DiploNews – Issue 161 – 25 June 2010
2011 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy
You are invited to apply for the Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy, offered through the University of Malta. This flexible programme includes a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 1 – 2 years of online study. The programme offers a valuable opportunity for diplomats and other international relations professionals to continue studies and extend professional networks while remaining on the job. The application deadline is 15 October 2010. For more information and to apply, please see the course webpage.
Last Call for Applications: Diplomatic Law: Privileges and Immunities
Places are still available in one of our summer courses – Diplomatic Law: Privileges and Immunities – beginning the week of 26 July 2010. Apply as soon as possible to attend this Diplo Certificate Courses. For further information or to apply, click on the title of the course above, or visit our courses website.
Climate Change Diplomacy: September 2010
Do you need to brush up on your climate change diplomacy knowledge and skills before the November/December 2010 climate change meeting in Mexico? Diplo’s online course on Climate Change Diplomacy provides relevant knowledge and practical skills for diplomats, scientists, and others who participate in the climate change policy process. At an introductory level, the course focuses on scientific, economic, social, legal and governance aspects of climate change, with emphasis on development issues. The course aims to equip participants to represent and effectively promote the interests of their own countries in national, regional and global climate change policy processes.
Scholarships are available for diplomats, civil servants, and academics from developing states involved in climate change policy processes and negotiations, with priority given to applications from small developing states. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malta and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation helped develop and support this course. The next session of Climate Change Diplomacy begins the week of 20 September 2010 (application deadline 23 August). For more information and to apply, please visit the course webpage or contact us at climate@diplomacy.edu.
The E-Diplomacy Initiative
AThe E-diplomacy Initiative held its Malta International Conference on E-Diplomacy during 3-4 June in Malta. In an inspiring Mediterranean environment, we spent two days discussing various aspects of e-diplomacy. The conference was inaugurated in the historical setting of Valletta’s Palazzo Parisio, the seat of the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Hon. Dr Tonio Borg, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malta, delivered the opening statement. Other conference presentations are available online for consultation. A unique neighbourhood cat-village near the conference hotel inspired Jovan Kurbalija to explain social networking through the metaphor of knitting.
Throughout the last four months of online discussion, and during events in Brussels, Washington DC, New York, Geneva, Vienna and Malta, several themes have echoed, including:
- What are the limits of using blogs, Facebook and Twitter in diplomacy?
- How can ministries and other institutions strike the right balance between security concerns of IT departments and the need for open access to new services such as Facebook and Twitter?
- How can diplomatic services adjust their internal organisation in order to support new ways for interacting through social media?
We invite you to join the join the renewed online discussion and access tutorials on these and other issues.
Books on Diplomacy in June – The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon
As we know that diplomats have little time to fit reading and study into their schedules, we hope that a monthly review of new publications may assist in choosing some of the most relevant.
Mary H. Kaldor and Shannon D. Beebe. The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon: Human Security and the New Rules of War and Peace. New York: PublicAffairs, 2010.
Kaldor and Beebe are concerned with violent political conflicts and their consequences on human lives and political stability. With this book, they employ the concept of human security and look at new ways of stabilising conflict situations. They outline five principles of security: the primacy of human rights, legitimate political authority, the bottom-up structure of security, its regionality, and effective multilateralism. Kaldor’s and Beebe’s aim is best summarised in their introduction: “Security for this century is a concern of not only the departments of defense but also civilian agencies and NGOs. It’s a multidimensional challenge.” They claim that their approach to the analysis of security warrants a new vocabulary and they “hope to begin to create a new language” to address it. More information on the book is available from the website of PublicAffairs.
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