DiploNews – Issue 154 – 22 February 2010
May 2010 Online Courses
You are invited to apply for the following courses beginning the week of 10 May 2010:
- Bilateral Diplomacy
- Diplomacy of Small States
- Multilateral Diplomacy
These courses are available as University of Malta Accredited Courses (application deadline 8 March) and as Diplo Certificate Courses (application deadline 5 April). For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses above or visit our courses website.
Books on Diplomacy in February
TAs 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.
Nicole Deitelhoff and Klaus Dieter Wolf (eds.). Corporate Security Responsibility? Corporate Governance Contributions to Peace and Security in Zones of Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan.
The concept of corporate social responsibility, that a business has a responsibility towards the environment and society, is widely accepted. However, it is another matter for corporations to provide security in places and times of conflict. The nature and pattern of conflicts have changed and transnational corporations increasingly operate in areas where they confront violent conflicts accompanied by voluntary or involuntary withdrawals of the state from the provision of security. The various essays collected by Deitelhoff and Wolf discuss a number of case studies of businesses in zones of conflict, including governance contributions by companies in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; by oil companies in Nigeria; by the international information and communications technology sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and by tourism operators in Israel and Palestine. For more information, please see the website of Palgrave Macmillan
Mario del Pero. The Eccentric Realist: Henry Kissinger and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy. Cornell University Press.
Sometimes it is good to learn from the biographies of great men and women in history. This volume offers such an opportunity by presenting insights into the “rise and fall of Henry Kissinger’s fame and influence.” The author traces Kissinger’s foreign policy role over the course of the 1970s. He argues that Kissinger succeeded because he presented himself as a no-nonsense, hard-nosed realist who could teach naive and immature America the timeless (and, indeed, European) rules and practices of international politics. Kissinger offered a much-needed change in rhetoric and in the course of foreign policy and mirrored the mood in the country. In his introduction to the English translation, del Pero links this attitude to the 2008 presidential campaign, during which both candidates referred to Kissinger. Del Pero shows that his topic touches upon timeless questions. More information on the book can be obtained from the Cornell University Press website.