The Transformation of Foreign Policy and Diplomacy

In the face of a globalized world characterized by practices of de-territorialisation, shifting spaces of political authority and increasing uncertainty about what is foreign and what is domestic, foreign policy appears to be an anachronistic concept. A similar problem exists with diplomacy, if viewed exclusively as an intergovernmental affair. Used almost interchangeably in some scholarly quarters, the terms foreign policy and diplomacy are problematized in more critical and sociological approaches, mostly viewed as distinct or co-constitutive, and sometimes even as antithetical concepts. This makes it even more necessary to examine current shifts in the theory and practice of foreign policy and diplomacy together. The proposed workshop seeks to link the study and practice of foreign policy and diplomacy with changes and transformations taking place in global politics. To do so, firstly, the diachronic or conceptual history dimension will be addressed, specifically by examining a set of issues relating to the evolution of “foreign policy“ and “diplomacy” as distinct and historically contingent practices that had to respond to and were shaped by major political transformations. Secondly, going beyond a systemic understanding of foreign policy and a merely interpersonal understanding of diplomacy, contributions will emphasize a broader conceptualization of practices in the way they affect the constitution and transformation of notions of political subjectivity, sovereignty, national identity, mediation and international order. Thirdly, the workshop will examine the extent to which the combination of new technologies, actors and networks impacts on both the objectives, methods and practices of foreign policy and diplomacy, and indeed how new forms of interrelatedness and interconnection reconfigure regional and global power relationships.