Diplomats In Crisis

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, , language: English, abstract: This paper will argue that though the character of crises occupying the international agenda may have changed, the skills and expertise possessed by professional diplomats have proven to be irreplaceable in addressing crisis situations. It will do this in two parts. First, it will briefly examine traditional formations of ‘international crisis’ and ‘crisis diplomacy’, arguing that these concepts need to be adjusted to encompass the contemporary global environment. Second, it will compare the efficacy of state and non-state agents in mediating crisis situations, demonstrating that professional diplomats are still without equal.

Embassies are integral to international diplomacy, their staff instrumental to inter-governmental dialogue, strategic partnerships, trading relationships and cultural exchange. But Embassies are also discreet political spaces. Notionally sovereign territory ‘immune’ from local jurisdiction, in moments of crisis Embassies have often been targets of protest and sites of confrontation. It is this aspect of Embassy experience that this collection of essays explores and Embassies in Crisis revisits flashpoints in the recent lives of Embassies overseas at times of acute political crisis. Ranging across multiple British and other embassy crises, unusually, this book offers equal insights to international historians and members of the diplomatic community.

Regionale kriser; Internationale kriser; Nittenhundredetallet; Løsninger; Modsætninger; Teknik og metode; Perspektiver.

"Lester Pearson, Canada's foreign minister (and future prime minister) stands before the United Nations General Assembly. His speech, shaped by caution and hope, is a last-ditch attempt to prevent a conflict in Egypt from igniting a conflagration throughout the Middle East. Pearson, is about to carve out a razor's edge of common ground to bring together angry allies and bitter enemies by suggesting and making possible the creation of the first UN peacekeeping force. Pearson's diplomacy throughout the Suez Crisis launched a bold experiment in international security and cemented Canada's reputation as "a moderate, mediatory, middle power." And yet, until now, no one has told the full story of how this Canadian diplomat led the world back from the brink of war. In a unique blending of biography and political history, The Diplomat creates not only a compelling portrait of Pearson but also a nuanced analysis of the political maze navigated by Pearson to avert a bloody war."--

Although much has been written on international crises, the literature suffers from a lack of historical depth, and a proliferation of competing theoretical frameworks. Through case studies drawing on the rich historical experience of crisis diplomacy, James Richardson offers an integrated analysis based on a critical assessment of the main theoretical approaches. Due weight is given to systemic and structural factors, but also to the specific historical factors of each case, and to theories which do not presuppose rationality as well as those which do. Crisis diplomacy the major political choices made by decision makers, and their strategies, judgments and misjudgments - is found to play a crucial role in each of the case studies. This broad historical inquiry is especially timely when the ending of the Cold War has removed the settled parameters within which the superpowers conducted their crisis diplomacy.

A fascinating history of American diplomacy in the Second World War and the ways US ambassadors shaped formal foreign policy.