Diplomatic theory and practice
From our blog
Diplomatic extraterritoriality
23 September 2024
I’ve just woken up after many hours of driving, shopping, and cooking (I believe in cooking as chain production). As I am going through the backlog of mail, I’m struck once more by the power of analogy, which Kath...
Which predictive method is better: Simple or sophisticated?
30 July 2024
I’ve argued this many times: Prediction is dicey. Does close study and sophisticated methodology pay off compared to ‘back of the envelope’ predicting? In Everything is Obvious: Once You Know the Answer, Duncan ...
‘Soft power’ is nothing more than influence
16 November 2023
Diplomatic theory and practice, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power Diplomacy, Types of diplomacy
The term ‘soft power’ (and its siblings ‘hard power’ and ‘smart power’), employed to embrace a particular category of resources of potential power, originated in the stable of Joseph S. Nye Jr, a Harvard U...
Humanising immigration: Taking the discussion further
26 April 2023
Communication, Diplomatic theory and practice, Language (and) diplomacy, Migration
In this blog post, I want to respond to some of the questions that were raised during our recent WebDebate on humanising immigration. This is crucial for keeping the discussion going and doing justice to all the valua...
Training and courses
Events
Resources
2020
British Heads of Mission at Constantinople, 1583-1922
British Heads of Mission at Constantinople from 1583 to 1922 is a detailed account of the diplomatic representatives representing Britain in the capital of the Ottoman Empire over a span of over three centuries. The book delves into the challenges, successes, and signi... Read more...
2020
Bilateral Diplomacy: A Practitioner Perspective (Briefing Paper #15)
The text outlines the evolution and significance of bilateral diplomacy as the foundation of international relations, detailing its historical roots, key tasks defined by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and the contemporary challenges and complexities it... Read more...
2019
Diplomatic Notebooks 1, 1958-1960: The view from Ankara
Zeki Kuneralp (1914-1998) was one of Turkey’s most gifted, well-liked and influential diplomats of the second half of the twentieth century. This book, dispassionately edited, introduced and annotated by his son, the scholar-publisher Sinan Kuneralp, is the first of ... Read more...
2019
Diplomatic Security under a Comparative Lens – Or Not?
“Diplomatic security” is the term now usually preferred to “diplomatic protection” for the steps taken by states to safeguard the fabric of their diplomatic and consular missions, the lives of their diplomatic and consular officers, and the integrity of their c... Read more...
2019
Brian Barder’s Diplomatic Diary
Sir Brian Barder, the senior British diplomat and author of the always sage and sometimes gripping What Diplomats Do, died in 2017 but, courtesy of the professional editorial hand of his daughter Louise, has left us another treat. This is what he called a diary and whi... Read more...
2018
Diplomacy, Satire and the Victorians
This book, which rests on extensive use of private papers, official documents, press archives and not least Grenville-Murray’s vast output (including novels), is the first biography of this complex man to be written. It begins with the difficulties produced by his il... Read more...
2017
The Summer Capitals of Europe, 1814-1919
This is an original work, meticulously researched, rich in detail, and written in a clear and – here and there – refreshingly pungent style. Soroka is a Russian scholar but at ease in English.... Read more...
