This collection of essays, from leading scholars and serving diplomats, examines the diplomatic corps as an institution of international society. The central argument is that the diplomatic corps provides one of the few unambiguous ways by which an international society is constituted and finds expression.

This book examines the viability of non-provocative defence - the controversial idea that defensive military policies and practices reduce the risk of wars and provide a viable basis for defending a society should war break out. Drawing on case studies from Europe, the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and Asia-Pacific, the author concludes that non-provocative defence concepts remain relevant and that they can help in deterring, conducting, and settling wars.

These essays examine questions arising from the Obama administration's efforts to revive American diplomacy and its response to the ways in which diplomacy itself is being transformed. The essays examine these questions from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives provided by scholars and diplomats from around the world and within the United States. A common focus of the collection is on how diplomacy's contribution to the effectiveness of foreign policy has been undervalued in the United States by governments, the foreign policy community, and academics. Together, the essays seek...