Essence of Diplomacy (Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations)

218 Pages·2005·0.83 MB·English

by  Christer Jonsson

Essence of Diplomacy
Christer Jönsson and Martin Hall
Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations
General Editors: Donna Lee, Senior Lecturer in International Organisations and
International Political Economy, University of Birmingham, UK and Paul Sharp,
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Alworth Institute for
International Studies at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA.
The series was launched as Studies in Diplomacyin 1994 under the general editorship
of G.R. Berridge. Its purpose is to encourage original scholarship on all aspects of
the theory and practice of diplomacy. The new editors assumed their duties in
2003 with a mandate to maintain this focus while also publishing research which
demonstrates the importance of diplomacy to contemporary international relations
more broadly conceived.
Titles include:
G.R. Berridge (editor)
DIPLOMATIC CLASSICS
Selected Texts from Commynes to Vattel
G. R. Berridge, Maurice Keens-Soper and T. G. Otte
DIPLOMATIC THEORY FROM MACHIAVELLI TO KISSINGER
Herman J. Cohen
INTERVENING IN AFRICA
Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent
Andrew F. Cooper (editor)
NICHE DIPLOMACY
Middle Powers after the Cold War
David H. Dunn (editor)
DIPLOMACY AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL
The Evolution of International Summitry
Brian Hocking (editor)
FOREIGN MINISTRIES
Change and Adaptation
Brian Hocking and David Spence (editors)
FOREIGN MINISTRIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Integrating Diplomats
Michael Hughes
DIPLOMACY BEFORE THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Britain, Russia and the Old Diplomacy, 1894–1917
Gaynor Johnson
THE BERLIN EMBASSY OF LORD D’ABERNON, 1920–1926
Christer Jönsson and Martin Hall
ESSENCE OF DIPLOMACY
Donna Lee
MIDDLE POWERS AND COMMERCIAL DIPLOMACY
British Influence at the Kennedy Trade Round
Mario Liverani
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, 1600–1100 BC
Jan Melissen (editor)
INNOVATION IN DIPLOMATIC PRACTICE
Peter Neville
APPEASING HITLER
The Diplomacy of Sir Nevile Henderson, 1937–39
M. J. Peterson
RECOGNITION OF GOVERNMENTS
Legal Doctrine and State Practice, 1815–1995
Gary D. Rawnsley
RADIO DIPLOMACY AND PROPAGANDA
The BBC and VOA in International Politics, 1956–64
TAIWAN’S INFORMAL DIPLOMACY AND PROPAGANDA
Ronald A. Walker
MULTILATERAL CONFERENCES
Purposeful International Negotiation
A. Nuri Yurdusev (editor)
OTTOMAN DIPLOMACY
Conventional or Unconventional?
Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations
Series Standing Order ISBN 0–333–71495–4
(outside North America only)
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Essence of Diplomacy
Christer Jönsson
Professor of Political Science
Lund University, Sweden
and
Martin Hall
Researcher, Lund University, Sweden
© Christer Jönsson and Martin Hall 2005
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First published in 2005 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN-13:978–1–4039–9225–3 hardback
ISBN-10:1–4039–9225–8 hardback
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jönsson,Christer,1944–
Essence of diplomacy / Christer Jönnson and Martin Hall.
p.cm.—(Studies in diplomacy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–9225–8 (cloth)
1.Diplomacy.2.International relations.I.Hall,Martin,1967–
II.Title.III.Studies in diplomacy (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))
JZ1305.J677 2005
327.2—dc22 2005043353
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 The Study of Diplomacy 7
Extant studies 7
Why is diplomacy marginalized in international relations? 12
The turn to history and the return of diplomacy?
The English school, constructivism and postmodernism 19
Concluding remarks 22
2 Analytical Framework 24
Diplomacy as an institution 25
Toward a historical sociology of diplomacy 30
Mediating universalism and particularism 33
Building blocks of theory 37
3 Institutionalization and Ritualization 39
Institutionalization 39
Ritualization 42
Shared symbols and references: diplomatic protocol 45
Reciprocity, precedence and diplomatic immunity 50
Diplomatic ranks 63
Concluding remarks 65
4 Communication 67
Language 69
Gathering information 73
Transmitting information: diplomatic signaling 75
Negotiation 82
Verbal and nonverbal communication 84
Private and public communication 88
Technological development 90
Concluding remarks 95
v
vi Contents
5 Diplomatic Representation 98
Behavior: acting for others 100
Status: standing for others 113
Concluding remarks 117
6 The Reproduction of International Society 119
Reproduction of premodern international societies 121
Reproduction of the modern society of states 125
Concluding remarks 134
7 Diplomacy and Changing Polities 136
Philip, Alexander and the Greek community 136
Religious vs. secular polities in the Early Middle Ages 143
The European Union 150
Concluding remarks 162
Conclusions 164
Notes 168
Index 201
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of the collaborative efforts of two co-authors with
similar yet differing backgrounds in international relations. Jönsson, the
senior co-author, has long experience of research in the fields of interna-
tional negotiation and cooperation. Hall, in his dissertation and postdoc-
toral publications, has drawn on historical sociology and International
Relations theory. As we hope to demonstrate, these perspectives can be
complementary and cross-fertilizing when theorizing diplomacy.
We arrived at the idea of a joint research project on diplomacy via
different routes. In 1996, Jönsson was invited by Raymond Cohen to par-
ticipate in a conference at Bellagio, Italy, on diplomacy in the Ancient
Near East, as manifested in the so-called Amarna Letters. The stimulat-
ing discussions at the conference, which brought together experts in
ancient history and specialists in contemporary diplomacy and interna-
tional negotiations, served as an eye-opener, as far as the timeless fea-
tures of diplomacy are concerned. In connection with his assignment to
write a chapter on diplomacy and international negotiation for the
Handbook of International Relations (published in 2002), Jönsson delved
deeper into the literature on diplomacy and found it wanting in terms
of theory building. Hall, having reviewed research within the historical
sociology of international relations, found the inadequate treatment of
international institutions a missing link in this rich and fertile field.
Our joint project was initiated in 2001, thanks to a generous grant
from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. We are extremely
grateful to the Foundation and its staff for their unrelenting support of,
and trust in, our undertaking. In the course of our project we have
incurred many debts. We want to acknowledge the useful feedback we
have received from students, at Lund University, at Fudan University,
Shanghai, at Rutgers University, Newark, and at a joint Lund–University
of California summer school in 2004, who were exposed to, and encour-
aged to discuss, our ideas. Several colleagues at home and abroad have
commented on our drafts at seminars and conferences. While unable to
name all, we want to extend our gratitude to Yale Ferguson, Richard
Langhorne, Maria Strömvik and Torsten Örn for their particularly helpful
input and constructive criticism.
In the course of the project, Jönsson had the opportunity to spend
a couple of months at the Stanford Center for International Security
vii
viii Acknowledgments
and Cooperation. He is grateful for the friendly reception and support
he received from its staff and researchers. Special thanks are due to Scott
Sagan and Alexander George for being instrumental in arranging this
fruitful visit. The Stanford libraries as well as the British Library have
been invaluable sources of material for the project.
Chapter 4 in this book is a substantially revised and expanded version
of our article “Communication: An Essential Aspect of Diplomacy”,
published in International Studies Perspective, 4 (2003). We are indebted to
the International Studies Association for granting permission to repro-
duce the text. We also want to thank Paul Sharp and Donna Lee, the
co-editors of the Palgrave Studies in Diplomacy series, for their unfailing
support and encouragement in bringing our manuscript to publication,
as well as the staff at Palgrave Macmillan for their advice and support in
the production of the book.
Our co-authored volume is the fruit of an intense exchange of ideas
over several years. We share responsibility for the book in its entirety,
including remaining errors. In our text, we hope to be able to convey
to the reader some of the joy we have experienced in working on this
project together.
Preface
It seems very difficult to theorize about diplomacy. Those of a historical
bent will suggest that there is nothing new to say in these terms, while
practitioners may doubt the utility of theorizing in general. As a result,
and as Jönnson and Hall note, the study of diplomacy has been margin-
alized within International Relations (IR). Given diplomacy’s impor-
tance to what goes on, in the world, and an understanding of it, this
marginalization has been a surprising, bordering on scandalous, state of
affairs.
Scholars of International Relations, therefore, owe a great debt to
Christer Jönsson and Martin Hall. In providing us with Essence of
Diplomacy, they have produced a path-breaking work which employs
the best of the sociological theory which is at long-last percolating into
mainstream academic IR to demonstrate diplomacy’s importance. So
long as the human condition is governed by pluralist, rather than soli-
darist, conceptions of who we are and how we live, then relations
between separate groups will remain. These relations must involve com-
munication, representation and reproduction. The modalities of these
three elements may change over time and by place. In themselves, how-
ever, they are the essential elements of diplomacy and point to the way
in which diplomacy, itself, is an essential element in international
relations.
After this book, practitioners and historians will no longer be able to
ignore the benefits, at least, of international theorizing, and IR scholars
will no longer be able to ignore diplomacy’s centrality to nearly every-
thing in which they are interested. Indeed, a rich research agenda of
empirical studies is now needed to explore the full implications of
Jönsson and Hall’s argument.
Paul Sharp
Professor and Head of Political Science
University of Minnesota, USA.
ix