Practice in the Field – Reshaping Patterns of Behaviour in EU Diplomacy and International Administration (II): Analytical Questions and Theoretical Advances

Abstract

Organization theory, behavioural analysis and sociological approaches may contribute to the understanding of the inner workings of international politics via the study of practices by further developing theories of behavioural and decision-making dynamics in IR. Purpose of this panel is to explore ways of theorizing the emergence, reproduction and change of diplomatic practices and cultures (in the EU and beyond), and to see how they are influenced by and to what extent they are themselves reshaping the modus and style of European foreign policy-making and contemporary international relations (IR). In doing so, this panel aims to build on and extend the research on organizational behaviour and the literatures related to diplomatic practices, but also to connect to role theory and sociological analysis in IR. The panel seeks to attract papers that explore novel ways of theorizing and offer fresh insights with regard to the implications of changing roles and decision-behaviour in diplomacy on IR in general, as well as the formulation and implementation of EU foreign policy, more narrowly. Contributions may want to highlight both the transformative momentum of new practices as well as the resilience of international institutions. The panel also welcomes empirical research on other areas within the sub-disciplines of IR and global governance, transnational administration, or comparative regionalism. A point of common reference is how new forms of international administrations may be seen to re-combine diverse practices stemming from different institutional origins, professional fields, administrative cultures and traditions, and ‘ways of doing things’; and how such processes may contribute to the adaptation of and/or the emergence of new patterns of behaviour on the one hand, but also to the introduction new ambiguities and ambivalences in international affairs; and further how they may add to an increasing fluidity of the disciplinary borders between IR and public administration.

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