Federica Bicchi and Heidi Maurer

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Sanderijn Duquet

Abstract

When serving abroad, diplomats must abide by both the diplomatic functions detailed in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Convention’s general obligations. This applies, too, to the European Union’s missions (Union delegations), which execute diplomatic functions for the EU in third countries. These diplomatic activities are more severely constrained than for individual member states by the limits set by eu law in terms of the horizontal and vertical division of competences. This article demonstrates how Union delegations fulfil nearly all traditional diplomatic tasks outlined in the Vienna Convention, while going beyond the traditional conception of diplomatic functions in terms of human rights protection, the execution of administrative programmes, and the management of coordination/cooperation modes with eu member state missions on the ground. Ultimately, the article argues that Union delegations are able to meet the demands of modern diplomatic interchange and may have inadvertently altered diplomatic functions altogether.

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Michael H. Smith

Abstract

This article focuses on the past and present of the European Union’s system of diplomacy, and asks whether the changes initiated by the Lisbon Treaty have really transformed that system. The Lisbon Treaty promised to transform the situation in which ‘the flag followed trade’ and give a primary role to the diplomacy of politics and security. Using arguments based on the location of agency, the politicization of economic diplomacy and the logic of external opportunity structures, the article argues that the transformation has not taken place, and that EU external action remains essentially a hybrid construct in which economic diplomacy plays a central role. Such a situation has important implications for EU diplomacy in third countries and for the character of the EU’s diplomatic representation, especially when it comes to the demand expressed in the EU’s 2016 Global Strategy for ‘joined up’ or closely coordinated external action.

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Heidi Maurer and Kristi Raik

Abstract

This article explores European diplomatic cooperation abroad since 2009 by studying diplomatic structures and practices in two key locations: Moscow and Washington, DC. It analyses the functions of European Union (EU) delegations as part of the hybrid eu foreign policy system and their way of engaging with the changing global patterns of diplomatic practice. The empirical analysis draws on extensive semi-structured interviews conducted in Moscow and Washington during 2013-2014. Our cases confirm the deeper institutionalization and intensification of European diplomatic cooperation abroad. The EU delegations increasingly assumed traditional diplomatic tasks and coordinated member states on the ground. The EU delegations’ ability to establish good working relationships with member states as well as the leadership of key individuals (notably eu ambassadors) were key factors in shaping how this new system fell into place, which shows the continued prevalence of hybridity in EU foreign policy-making.

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Dorina Baltag

Abstract

The European Union (EU) today has quasi-embassies at its disposal in third countries — the EU delegations — which represent the Union’s eyes, ears and face. Following the Treaty of Lisbon, these delegations assumed the role of the rotating Presidencies and oversee the conduct of eu diplomatic affairs. In practice, this implies representing the eu and cooperating with eu member states’ embassies on matters not only relevant for aid and trade, but also for foreign and security policy. By employing performance criteria such as effectiveness, relevance and capability, this article uncovers the particularities of the practices of European diplomatic cooperation among eu delegations and national embassies in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Minsk, Chisinau and Kiev from 2013-2016, the article explores practices of European cooperation abroad, shows how eu diplomatic actors identify a common approach and emphasizes certain capability issues faced by the eu in these countries.

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Özlem Terzi

Abstract

This article analyses how the changes brought about by the Lisbon Treaty have influenced the performance of the EU Delegation in Ankara and the relationship between the EU Delegation, member states’ embassies and Turkish government during times of crisis. Based on numerous interviews, the article analyses how European diplomacy conducted by the EU Delegation and EU member states’ embassies functions in three categorically different situations: 1) a political crisis in the host country; 2) an international crisis involving a neighbouring region to the host country; and 3) negotiations between the host government and the EU on an issue important for EU member states, against the background of a stalled accession process. Based on an investigation of the relationship of the EU Delegation, EU member states’ embassies and Turkey in those three distinct contexts, the article sheds light on the opportunities and constraints of the new way of European diplomatic representation.

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Federica Bicchi

Abstract

This article focuses on institutionalized forms of diplomatic cooperation among European Union (EU) members in southern Mediterranean capitals. It argues that European diplomatic cooperation represents a thin form of multilateralization of member states’ bilateral relations with southern Mediterranean countries. By analysing diplomatic presence on the ground, it shows that the European Union delegations in the area are not only big, but also politically strong, and they interact with a large number of national diplomats. The article examines how EU delegations in the southern Mediterranean represent a diplomatic ‘site’, in which diplomacy occurs in the shape of information-gathering, representation and negotiation, including among eu member states. This does not amount to a single European diplomatic system, however, as coordination remains thin to date and the agenda-setting mechanisms for eu delegations’ work and for European diplomatic cooperation have not (yet?) been fully developed.

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Jan Melissen and Maaike Okano-Heijmans

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Halvard Leira

Abstract

This article deals with the duty of care that states hold in relation to their citizens abroad — more specifically, the double role of diplomatic personnel, as both providers and recipients of care. The focus of discussion is states’ duty of care for diplomatic personnel, raising questions of how this care can be balanced with the duty of care for citizens and how far this duty stretches. The article first emphasizes the threats, before focusing on the means of protection: evacuation; physical structures; and psychological care. A tension remains, for as states fulfil their duty of care towards personnel through increasing security, they might at the same time reduce their personnel’s capacity to provide care for citizens. One solution for this tension — outsourcing and local personnel — tests the limits of care.

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Kristin Haugevik

Abstract

States alternate between the roles of ‘caretaker’ and ‘rescuer’ when providing care to citizens abroad. This article suggests that they are more likely to assume the ‘rescuer’ role when core values underpinning their self-identity are at stake. This dynamic is explored by examining a case where a Norwegian mother re-abducted her two children from Morocco. In the process, Norway’s foreign minister authorized shielding the children at the Norwegian Embassy in Rabat, citing ‘Norway’s duty to protect two Norwegian minors in fear of their lives’. A diplomatic conflict between Norway and Morocco followed. The Norwegian response must be seen in light of Norway’s self-identity as a frontrunner for children’s rights. Ultimately, helping the children ‘had’ to trump concerns about diplomatic costs. The broader dilemmas that this case exemplifies should be relevant also to other cases where a state’s concern for a child citizen is pitted against its obligation to diplomatic conventions.

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Nina Graeger and Wrenn Yennie Lindgren

Abstract

This article analyses the state’s duty of care (DoC) for citizens who fall victim to unforeseen catastrophic or violent events abroad. The DoC highlights the challenges, dynamics and relations involved in diplomatic practice that is aimed at protecting citizens outside of state borders and where traditional security concepts have little relevance. How has a globalized, more insecure world — with shifting relations and responsibilities among states, their subordinates and other carers — affected the provision of DoC? How do governments and private actors act on the DoC during and after crises? To illustrate, the article draws on the terrorist attack at a gas facility in Algeria in 2013 and the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, focusing particularly on the Norwegian framework and approach to protecting citizens abroad. In both crises, implementing the DoC required practical skills and measures beyond traditional diplomacy and institutionalized crisis mechanisms.

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Alexei Tsinovoi and Rebecca Adler-Nissen

Abstract

The concept of ‘duty of care’ for citizens abroad is grounded in a political rationality where the population is seen as an object for protection by the state. In today’s globalised world, however, this rationality is challenged by increased citizen mobility, budget cuts, new information technologies and the proliferation of new security threats. In recent years the state’s duty of care has received fresh political and scholarly attention, but Diplomatic Studies have so far overlooked how the recent waves of neoliberal reforms have introduced a new political rationality into policy-making circles, where the population is not seen only as an object for protection, but also as a resource for mobilisation. Developing insights from studies of governmentality, this article argues that when this neoliberal political rationality becomes predominant in diplomatic circles, it leads to inversion of the duty of care through new citizen-based practices, steered at a distance by the state.

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William Crosbie

Abstract

Consular relations have been recognized as an integral part of people-to-people contact ‘since ancient times’, as stated in the preamble to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the 1967 codification of existing practice in consular relations. This article questions whether the legal and policy framework reflected in the Convention remains relevant in the twenty-first century as the demand for consular services has grown. It describes how international law and practice have evolved since 1967 with respect to consular relations, and argues that the time is now ripe to promote a more comprehensive international framework to support consular relations, which could be incorporated into a Model Consular Code (‘the Code’), which would build on existing successful initiatives to address problems confronting consular clients. The article focuses on the range of services provided by consular officers for their citizens abroad, whether routine or complex.

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Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja

Abstract

Public diplomacy emphasizes the participation of state and non-state actors to achieve common goals. This article recognizes the participation of state and non-state actors engaged in shaping the political environment of a host country to advance common interests, with different levels of leadership. A model comprised of state and non-state actors implementing reactive, proactive and relationship-building strategies and instruments is proposed. In Mexico, regulations for genetically modified (GM) foods have moved from a restrictive to a liberal approach, and this change may be explained by analysing US public diplomacy efforts to promote ideas related to GM foods. This is an ‘intermestic’ issue with international and domestic actors involved. Applying the proposed model thus helps us to understand the strategies and instruments that state actors, such as the US executive agencies, and non-state actors, including MNCs and NGOs, implement to target Mexican stakeholders and generate policy change.

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Andreas Pacher

Abstract

How do governments select their public diplomacy targets? Officials can shake hands with important allies’ presidents, they can honour writers from far-away states, or they can visit slums to meet victims of violence. This article proposes a conceptual typology of strategic publics based on two dimensions: the strategic importance of the represented polity; and the individual’s power position. The variables are parallel to universal psychological dimensions of social cognition — that is, warmth and competence — and they are combined with diplomatic theories revolving around the primacy of representation. Six ideal types of strategic publics are defined and exemplified. The typology integrates governmental and non-governmental, foreign and domestic, and elite and non-elite publics. In addition, the article proposes a three-level heuristic device that facilitates the analysis of cases with multiple publics. The proposed analytical tools seek to stimulate future efforts to refine conceptualizations of strategic publics.

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Lior Lehrs

Abstract

As relations between Germany and Britain were deteriorating during the years 1908-1914, Albert Ballin, a German businessman, became concerned and decided to promote Anglo–German talks on naval arms limitations in order to halt the naval arms race and improve relations between the two states. This article analyses Albert Ballin’s — and his British friend Ernest Cassel’s — private peace initiatives during the years 1908-1914 as a historical example of ‘unofficial diplomacy’ long before this term was discussed in International Relations literature. It examines the tools and conditions that created the basis for Ballin’s initiatives and explores his role in the diplomatic processes between Germany and Britain before the First World War. Ballin’s and Cassel’s unofficial, persistent peace efforts had some effect on the official diplomatic sphere and led to official negotiations, but they ultimately failed in their attempt to promote an agreement or to prevent the war.

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Tal Samuel-Azran and Moran Yarchi

Abstract

The Arabic-language Facebook page of the Israeli Defense Forces’ spokesperson has attracted a massive following in the Arab world and serves as an interesting and unique case study towards understanding the effect of a military public diplomacy initiative. Content analysis of the Facebook page reveals a mixture of power and deterrence messages, with posts designed to emphasize shared values. Analysis of audience engagement with those messages — measured by ‘likes’, ‘shares’, comments and negative feedback — surprisingly reveals that shared values’ messages generated a similar level of engagement to other messages, which may show that the content does not play a significant role in users’ engagement. In addition, the analysis reveals that during periods of heightened intensity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, followers’ engagement and negative feedback rose dramatically. This study provides a unique perspective of the relevance and effectiveness of military public diplomacy in the era of online social networks.

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Molly Krasnodębska

Abstract

International relations (IR) scholars studying public diplomacy expect that if a foreign public accepts and responds favourably to the narrative disseminated by a public diplomacy actor, this actor is more likely to achieve its desired policy objectives in the country. So how can we explain that pro-European elites in Ukraine employed the European Union’s narratives during the Maidan protests, leading to regime change in Ukraine and a separatist war involving Russia — situations the European Union had wanted to avoid? Drawing on Gadamer’s theory on the transformation of meaning in communication processes, this article seeks to explain how local activists pick up, transform and employ narratives disseminated by an international actor. Arguing that public diplomacy narratives can be reinterpreted by the receptor, thus leading to unintended effects, the article calls for further attention on the role of narratives and their reception by local actors in the study of IR.

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Jeffrey Robertson

Abstract

Diplomacy was in the midst of a transformation from ‘old diplomacy’ to ‘new diplomacy’ one century ago, yet the changes were not welcomed by everyone. The renowned diplomat Harold Nicolson lamented the loss of the ‘stock market of diplomatic reputation’, meaning the corporate estimate of character built up during a lifetime of frontline diplomatic service. As we progress through another period of remarkable transformation in diplomacy, what has become of the stock market of diplomatic reputation? This article undertakes a case study of diplomatic alumni from a public policy training institute. It investigates understandings of the construct of reputation, concern for reputation and use of reputation. It finds that reputation remains very important to practising diplomats. Reputation is indeed a timeless feature that is intrinsic to frontline diplomacy. Furthermore, Nicolson’s conceptualization of ideal diplomacy as a building block of reputation remains relevant and presents an appealing topic for future research.

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Costas M. Constantinou

Abstract

In engaging the visual aspects of public diplomacy, this article has three objectives. First, it introduces the notion of visual diplomacy — the ways and means by which images are used by plural diplomatic actors to transmit ideas to audiences, producing and circulating meanings that serve particular purposes, with the aim of influencing, shaping and transforming relations between actors and across publics. Second, it examines how the spectacle of diplomacy is enacted by focusing on a particular case of commissioned cinematography of Cypriot public diplomacy. Third, it engages visual diplomacy cinematically, employing Deleuze’s insights on the cinematic apparatus, and by producing an essay film, The Blessed Envoy, linked to this article. The film reuses, through creative montage, nine official documentaries of Cypriot public diplomacy, revealing the key narratives and hidden transcripts that the visual material disseminates, thus encouraging a reflexive focus on the use of imagery in diplomacy.

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Olga Krasnyak

Abstract

The article explores the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) of 1975, the first joint US–USSR space flight, which was embedded in the wider political, ideological and cultural contexts of the Cold War. The ASTP can be viewed through the lens of science diplomacy (SD). The data, drawn from available sources and memoirs, highlights the phenomenological approach in people-to-people interaction to analyse paths, processes and timeline dependence in such cooperation. The Weberian model of generalization and the path dependency theory of constructing an ideal type were used as the study’s theoretical frameworks. An ideal type of SD is viewed not as universal, but as a heuristic device that can be contrasted and compared with other recognized cases of SD. The significance of utilizing an ideal type of SD is to maintain mechanisms and networks effectively between countries through science and technology-related joint projects when political relations are strained or limited.

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Neil Collins, Kristina Bekenova and Ainur Kagarmanova

Abstract

In the soft-power context, health is increasingly seen as an area that generates particular diplomatic benefits, because it is ostensibly non-political and can bring both immediate and long-term advantages to the donor and the recipient country equally. The endeavours of individual member states of the European Union (EU) and the input of the EU itself in Central Asia are examined to see the extent to which the initiatives in health-related areas form part of a wider diplomatic strategy and whether their effectiveness is related to the means by which the planned improved health outcomes are achieved. This article seeks to draw lessons from the European experience to increase understanding of the role of health in global diplomacy.

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Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja

Abstract

Business diplomacy emphasizes engagement with stakeholders to shape the environment to favour business interests. This article recognizes that multinational corporations (MNCs) play a relevant role in the international arena, dealing with governments and other non-state actors by means of business diplomacy. Biotechnology companies, in particular, bargain with government representatives for commercialization, deregulation or intellectual property enforcement. In order to advance their economic and business goals, biotechnology companies have implemented reactive, proactive and relationship-building strategies and instruments. These MNCs have applied reactive instruments to respond to evolving problems and proactive instruments to address more complex issues. MNCs have also employed long-term relationship-building instruments, such as awards and research centres, to establish stronger relationships with multiple stakeholders. This article contributes to the discussion of what business diplomacy is and presents an analysis of strategies and instruments that is scarce in the business diplomacy literature.

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Peter Jones

Abstract

Back-channel diplomacy allows participants to hold dialogues with actors with whom they are not prepared to talk openly. The secrecy of back channels can, however, permit a small elite to escape oversight and scrutiny to achieve unaccountable aims. This article examines the ethical dilemmas raised by the secrecy of back channels. It seeks to develop some practical ‘tests’ that can be used to ask whether a back channel is straying, or has strayed, into dangerous ethical territory. The article advances three such tests for further development, but also concludes that they cannot be ‘absolute’; the context in which a back channel operates is the key variable.

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Benjamin Leffel

Abstract

This article explores the nature of city diplomacy using newly available archives chronicling the ‘municipal foreign policy movement’ of the 1980s, in which US city governments intervened directly in late Cold War foreign affairs issues. Cases covered include US city governments’ involvement in the nuclear free zone movement, the Central American crisis and the anti-Apartheid movement throughout the 1980s. A theoretical synthesis of literature in world society theory, diplomatic studies and social movement theory is used to explain the normative, macro-sociological, legal, democratic and sociopolitical dynamics of contentious city-government intervention in foreign affairs. Emphasizing the normative processes at play, this article argues through a world society theoretical interpretation that ‘municipal foreign policy’ efforts represent local-level codification of universal norms that the US federal government either neglected to enforce or directly violated.

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Jennifer Jackson-Preece

Abstract

This article’s premise is that the practice of representatives of international organizations has something important to tell us about what it means to ‘do desecuritization’. The analysis provides a qualitative process-tracing of diplomacy by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE’s) High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM). It finds that ‘new diplomats’ can ‘do desecuritization’ differently. By rearticulating norms, as well as negotiating interests, the HCNM is able to escape the constraints imposed by security grammar and begin to transform the friend–enemy distinction within states. ‘New diplomats’ like the HCNM are capable of initiating such fundamental changes within states because their non-state platforms and institutional cultures transcend traditional international dichotomies of ‘us’ and ‘them’. These findings add nuance to our understanding of desecuritization as practice and suggest a novel methodological approach for studying desecuritization empirically.

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Francesco Morini

Abstract

This article provides a comparative overview of the main features of special envoys/representatives dispatched by major foreign-policy players. It underlines the relevance of this instrument within a fast-changing diplomatic environment, characterized by increasingly numerous actors, evolving practices and complex processes that require a flexible approach. The analysis draws on nearly 650 cases of special envoys appointed by national administrations and international organizations over the span of 25 years, exposing commonalities and differences in the use of a long-standing diplomatic tool. The article argues that the incremental employment of ad-hoc envoys, mandated to deal with issues of a geographical or thematic nature, signals the ambition of individual actors to achieve specific policy objectives on a crowded global stage. In this perspective, and in keeping with their role of precursors in diplomatic practice, special envoys constitute a versatile resource with boundless potential in terms of adaptation to an ever-expanding diplomatic agenda.

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Olga Krasnyak

Books reviewed in this article:

• Jason Dittmer, Diplomatic Material: Affect, Assemblage, and Foreign Policy, Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2017.
• Robert F. Trager, Diplomacy: Communication and the Origins of International Order, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
• Marcus Holmes, Face-to-Face Diplomacy: Social Neuroscience and International Relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
• Nicholas J. Wheeler, Trusting Enemies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

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Matthias Erlandsen

Book reviewed:

• Philip Seib, The Future of #Diplomacy, Cambridge: Polity, 2016.

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