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

Brian C. Rathbun

Published by Cornell University Press 2014

Diplomacy's Value

Creating Security in 1920s Europe and the Contemporary Middle East

Brian C. Rathbun
Funded by: Knowledge Unlatched

In the series Cornell Studies in Security Affairs

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801455063

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

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.

Reviews

Alastair Iain Johnston, The Laine Professor of China in World Affairs, Harvard University:

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.

Valerie M. Hudson, Professor and George H. W. Bush Chair, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, author of Foreign Policy Analysis: Classic and Contemporary Theory:

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, Duke University:

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, University of Washington, author of Reputation and International Politics:

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.

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.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface and Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1. The Value and Values of Diplomacy Open Access Download PDF	1
2. Creating Value: A Psychological Theory of Diplomacy Open Access Download PDF	22
3. Tabling the Issue: Two Franco-British Negotiations Open Access Download PDF	58
4. Setting the Table: German Reassurance, British Brokering, and French Understanding Open Access Download PDF	87
5. Getting to the Table The Diplomatic Perils of the Exchange of Notes Open Access Download PDF	117
6. Cards on the Table The Treaty of Mutual Guarantee and the “Spirit of Locarno” Open Access Download PDF	137
7. Turning the Tables Reparations, Early Evacuation, and the Hague Conference Open Access Download PDF	162
8. Additional Value The Rise and Fall of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Open Access Download PDF	188
9. Searching for Stresemann The Lessons of the 1920s for Diplomacy and the Middle East Peace Process Open Access Download PDF	236
References Open Access Download PDF	247
Index Open Access Download PDF	263

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 4
- Line drawings: 4
- Other: 4 line drawings
Keywords: diplomacy and foreign affairs; international relation theories; theory of diplomacy; diplomatic styles; coercive bargaining; reasoned dialogue; pragmatic statecraft; psychology of negotiation; psychology of leaders; palestine and isreal

eBook

Published: October 31, 2014
ISBN: 9780801455063