Diplomacy's Value: Creating Security in 1920s Europe and the Contemporary Middle East

by Brian C. Rathbun

Overview

What is the value of diplomacy? How does it affect the course of foreign affairs independent of the distribution of power and foreign policy interests? Theories of international relations too often implicitly reduce the dynamics and outcomes of diplomacy to structural factors rather than the subtle qualities of negotiation. If diplomacy is an independent effect on the conduct of world politics, it has to add value, and we have to be able to show what that value is. In Diplomacy's Value, Brian C. Rathbun sets forth a comprehensive theory of diplomacy, based on his understanding that political leaders have distinct diplomatic styles: coercive bargaining, reasoned dialogue, and pragmatic statecraft.

Drawing on work in the psychology of negotiation, Rathbun explains how diplomatic styles are a function of the psychological attributes of leaders and the party coalitions they represent. The combination of these styles creates a certain spirit of negotiation that facilitates or obstructs agreement. Rathbun applies the argument to relations among France, Germany, and Great Britain during the 1920s as well as Palestinian–Israeli negotiations since the 1990s. His analysis, based on an intensive analysis of primary documents, shows how different diplomatic styles can successfully resolve apparently intractable dilemmas and equally, how they can thwart agreements that were seemingly within reach.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801455056
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	10/31/2014
Series:	Cornell Studies in Security Affairs
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	547 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brian C. Rathbun is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Partisan Interventions: European Party Politics and Peace Enforcement in the Balkans, also from Cornell, and Trust in International Cooperation: International Security Institutions, Domestic Politics, and American Multilateralism.

Table of Contents

1. The Value and Values of Diplomacy
2. Creating Value: A Psychological Theory of Diplomacy
3. Tabling the Issue: Two Franco-British Negotiations
4. Setting the Table: German Reassurance, British Brokering, and French Understanding
5. Getting to the Table: The Diplomatic Perils of the Exchange of Notes
6. Cards on the Table: The Treaty of Mutual Guarantee and the "Spirit of Locarno"
7. Turning the Tables: Reparations, Early Evacuation, and the Hague Conference
8. Additional Value: The Rise and Fall of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
9. Searching for Stresemann: The Lessons of the 1920s for Diplomacy and the Middle East Peace ProcessReferences
Index

What People are Saying About This

Valerie M. Hudson

In this immensely useful volume, Brian C. Rathbun develops a theory of diplomacy as agency. Drawing on insights from social and cognitive psychology, coupled with a keen eye for the intricacies of coalition politics, he illuminates how particular diplomatic styles emerge and change over time, and how these interact to either frustrate or facilitate joint gains in negotiation. I, for one, will never look at the Treaty of Locarno the same way after reading Rathbun's work, and his analysis of that agreement offers important insights for contemporary diplomatic negotiations.

Joseph Grieco

In Diplomacy's Value, Brian C. Rathbun offers us a beautifully written study of the importance of different styles of diplomacy in resolving seemingly intractable political-military problems. Combining theoretical acuity, sophisticated research design, and thorough historical analysis of European diplomacy in the immediate years after World War I, and relations between Israelis and Palestinians in more recent years, Rathbun shows how pragmatic or reasoned dialogue are types of diplomacy that are more likely to produce peaceful resolutions to political-security problems than is coercive diplomacy. Diplomacy's Value will be of great interest and lasting benefit to anyone who is interested in international relations theory, diplomatic history, or foreign policy.

Jonathan Mercer

Brian C. Rathbun's theoretically ambitious and richly empirical book makes evident 'diplomacy’s value.' By layering competing theories of international politics on top of a simple but powerful psychological foundation, Rathbun generates an elegant theory of diplomacy. This book is an exciting and important contribution to IR theory, political psychology, and European diplomatic history.

Alastair Iain Johnston

The social scientific study of diplomacy (the activity that most states engage in most of the time) is remarkably unstudied. Brian C. Rathbun's very smart book seeks to remedy this problem. Drawing on a sophisticated understanding of social psychology he develops an explanation for variation in negotiation outcomes that is rooted in the distribution of negotiation styles, which in turn are rooted in the social and epistemic motivations of diplomats. Rathbun redirects our attention away from the indeterminant effects of distribution of power and interests on diplomacy to the traits and characteristics of the individuals who actually engage in diplomacy. This is cutting-edge work.

Editorial Reviews

Rathbun argues that policy makers should think of realism, rationalism, and liberalism not as theories that capture the singular essence of diplomacy but as sets of prescriptions that guide behavior. Summing Up: Recommended.

Choice - K. M. Zaarour

Rathbun argues that policy makers should think of realism, rationalism, and liberalism not as theories that capture the singular essence of diplomacy but as sets of prescriptions that guide behavior. Summing Up: Recommended.

--K. M. Zaarour "Choice"

From the Publisher

"The social scientific study of diplomacy (the activity that most states engage in most of the time) is remarkably unstudied. Brian C. Rathbun's very smart book seeks to remedy this problem. Drawing on a sophisticated understanding of social psychology he develops an explanation for variation in negotiation outcomes that is rooted in the distribution of negotiation styles, which in turn are rooted in the social and epistemic motivations of diplomats. Rathbun redirects our attention away from the indeterminant effects of distribution of power and interests on diplomacy to the traits and characteristics of the individuals who actually engage in diplomacy. This is cutting-edge work."

Alastair Iain Johnston

"In this immensely useful volume, Brian C. Rathbun develops a theory of diplomacy as agency. Drawing on insights from social and cognitive psychology, coupled with a keen eye for the intricacies of coalition politics, he illuminates how particular diplomatic styles emerge and change over time, and how these interact to either frustrate or facilitate joint gains in negotiation. I, for one, will never look at the Treaty of Locarno the same way after reading Rathbun's work, and his analysis of that agreement offers important insights for contemporary diplomatic negotiations."

Valerie M. Hudson

"In Diplomacy's Value, Brian C. Rathbun offers us a beautifully written study of the importance of different styles of diplomacy in resolving seemingly intractable political-military problems. Combining theoretical acuity, sophisticated research design, and thorough historical analysis of European diplomacy in the immediate years after World War I, and relations between Israelis and Palestinians in more recent years, Rathbun shows how pragmatic or reasoned dialogue are types of diplomacy that are more likely to produce peaceful resolutions to political-security problems than is coercive diplomacy. Diplomacy’s Value will be of great interest and lasting benefit to anyone who is interested in international relations theory, diplomatic history, or foreign policy."

Joseph Grieco

"Brian C. Rathbun's theoretically ambitious and richly empirical book makes evident 'diplomacy’s value.' By layering competing theories of international politics on top of a simple but powerful psychological foundation, Rathbun generates an elegant theory of diplomacy. This book is an exciting and important contribution to IR theory, political psychology, and European diplomatic history."

Jonathan Mercer