Diplomacy as Global Governance

Lecture Series Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders"

Prof. Iver Neumann, London School of Economics and Political Science

Abstract

If internationalization is the process of ever closer relations between states, then the institution of diplomacy was certainly essential to its evolution. This lecture begins with the observation that, with a handful of exceptions (eg. a volume edited by Andrew Cooper, William Maley and John English), diplomacy has not been much discussed in the context of internationalism‘s successor, globalization. The assumption seems to be that, as agents proliferate to include not only states, but also non-state actors, diplomacy is left behind. I argue the opposite, that diplomacy adapts and plays an important role in globalization, but in a way that transforms diplomacy in significant ways. Two case studies of diplomatic practice – peace and reconciliation, and also humanitarian diplomacy – demonstrate that, rather than leaving the scene to other agents, diplomats are actually working through these agents. As a result, diplomacy has begun to change away from being about negotiation and representation towards being about governance. Precisely because diplomats work through other agents, however, diplomats become dependent on other actors to perform tasks that are expected of them.

CV

Iver B. Neumann (b. 1959), Dr. Phil. (Oxon, Politics 1992), Dr. Philos. (Oslo, Social Anthropology, 2009) is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics. He was formerly Director of Research at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. He was the editor of Cooperation and Conflict. Nordic Journal of International Relations 1999-2001 and Professor in Russian Studies, Oslo University, 2005-2010. Among his fourteen books are Governing the Global Polity (2010, with Ole Jacob Sending) and At Home with the Diplomats: Inside A European Foreign Ministry (2012).

Video:

Audio:

Gallery:

27 May 2015, 6.15pm

Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main
Campus Westend, Hörsaalzentrum, HZ6

Presented by:
Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders"

Brochure: click here...