Is it all about clout?

Abstract

Preventive diplomacy has become one of the tools by which governments seek to deal with the emerging problems of the security environment. The Secretary of State for Defence has added a refinement to this overarching concept by referring to ‘defence diplomacy’. As a component of the Strategic Defence Review, the term is as yet largely undefined, but raises fundamental issues about the nature of defence and diplomacy which Michael Codner believes need to be acknowledged by and incorporated into the Review. Exploring the evolving nature of defence, he discusses the concept of ‘coercion’, highlighting in particular the manoeuvrist model. Central to the concept of strong, active ‘defensive diplomacy’, Mr Codner argues, is the idea of inducement, for which capability the Manoeuvre Model should be favoured, and he develops a series of maxims for the definition of the concept. The author concludes that since defence diplomacy has in fact been utilised for many years, the formal incorporation of the concept will hopefully lead to a fuller discussion and analysis of the diplomatic use of force including operational concepts and military doctrine.