The making of a diplomat: the case of the French Diplomatic and Consular Institute as an identity workspace

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the creation of the Diplomatic and Consular Institute by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conceptualises this new professional school of diplomacy as an “identity workspace” following the analysis of a cohort’s learning experience. This article aims to spark a debate from a practice perspective on diplomatic training as offered by Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Europe.     

Missing the nuclear boat? British policy and French military nuclear ambitions during the EURATOM foundation negotiations, 1955–56

This paper examines the neglected nuclear dimension of the ‘relaunch’ of Europe at Messina. France favoured British membership of EURATOM and some interests in Britain saw the commercial and diplomatic advantages of Britain's leadership of the European nuclear industry. However, the possibility of a French military nuclear programme and European nuclear proliferation compounded Britain's established reluctance either to participate in European integration or to jeopardize the prospect of Anglo‐American nuclear weapons cooperation. Britain's aversion to using the hypothetical ‘nuclear card’ is a recurrent theme in Anglo‐French diplomacy.     

Highly Emotional States: French-US Relations and the Iraq War

Understanding the true nature of the relations between France and the United States is central to an understanding of the diplomatic crisis that broke out between them in 2003 over the War in Iraq. An analysis of the political cultures of France and the US offers considerable explanatory power to this dramatic diplomatic dispute. The inordinately emotional aspects of the Franco-US arguments of 2003 mask the fact that the two countries understand each other little. In the French case, its self-view and related diplomatic comportment in the twentieth century was informed by its relationship to Germany; and from it a range of cultural characteristics emerged, among them: vulnerability, self-regard, a romanticized view of itself, and the personalization of national identity. At the moment France’s response to its cultural heritage was beginning to shift to a different (post-Gaullist) paradigm, the dispute with the US erupted.     

Missing the nuclear boat? British policy and French military nuclear ambitions during the EURATOM foundation negotiations, 1955-56

This paper examines the neglected nuclear dimension of the 'relaunch' of Europe at Messina. France favoured British membership of EURATOM and some interests in Britain saw the commercial and diplomatic advantages of Britain's leadership of the European nuclear industry. However, the possibility of a French military nuclear programme and European nuclear proliferation compounded Britain's established reluctance either to participate in European integration or to jeopardize the prospect of Anglo-American nuclear weapons cooperation. Britain's aversion to using the hypothetical 'nuclear card' is a recurrent theme in Anglo-French diplomacy.     

Beyond the Acronyms: Sport Diplomacy and the Classification of the International Olympic Committee

ABSTRACT

Diplomacy often finds itself reduced to actions centred on states. However, after the Cold War, international relations and diplomacy have expanded with different actors growing into significant roles, particularly in the increase of diplomatic relations in the context of sport. The classification and significance of other actors remains under-researched in relation to sport, with literature focusing more on the growth of new and varying practices of diplomacy. This analysis contends that there is a need to interrogate fundamental components of modern diplomacy—with the actor being the focus—more specifically the classification of sports organisations in diplomacy. It is relevant as a more accurate understanding of sports organisations will contribute to how diplomatic studies can analyse and evaluate modern diplomacy within the context of sport. The International Olympic Committee is the actor used to illustrate how problematic classifications currently in the academic literature translate into weak and reduced analysis and evaluation of its role and significance in diplomacy. As counterpoint, this analysis proposes an analytical framework of socio-legal theory that harnesses legal regulation as a benchmark to classify an actor’s capacity within a society. In consequence, the IOC is as an active and significant contributor to the ever expanding and complex diplomatic environment and wider society.     

The “New Look” of German Diplomacy: The West German Foreign Service after the Second World War

When established in 1951, the West German Foreign Office resembled its pre-1945 Berlin Ministry predecessor in many ways. Notably, about 45 percent of Bonn’s diplomats came from the old service. Such continuities raised concerns about a restoration of old diplomatic traditions and attitudes. However, significant changes in German diplomacy—its West German variant—soon became evident, not least in terms of diplomatic style and methods. This analysis explores how the Foreign Office’s staff adopted, promoted, or rejected such changes. It assesses institutional processes of transformation and examines why diplomats were willing to “re-learn” diplomacy after the Second World War. Likewise evaluated are the problems and limits of re-orientation. By focussing on (dis)continuities within the Foreign Service in the 1950s and 1960s, the analysis contributes to the general field of research on processes of transition in West Germany after the end of the Third Reich.     

越南广义文化的新发展

近年来，越南在广义文化方面出现了一些新发展、新概念、新领域，如旅游文化、商业文化、交通文化、外交文化等。越南将文化外交视为其外交的三大支柱之一，让文化为国家的对外交往服务，与中国的文化外交比较密切。     

Risk-free Coercion? Technological Disparity and Coercive Diplomacy

Abstract

One of the contemporary arguments made in support of fielding revolutionary military technologies is that technological dominance not only decides the outcome of major wars, but enhances a nation's coercive power in dealing with low-end threats. Currently, a new generation of technophiles claims that unmanned and robotic systems are revolutionizing warfare, increasing the ability of advanced states to coerce states and societies that lag behind. Yet historically, technological dominance at the tactical level has a mixed record when projected into the diplomatic realm. The article analyzes the effectiveness of low-risk, over the horizon coercion from an historical viewpoint, assessing the effectiveness of gunboat diplomacy, air policing, and the ‘Tomahawk diplomacy’ of the 1990s. The author claims that the historical record indicates that gunboat diplomacy, air policing, and over the horizon coercion is more problematic than commonly portrayed, with the boundaries between coercive diplomacy and savage small wars both porous and slippery.     

习近平外交思想理论体系探析

习近平外交思想是中国外交理论建设的重大成果,拥有系统、完整、科学的理论体系,指引着中国外交不断走向胜利,并具有日益扩大的国际影响。习近平外交思想理论体系坚持实践本体论,是代表和推进时代前进方向的中国外交实践自觉的产物;它创新了外交领域的中国化马克思主义,坚持共产主义世界观,总结科学的方法论,强调造福人民的要旨;它内涵丰富,特别是包含了与时俱进的主权观、共同持续的全球安全观、正确的义利观、引领进步的国际体系观等核心理念,形成了一整套指导处理中国与世界关系的战略思想。     

深刻领会习近平外交思想的理论与实践意义

作为习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的重要组成部分,习近平外交思想是新中国外交理论建设具有划时代意义的重大成果,是百年未有之大变局下实现中华民族伟大复兴、推进中国特色大国外交的根本遵循和行动指南。习近平外交思想理论深邃、实践丰富、意义重大,体现在对百年未有之大变局与中国战略机遇期的辩证把握;中华民族伟大复兴与构建人类命运共同体和合共生;以元首外交与主场外交为引领,扎实推进中国外交议程;完善和深化全方位外交布局,共建“一带一路”,积极参与全球治理体系改革和建设;超越权力转移范式误区,推动构建合作共赢的中美关系。     

新时代中国特色大国外交“特”在何处?

新时代中国特色大国外交由新时代、中国特色和大国外交三部分组成。对于新时代的含义,党的十九大报告已经做出了明确的表述。大国外交的研究,历来是国际关系学界关注的重点,但对于什么是“中国特色”,学术界似乎着墨极少。所谓中国特色,就是指中国独有而其他国家没有或罕有的某些环境、指导思想、操作原则和具体抓手。本文探讨了新时代中国特色大国外交的“独特”之处。中国特色大国外交是在百年未有之大变局这一独特外部环境中展开的,其指导思想是作为新时代中国特色社会主义思想重要组成部分的习近平外交思想,采取了结伴不结盟这一独特的外交原则,以及“一带一路”倡议这一独特的工作抓手。中国特色大国外交有三个独特的理论来源:中国特色社会主义道路、中国传统文化和新中国外交传统。明确新时代中国特色大国外交“特”在何处,有助于我们总结和把握中国特色大国外交理论和实践的发展,有助于我们理解中国外交总体布局,有助于我们观察和分析当前和今后一个时期中国外交政策的走向。     

“Our Respective Empires Should Stand Together”: The Royal Dimension in Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1919–1941

In the inter-war period court diplomacy played an important role in Anglo-Japanese relations. Both governments saw the exchange of high-level royal visits and the conferment of decorations, such as the bestowal of the Order of the Garter to Emperor Hirohito in 1929, as a useful means of indicating respect and the desire for continued co-operation. Even as late as 1937 Prince Chichibu’s attendance at King George VI’s coronation was intended to lead to closer ties. This article demonstrates that the neglected field of court diplomacy and diplomatic protocol can provide a useful parallel commentary on more overtly political events.     

积极开创新时代民间外交工作新局面

一、民间外交的定位和历史贡献周恩来总理指出:“中国的外交是官方的、半官方的和民间的三者结合起来的外交。”习近平总书记强调:“民间外交是增进人民友谊、促进国家关系发展的基础性工作,是国家总体外交的重要组成部分。”可见,民间外交也是外交,也是国家行为,根本目的是为了推动中外民相亲、心相通。对外工作中,除了官方的、半官方的,其他包括友好城市、企业、智库、媒体、社会组织和青年、妇女等自然人等都属于民间外交范畴和主体。民间外交具有主体多、领域广、资源丰、接地气、打基础等主要特点。     

The New Aerospace Diplomacy: Reconstructing Post-Cold War US-Russian Economic Relations

Post-Cold War U.S.-Russian diplomacy reveals the increased importance of new diplomatic actors and processes, whilst underscoring the continued key role of state-state negotiation in reconstructing the bilateral relationship between the United States and post-Soviet Russia. The Clinton administration and Yeltsin government negotiated measures to promote political stability, democratization, and conversion to a neoliberal market economy in Russia, a centrepiece of which was the integration of Russia’s globally competitive aerospace sector into the global production chain. Establishing the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, a top-level binational economic and technology policy committee, and signing a bilateral trade liberalization treaty on commercial satellite launch services paved the way for public-public and public-private bilateral space cooperation, and for major private joint ventures between US and Russian aerospace firms.     

“价值观外交”:德国新政府的外交基轴?

德国新政府提出的“价值观外交”是对默克尔政府开启的“价值观外交”的延续和继承,是作为后现代和后民族国家的德国成功转化身份的必然结果。德国国内政治生态、国际秩序变革和默克尔时期“价值观外交”实践的正向激励,都会促进德国新政府加速推进德式“价值观外交”。但德国的“价值观外交”不完全等同于“意识形态外交”,它给中德关系发展带来的既有机遇也有挑战。未来针对德国新政府对华政策中的“价值观外交”,中国应在坚持“红线”的基础上,注重从积极面入手,明确双方在多边主义规则和制度方面的共同点,争取相互合作以塑造更具包容性的国际秩序。     

Public Diplomacy and the International Paralympic Committee: Reconciling the Roles of Disability Advocate and Sports Regulator

Abstract

Whilst the link between international diplomacy and the Olympic movement has been the subject of extensive academic and journalistic enquiry, the experience of diplomatic discourse relating to the relatively youthful Paralympic movement has received little attention. It occurs not just in the context of state diplomacy, where for example the Paralympic Games may provide a conduit for the pursuit of specific policy objectives, but also in relation to the engagement of the International Paralympic Committee [IPC] as an evolving non-state actor in the diplomatic process. The idea of the IPC as an advocacy body engaged through public diplomacy in promoting disability rights needs exploration as an element of the contemporary politics of disability. This analysis considers the relationship between the activities of the IPC and wider lobbying by disabled people’s organisations as a means of leveraging change in domestic and international policy toward disability. In relation to the global development agenda, it also assesses IPC responses to the gulf in resourcing for para-sport as well as related health and education provision between high- and low-resource regions. It considers the response of the organisation from the perspective of public diplomacy and locates that response within the wider diplomacy of development.     

“Never a Dull Moment”: The Moscow Ambassadorship of Sir Frank Roberts in the Years of the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crises, 1960–1962

This analysis explores the largely unsung Moscow ambassadorship of Britain’s Frank Roberts (1960–1962). After examining his Embassy’s role in developing cultural and commercial relations, the article addresses Roberts’ involvement in the Berlin and Cuban missile crises. In the former case, he made a low-key but important contribution by influencing American policy; in the second, he provided insightful assessments of Soviet attitudes and thinking. Roberts’ ambassadorship demonstrated the continued importance of resident embassies and ambassadors, because of the lack of ministerial-level Anglo–Soviet relations and the need to interpret Soviet policy in crisis situations. The research contributes to the literature of diplomatic representation as well as of Anglo–Soviet relations during the Cold War.     

The Duke of Newcastle and the Diplomatic Revolution, 1753–1757: A Historical Revision

Drawing on a diverse array of archival and secondary sources, this analysis examines the role of Thomas Pelham Holles, First Duke of Newcastle, against the background of the famous Reversal of Alliances that ushered in the Seven Years War. Contrary to historical tradition, Newcastle showed an admirable grasp of finance, politics, and diplomacy—a precondition of the political stability that facilitated Britain’s successful pursuit of military operations during the war. Unlike most noble contemporaries, with a sound understanding of European/colonial developments, Newcastle was capable of pursuing coherent policies with intelligence and resolution. In a political system that relied heavily on social connexions and diplomatic ritual, Newcastle performed as well as any minister could hope; in an extremely dynamic international environment, contending with dubious allies, implacable enemies, and the vicissitudes of military fortune, he conceived, negotiated, and executed policies that raised necessary funds and sent British forces around the globe on an unprecedented scale. This should be remembered when assessing his historical reputation.     

Security in the name of human rights: the discursive legitimation strategies of the war on terror in France

This article aims to question the discourse on “the war on terror” developed by the French President in the wake of the two terrorist attacks that occurred in France in 2015. Drawing from critical discourse analysis, it explores the discursive legitimation strategies deployed by President Hollande to legitimate France’s securitarian response to the two attacks. It reveals how the defence of human rights served as an overall justificatory framework, through rationalisation, appeals to authority, and moralisation. It argues that Hollande implemented a discursive manipulation of reality to shield his actions from criticisms of illiberalism, all the while reframing the notion of human rights, undermining it and paving the way for an authoritarian-driven executive.