Objective/context: This research aims to bring closer contributions of the ethnographic approach to diplomatic works, both at a specific and a general level, in the discipline of International ...Relations, establishing connections, homologous methods, critical points, and inflections. Methodology: The article uses a qualitative methodology with an ethnographic approach to stress some classical and ontological categories of the international discipline, allowing a discussion of the scope, contributions, and novelty of the ethnographic method specifically for diplomatic studies. It also presents a review of specialized literature by authors who have studied the cultural variable in diplomatic studies. This approach allows examining basic premises of the discipline of International Relations, such as national interest, the constitution of the state, and state exclusivity in the diplomatic field, among other classic categories, that do not fully account for the existence of processes and emerging actors invisible in the internationalist debate. Conclusions: The article argues that the discipline of International Relations challenges its most representative arguments and categories by adhering to anthropological reflections. The results suggest that ethnographic approaches stress certain classical terms and ontologies of the international discipline, which has been possible through discussing the scope, contributions, and novelty of the ethnographic method specifically for diplomatic studies. Originality: This unpublished research study reveals a counterpoint between two large, apparently dissimilar theoretical corpora: anthropology and international relations.
This introductory article explores the multiple synergies between international practice theory and diplomatic studies. The timing for this cross-fertilizing exchange could not be better, as the ...study of diplomacy enters a phase of theorization while practice scholars look to confront the approach to new empirical and analytical challenges. The article first defines diplomacy as a historically and culturally contingent bundle of practices that are analytically alike in their claim to represent a given polity to the outside world. Then the key analytical wagers that practice theory makes are introduced, and debates currently raging in the discipline are briefly reviewed. Next, it is suggested what a practice theory of diplomacy may look like, discussing a variety of existing works through their common objective to explain the constitution of world politics in and through practice. Finally, a few research avenues to foster the dialogue between diplomatic studies and practice theory are outlined, centered on the nexuses of transformation and reproduction, rationality and know-how, and the technical vs. social dimensions of practices — diplomatic or otherwise.
This article discusses the role of spokesperson in Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). A spokesperson's official role in frontline diplomacy is viewed and analyzed through the lens of public ...diplomacy to promote a nation-state's foreign policy when engaging with foreign audiences and influencing public opinion. This article first investigates the history and approaches for Soviet-acting spokespersons who primarily targeted Americans and Western Europeans through the media and TV, although in accordance with mutually accepted conditions of hosting states. The article then assesses changes in world politics and communication technologies and evaluates the digital public diplomacy dimension that has shaped the spokesperson's communication strategies. Finally, the article evaluates current Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova's responsibilities and identifies the strategies she embraces when communicating with targeted audiences. The article concludes that the role of a spokesperson in Russian public diplomacy is increasingly prominent and has moved far beyond a mouthpiece.
Objetivo/contexto: el objetivo de esta investigación es rastrear una aproximación a los aportes del enfoque etnográfico en el quehacer diplomático, en tanto ámbito específico como a nivel general en ...la disciplina de las relaciones internacionales, estableciendo conexiones, planteamientos homólogos, puntos críticos y de inflexión. Metodología: el artículo utiliza una metodología cualitativa y con un enfoque etnográfico, que permite tensionar ciertas categorías clásicas y ontológicas de la disciplina internacional, lo que hace posible discutir los alcances, aportes y novedad del método etnográfico, en particular para los estudios diplomáticos. Se basa en la revisión de literatura especializada con autores que han pesquisado la variable cultural en los estudios diplomáticos. Dicho abordaje permite discutir el alcance de premisas básicas de la disciplina de las relaciones internacionales, tales como el interés nacional, la constitución del Estado, la exclusividad estatal del campo diplomático, entre otras categorías clásicas que no dan cuenta del todo de la existencia de procesos y actores emergentes invisibilizados en el debate internacionalista. Conclusiones: se plantea que la disciplina de las relaciones internacionales, al adherir a reflexiones antropológicas, desafía sus debates y categorías más representativas. Dentro de los resultados, se sostiene que los enfoques etnográficos tensionan ciertas categorías y ontologías clásicas de la disciplina internacional, lo que ha sido posible al discutir los alcances, aportes y novedad del método etnográfico, en particular para los estudios diplomáticos. Originalidad: se trata de una investigación inédita en la que se releva un contrapunto entre dos grandes corpus teóricos aparentemente disímiles, la antropología y las relaciones internacionales.
With the rise of digital technologies and innovation disrupting the economy, the global phenomenon challenged the current concept and strategies of “conventional” economic diplomacy that have ...increasingly gained importance in contemporary foreign policy, including Indonesia. In the meantime, the digital economy had been significantly growing as a potential driver of growth and an inclusive economy which becomes central in the Indonesian development agenda. A new or innovation-based economy such as the digital economy did not only become one of the priorities in national policies but also emerge to be an essential variable to the foreign policy of Indonesia amid diplomatic deficit. This research examines Indonesia’s economic diplomacy in optimizing the potential of digital and new economic activities in facing the challenges of digital disruption. By employing integrative diplomacy concept, this research argues that Indonesia’s government should pursue intermestic, comprehensive and integrative strategies in its economic diplomacy by integrating new economy through the construction of “innovation diplomacy.” This research finds that the existing economic diplomacy is strongly directed to “conventional” commercial diplomacy, while it gives insufficient space for a new economy to develop significantly, due to the absence of concept supporting the operation of innovation-focused economic diplomacy. Consequently, it is suggested that Jakarta urgently has to reconceptualize its economic diplomacy more strategically in order to achieve “diplomatic sophistication,” by way of constructing “innovation diplomacy” as a subset of economic diplomacy.
This article argues that middle power theories can be tested by looking at the practice of negotiating multilateral treaties on conventional weapons. Three recent treaties are noteworthy, regulating ...landmines, cluster munitions and the arms trade. They are noteworthy because they were negotiated through multilateral diplomacy by coalitions of countries often identified as middle powers, and resulted in humanitarian, effects-based regulations. Canada and Australia actively participated in all three and are regularly cited as exemplars of middle powers. On landmines and the arms trade, both behaved as middle power theories would anticipate, embracing multilateralism and seeking a principled outcome. On cluster munitions, neither country conformed to expectations and instead unsuccessfully sought an incremental approach in line with their US ally. These cases therefore offer promising terrain to test claims around middle powers, multilateralism, and principled approaches to world affairs. This article sheds light on these inconsistencies by identifying the contextual changes behind these differing postures through a 'contexts of diplomacy' framework. This article also highlights the strategies and tactics of Canada and Australia. This serves two purposes. First, it helps address some of the issues raised in middle power theories. Second, it helps identify modes of middle power diplomacy.
This special issue stresses the importance of material culture in diplomatic studies of science and technology. In our studies, objects are considered powerful tokens of complexity in diplomatic ...encounters and of asymmetry in international relations. The contributors are committed to theorizing about the role of objects in diplomatic exchanges during the postwar period and, at the same time, the role of diplomacy in constituting the materiality of nuclear things. Our approach combines attention to the political and diplomatic nuclear history with recognition of the roles played by nuclear artifacts throughout the whole spectrum of diplomatic activities. On the whole, we argue that the material approach should be located at the center of the study of nuclear history and the diplomatic exchanges that made it possible.
This article considers the importance of informal, practice-based change as opposed to formal change at the UN. I first evaluate UN reform, showing that diplomacy and institutional change within the ...UN system are better understood as having evolved less from major, formal reform of the UN Charter ('the Charter') than from minor changes in routine practices. I then examine what practice theory and diplomatic studies can learn from each other in terms of how each views the role of leading individuals, illustrating specific practice-based change in relation to the Secretary-General's role. Next, I show how the appointment process for a new Secretary-General has evolved through informal practice, after which I advance an argument that UN diplomatic practices should be considered not only within the narrow context of a formal diplomatic corps of member state diplomats but also as part of an informal, wider diplomatic community of diplomats and non-state actors. Practice theory helps students of diplomacy think more abstractly and systematically about mundane diplomatic practices. Students of diplomacy can help guide practice theory toward empirical diplomatic activities that are often internalized and taken for granted. I conclude that a dialog between the two fields will promote a better understanding of diplomacy as undervalued practices.
These days, the study of soft power and public diplomacy is relatively advanced. The present article complements this growing body of work by focusing on the relationship between two institutions ...that are generally geared toward minimizing friction in international affairs: sport and diplomacy. Over the past five years, the study of “sports diplomacy” has grown but the same cannot be said about scholarship assessing its practice, that is, how theory is reconciled in practice. This is a gap this research seeks to overcome. It describes and critiques the efforts, challenges, and vicissitudes Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade faced when building and implementing the world's first Sports Diplomacy Strategy in 2015. The study finds that with appropriate ministerial support and innovative diplomats, both the theory and practice of sports diplomacy have a bright, promising future. Such analysis is useful because it encourages greater dialog between the ivory towers and the beltway of diplomacy.
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