Since the publication of Der Derian's seminal work On Diplomacy, diplomacy has been thought of as the mediation of estrangement between separated individuals, groups or political entities. In Paradiplomacy as a Diplomatic Broker, Manuel Duran focuses on paradiplomacy, the diplomatic practices of sub-state entities. He presents paradiplomacy as a specific site of diplomatic mediation, striking a middle ground between "realist" power play and the humanist need to connect to and engage with others. Indeed, the mediating of estrangement can be situated between both extremes of a...

Catastrophe and Conflict: Disaster Diplomacy and Its Foreign Policy Implications examines how and why disaster-related activities (disaster response and disaster risk reduction) do and do not lead to diplomatic endeavours. With respect to foreign policy implications, the main question examined here is: Under what circumstances could disaster diplomacy be actively made to succeed or not to succeed? Previous case studies are summarised followed by new case studies of disease diplomacy and climate change diplomacy. From the case studies, disaster diplomacy could succeed when those in...

Diplomacy is no longer restricted to a single vocation nor implemented exclusively through interaction amongst official representatives. In exploring the challenges that these transformations produce, this work surveys firstly, the genealogy of diplomacy as a profession, tracing how it changed from a civic duty into a vocation requiring training and the acquisition of specific knowledge and skills. Secondly, using the lens of the sociology of professions, the development of diplomacy as a distinctive profession is examined, including its importance for the consolidation of the power of modern...

If a key aspect of diplomacy is how countries are seen abroad, official diplomats are not the only actors. In contexts as diverse as Syria, Myanmar and the South China Sea, think tanks are influential actors whose impact deserves greater study. As organisations producing independent intellectual outputs to influence public policy, think tanks engage in at least four diplomatic functions: negotiation, communication, information-gathering and promoting friendly relations in international affairs. Detailed case studies show that think tanks both directly perform and indirectly support diplomatic...

Scholars are seeking to identify how to constructively integrate faith into diplomacy. Proponents of faith-based diplomacy recognise that incorporating faith into peacemaking activities assists in managing identity-based conflict and religiously motivated violence in the contemporary international system. A promising strategy within the scope of faith-based diplomacy is interfaith dialogue. The study and practice of interfaith dialogue has been reinvigorated since the advent of 9/11, and yet the link between interfaith dialogue and diplomacy remains underdeveloped. The cases of Indonesia and...

In The Geopolitics of Cyberspace: A Diplomatic Perspective, Riordan explores the extent to which the key concepts of classical and critical Geopolitics can be applied to cyberspace, and how they might explain the behaviour of key state and non-state actors. Case studies seek to apply both kinds of geopolitical analysis to the US, Russia, China, the EU and internet companies, discussing what it can tell us about their past and future behaviour. Riordan then explores the implications for both the theory and, especially, the practice of diplomacy in relationship to cyberspace. He argues that...