Shaun Riordan, a former British diplomat, draws on his own experience, case studies, and current debates in international relations to assess the performance of diplomatic services and to sketch out the new diplomatic environment. Traditional diplomatic services and structures are found wanting.
Riordan argues forcibly against realpolitik and for a more pro-active diplomacy based on the promotion of ideas and values as a better way of securing the West's long-term interests. In doing so, he presses for radical re-structuring of diplomatic services, replacing hierarchical with networked structures, and the creation of new forms of global governance that incorporate NGOs and the private sector, as well as government officials, in a broader diplomatic effort.
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"The New Diplomacy is a gripping, pacey and controversial jaunt through the enormous changes to the diplomatic environment since the end of the Cold War. Mixing the experience of a practitioner with some of the most important academic work on diplomacy and international relations, this book is required reading for any government, company or individual who wants to make sense of life in an interdependent world." Mark Leonard, Foreign Policy Centre
"This short, lively and coherent book critizises the culture of traditional diplomatic services ... The book will provoke both the ire and interest of diplomats, but also of scholars, company executives and civic organizations" Political Studies Review
1. Introduction.
2. Traditional Diplomatic Structures: Diplomacy as Bricks and Mortar.
3. The Traditional Diplomatic Ideology – the Obsession with the Billiard Ball.
4. The Changing World.
5. Political and Social Change.
6. The New World of International Relations.
7. Dismantling the Traditional Diplomatic Machine.
8. Public Diplomacy.
9. Towards a New Diplomacy.
Notes.
Index.
