Diplomacy as Relational Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 165-173
Author(s):  
Yaqing Qin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Society ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Philosophical Thinking ◽  
Relational Practice ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Cooperative Relationship

Summary Diplomacy is defined as implementation of foreign policy through communication, and the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) is the chief implementer and communicator. This article challenges the conventional definition and argues that diplomacy is relational practice in the first place. The anchoring practice of diplomacy is to make, manage and build up relations. The MFA, therefore, is the pivotal relator who, to maintain a cooperative relationship, needs to follow two principles, both inspired by ancient Chinese philosophical thinking. The first is ‘the Confucian improvement’, meaning that improvement of self-interest is possible if and only if other-interest is simultaneously improved, and the second, ‘the Mencian optimality’, holding that self-interest is best realised if and only if a community maintains optimally harmonious relations among its members. The MFA is a good implementer and communicator only if it is able to manage well complex relations in international society.

What's Left for the MFA? Foreign Policy and the Management of External Relations in Norway

1987 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arild Underdal
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Vertical Disintegration ◽  
External Relations ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Large Sector ◽  
Events Data ◽  
General Regulation

How and to what extent could the participation of "domestic" branches of government in the management of external relations affect the substance of foreign policy? Arguing that in order to answer this question we need to know not only how much but also more precisely what is now being handled by these agencies, the author attempts to map the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and "domestic" agencies in the management of Norway's external relations. The events data analysis reported in this article indicates that their roles are different in substantive profile: "Domestic" agencies are more narrowly specialized in terms of the kinds of problems they address, more "parochial" in their heavy concentration on relations to close neighbors, and relatively more preoccupied with issues affecting interests rather than values and some specific domestic subgroup(s) rather than the nation at large. "Sector" agencies seem to differ in several respects from those responsible for public goods or services and general regulation of society. In a concluding section the author argues that this particular pattern of differentiation implies a risk of "vertical disintegration" of foreign policy — threatening, in particular, bold or visionary policies with a perspective beyond immediate self-interest.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY ACTIVITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-79
Author(s):  
Nargiza Sodikova ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Modern Time ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Interests ◽  
French Foreign Policy

Important aspects of French foreign policy and national interests in the modern time,France's position in international security and the specifics of foreign affairs with the United States and the European Union are revealed in this article

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asle Toje
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Present State ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Imperial Germany ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
British Foreign Office ◽  
German Parliament

We do not want to place anyone into the shadow, we also claim our place in the sun.” In a foreign policy debate in the German parliament on December 6. 1897 the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Bernhard von Bülow, articulated the foreign policy aspirations of the ascendant Wilhelmine Germany. This proved easier said than done. In 1907, Eyre Crowe of the British Foreign Office penned his famous memorandum where he accounted for “the present state of British relations with France and Germany.” He concluded that Britain should meet imperial Germany with “unvarying courtesy and consideration” while maintaining “the most unbending determination to uphold British rights and interests in every part of the globe.”...

China, International Society, and Global Health Governance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Youde
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Society ◽  
Global Health Governance ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship

China possesses the world’s largest economy, but that economic clout has not necessarily translated into taking leading roles within existing global health governance institutions and processes. It is a country that both contributes to and receives financial assistance from global health institutions. It has incorporated health into some of its foreign policy activities, but it has largely avoided proactively engaging with the values and norms embodied within the global health governance system. This ambivalent relationship reflects larger questions about how and whether China fits within international society and what its engagement or lack thereof might portend for international society’s future. This chapter examines China’s place within global health governance by examining its interactions with international society on global health issues, its use of health as a foreign policy tool, and its relationships with global health governance organizations.

scholarly journals A Transatlantic Secular Divide? The Representation of Religion in EU and US Foreign Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Jenichen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Eu And Us ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Eu

AbstractIt is a common—often stereotypical—presumption that Europe is secular and America religious. Differences in international religious freedom and religious engagement policies on both sides of the Atlantic seem to confirm this “cliché.” This article argues that to understand why it has been easier for American supporters to institutionalize these policies than for advocates in the EU, it is important to consider the discursive structures of EU and US foreign policies, which enable and constrain political language and behavior. Based on the analysis of foreign policy documents, produced by the EU and the United States in their relationship with six religiously diverse African and Asian states, the article compares how both international actors represent religion in their foreign affairs. The analysis reveals similarities in the relatively low importance that they attribute to religion and major differences in how they represent the contribution of religion to creating and solving problems in other states. In sum, the foreign policies of both international actors are based on a secular discursive structure, but that of the United States is much more accommodative toward religion, including Islam, than that of the EU.

China's New Foreign Policy Team

2013 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 5-16
Author(s):  
Lance L P GORE
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Defining Moment ◽  
Hands On ◽  
International Role ◽  
The Military

The new foreign policy team is more professional and with an Asian focus than its older counterpart. Although still fragmented, it may have stronger leadership and better coordination. This is critically important because China is at a defining moment as to its international role. Xi Jinping's closer ties with the military and his hands-on style may encourage assertive nationalism and more active role of the military in foreign affairs.

Heinrich Gross of Würtemberg: A Diplomat on Elizabeth Petrovna's Service

2021 ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Maksim Anisimov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The 19Th Century

Heinrich Gross was a diplomat of the Empress of Russia Elizabeth Petrovna, a foreigner on the Russian service who held some of the most important diplomatic posts of her reign. As the head of Russian diplomatic missions in European countries, he was an immediate participant in the rupture of both Franco-Russian and Russo-Prussian diplomatic relations and witnessed the beginning of the Seven Years' War, while in the capital of Saxony, besieged by Prussian troops. After that H. Gross was one of the members of the collective leadership of the Russian Collegium of Foreign Affairs. So far there is only one biographic essay about him written in the 19th century. The aims of this article are threefold. Using both published foreign affairs-related documentation and diplomatic documents stored in the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, it attempts to systematize the materials of the biography of this important participant in international events. It also seeks to assess his professional qualities and get valuable insight into his role both in the major events of European politics and in the implementation of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire in the mid-18th century. Moreover, the account of the diplomatic career of H. Gross presented in this essay aims to generate genuine interest among researchers in the personality and professional activities of one of the most brilliant Russian diplomats of the Enlightenment Era.

scholarly journals Reviewing horizontalization: the challenge of analysis in Brazilian foreign policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROGÉRIO DE SOUZA FARIAS ◽  
HAROLDO RAMANZINI JÚNIOR
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Empirical Basis ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article presents the increasing demands over the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) for opening its doors to other actors. This discussion will be followed by relevant theoretical and methodological analysis. We will defend the need to overcome problems related to: 1) conceptual vagueness about what the concept of participation means; 2) lack of clarity in the baseline to which comparisons are made; 3) fragile empirical basis; 4) limitations on the use of sources; and 5) how to understand the impact exerted by systemic forces.

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