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New Diplomacy and Statecraft (STG-MA-ECM-NDP)

STG-MA-ECM-NDP

Description

This course addresses and analyses an evolving domain of public service where civil servants are increasingly being asked to interact with their counterparts overseas or who are undertaking specific transnational policy activities.  This kind of activity – sometimes called multistakeholder diplomacy – is no longer monopolised by Ministries of Foreign Affairs. Instead, public officials in departments of Health, Education, Energy or Environment or in other government agencies are increasingly engaged in governance activities off-shore, in international negotiations and standard setting, or partnering with non-state actors in quasi-official initiatives in regional or transnational policy coordination. 

“’New diplomacy’ is … associated broadly with the expansion of what is considered ‘diplomacy’ as such; on the other hand it refers more narrowly to a new way of conducting diplomacy, directed at populations rather than states. All told ‘new diplomacy’ covers ever more conceptual ground, with the common denominator being a reduced state-centricity. And, it should be added, both analytically and in policy terms, a recurring trend is reference to hybridity, how ‘old’ and ‘new’ forms of diplomacy coexist and reinforce one another ” (Halvard Leira, 2018).

This course will introduce and evaluate key concepts and actors:

•    The so-called ‘new diplomacy’ and related ideas under this heading of public diplomacy, informal diplomacy, ‘Track 2’ diplomacy; as well as ‘soft power’ and ‘smart power’.
•    Local, city, regional and national government actors and agencies that have become internationalised. For example, the growth of city and local government cross-national collaboration and the international roles of mayors and local government officials. 
•    Private sector bodies from business, the professions, NGOs, scientists etc intervening into (quasi-) diplomatic activities, including transnational associations and global/regional networks. For example, the policy advocacy work of Nobel peace prize winners like Pugwash, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). 

The course will introduce cases of internationalized policy domains that are organized or administered by the so-called ‘new diplomats’ – mainstream public servants and regulators who are not based in Ministries of Foreign Affairs or other policy actors who cannot be classified as ‘diplomats’ in the traditional sense of the word. For instance, quasi diplomatic activity is undertaken by some large international NGOs, think tanks, philanthropies or diaspora communities. Certain individuals have also played prominent policy roles at home and abroad: ‘celebrity diplomats’; charismatic and/or esteemed figures known as ‘policy entrepreneurs’; artists, sports-people and musicians.  For example, many celebrities have become ‘good will ambassadors’ for the UN.

The course draws upon the research and publications that have emerged from three Horizon 2020 consortia – now part of the EU Science Diplomacy Consortium – as well as utilizing the more established social science literature from policy studies, international law, political economy and development studies.  In addition, we will be accessing materials from MFAs, networks like the INGSA-International Network of Government Science Advisors, and associations like the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy.
 

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