer of ‘intentions’ in understanding international diplomacy. This study further sheds light on the opportunities and challenges in enhancing EU-China relations, through a comparative in-depth investigation of the processes, practices and politics of EU-China climate change and agricultural-trade relations over the past two decades. The book draws on a rich collection of original data, encompassing over 100 interviews with stakeholders of EU-China relations conducted from 2015–2023; strengthened by participant observation at EU and Chinese institutional headquarters and in diplomatic fora that has taken place over the past ten years. Enriching these data are newly disclosed official minutes and documentation regarding EU-China negotiations and cooperation.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, Chinese politics, EU politics and international relations in general.

This book provides a novel theoretical framework to understand EU-China diplomatic relations.The existing scholarly literature on EU-China relations is characterised by a dichotomous distinction between material and ideational factors and overemphasises the ‘interest versus value’ motif undergirding EU-China relations. The diplomacy and future direction of the relationship seem as opaque as their extent remains incalculably complex. This book takes us beyond binary motives by introducing a novel theoretical model of diplomatic relationship-building that brings to the fore the more nuanced and latent factors to make sense of EU-China diplomatic relationship-building; the new theory captures the ‘relational’ nature of diplomatic relationship-building by integrating the social layer of ‘intentions’ in understanding international diplomacy. This study further sheds light on the opportunities and challenges in enhancing EU-China relations, through a comparative in-depth investigation of the processes, practices and politics of EU-China climate change and agricultural-trade relations over the past two decades. The book draws on a rich collection of original data, encompassing over 100 interviews with stakeholders of EU-China relations conducted from 2015–2023; strengthened by participant observation at EU and Chinese institutional headquarters and in diplomatic fora that has taken place over the past ten years. Enriching these data are newly disclosed official minutes and documentation regarding EU-China negotiations and cooperation.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, Chinese politics, EU politics and international relations in general.

This book examines pathways for how to reinvigorate the United Nations, in light of recent crises.The United Nations requires reinvigoration. The organisation’s supply of global governance falls short of global demand in areas ranging from health to environment, while intra-state armed conflicts are on the rise again, and fullblown inter-state war has returned to the agenda. At the same time, decision-making mechanisms are deadlocked, and their legitimacy is increasingly questioned. But what pathways are there for reinvigorating the United Nations? This book argues for consolidating key principles pertaining to inter-state relations and human rights, for elaborating on the UN system in order to avoid fragmentation and make it possible for it to keep pace with a changing world, and for revisiting UN decision-making structures so that it can become more inclusive and rebuild trust among stakeholders. The volume embraces a comprehensive approach to studying the organisation, and the authors analyse the institutions comprising the UN system, as well as the social context within which actors put these institutions to use. The book contributes to scholarly debates about the United Nations and about how it is embedded in a broader international order currently beset by crises and, ultimately, aims to show what concrete steps for strengthening the organisation might look like.This book will be of much interest to students of international organisations, diplomacy studies, global governance, and International Relations in general.The Introduction, Chapter 5, Chapter 10 and the Conclusion of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. Chapter 7 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

This book examines pathways for how to reinvigorate the United Nations, in light of recent crises.The United Nations requires reinvigoration. The organisation’s supply of global governance falls short of global demand in areas ranging from health to environment, while intra-state armed conflicts are on the rise again, and fullblown inter-state war has returned to the agenda. At the same time, decision-making mechanisms are deadlocked, and their legitimacy is increasingly questioned. But what pathways are there for reinvigorating the United Nations? This book argues for consolidating key principles pertaining to inter-state relations and human rights, for elaborating on the UN system in order to avoid fragmentation and make it possible for it to keep pace with a changing world, and for revisiting UN decision-making structures so that it can become more inclusive and rebuild trust among stakeholders. The volume embraces a comprehensive approach to studying the organisation, and the authors analyse the institutions comprising the UN system, as well as the social context within which actors put these institutions to use. The book contributes to scholarly debates about the United Nations and about how it is embedded in a broader international order currently beset by crises and, ultimately, aims to show what concrete steps for strengthening the organisation might look like.This book will be of much interest to students of international organisations, diplomacy studies, global governance, and International Relations in general.The Introduction, Chapter 5, Chapter 10 and the Conclusion of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. Chapter 7 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

This book proposes a reconceptualization of diplomacy as a social world, which has implications for the study of diplomatic memoirs as speech acts and forms of communication in relation to role images of diplomats.In contrast to the dominant paradigm of Bourdieu-inspired practice theory, which focuses on struggles for position and power, this book proposes to understand diplomacy as a social world. From this vantage point, the intrinsic logic of diplomacy is situated within its own universe of discourse, which has its own manner of communicating and interacting. One element of this universe is role images. The work argues that memoirs by former diplomats serve as a pivotal medium through which diplomatic role models circulating in the wider public sphere are (re)produced. To this end, however, it is necessary to read self-narratives by diplomats not as sources for past events, but as speech acts and communication. The book applies this framework to an empirical analysis of 40 memoirs by former German ambassadors. The result of this analysis is the identification of five diplomatic role models: messenger, traveler, representative, reasonable actor, and relational actor.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, foreign policy, social theory, and International Relations in general.

This book examines which characteristics allow a non-state armed actor to be considered an effective diplomatic actor for the purpose of a meaningful peace settlement.The work demonstrates how such characteristics can potentially contribute to a more successful outcome in peacemaking initiatives with non-state armed actors, and how their absence can become a peril for peace. Addressing a gap in the diplomatic studies literature, the book is concerned with defining, characterising and categorising the effectiveness of diplomatic actors. It argues that the critical characteristics are autonomy, organisational coherence and representativeness, all of which non-state armed actors need to possess to a sufficient degree if they are to engage in meaningful negotiations which could lead to a sustainable peace settlement. The empirical data are drawn from analysis of the diplomatic engagements with the Khmer Rouge that led to 1991 Paris Peace Agreements in relation to the Cambodian conflict and from exploration of the difficulties experienced in attempting to negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The book’s detailed analysis of these two case studies demonstrates the value of the diplomatic actors’ framework.This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, peace studies, Asian studies and international relations.