Diplomatic History Research Articles

Reflecting on the ‘cultural turn’: new directions in the study of Anglo-American relations and the special relationship

The growing integration of cultural analyses stands out as one of the most notable contemporary movements in international and diplomatic history. The ‘cultural turn’ in these fields has made it evident that the analysis of cultural artefacts, identities, and representations has much to teach us about the ways states behave in the international system, as well as how cultural factors contribute to the conditions of alliance or enmity between nations. However, while the long-running and complex connections between Britain and America have always offered innumerable opportunities to explore the power of culture to shape their relationship, the ‘cultural turn’ did not begin in our field. Rather, it emerged from other disciplines of history and anthropology, and its subsequent impact on the study of Anglo-American relations has been noticeably uneven. US-UK relations in the 20th century have received somewhat less attention from cultural specialists than have those of earlier periods, and the role of culture in the post-1940 Anglo-American special relationship has been consistently underexplored in favour of more traditional methods of historical analysis. This article first addresses how the cultural turn has influenced the study of the overall historical relationship between America and Britain. The second section narrows the scope of enquiry to address how the cultural turn has affected the study of the special relationship in particular. A brief conclusion section offers a few thoughts on the need for and potential directions of future studies targeting the intersection of Anglo-American cultural sharing and US-UK partnership.

Reading Diplomacy across the Archives

This essay undertakes a cross-cultural interpretation of Giles Fletcher the Elder’s diplomatic mission to Muscovy (1588–89). It brings Fletcher’s official report on his embassy to the court of Emperor Fyodor in conversation with its Russian counterpart, in addition to placing these documents in the multifaceted context of early modern Anglo-Russian diplomatic ritual. Although Fletcher’s mission has always attracted the attention of scholars in different disciplines, it has not really been considered in light of diplomatic history. Meanwhile, both the English and Russian records of Fletcher’s embassy are preoccupied with diplomatic ritual, dedicating ample space to the choreography of official meetings, status symbols, gifts, acts of consumption, and corporeal semiotics. This essay examines two instances of breakdown in diplomatic protocol associated with Fletcher’s embassy: the alleged misuse of the emperor’s title by the English diplomat and the rejection of Elizabeth’s gifts by the Russian ruler. Focusing on the discrepancies between the English and Russian accounts of these frictions, the essay argues that the English embassy of 1588–89 was marked by a greater complexity and ambiguity regarding its strategies, tactics, objectives, successes, and failures than is often realized.

Ministries of Extreme Situations

Ministries of Extreme Situations Edward M. Geist. Armageddon Insurance: Civil Defense in the United States and Soviet Union, 1945–1991. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. 323 pp. $34.95 (paperback). Gretchen Heefner Gretchen Heefner g.heefner@northeastern.edu Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diplomatic History, Volume 44, Issue 5, November 2020, Pages 897–900, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa055 Published: 07 August 2020

A Sociological Survey of Japanese International Relations Journals and University Education: Still a Discipline ‘In Between’?

AbstractThe Japanese discipline of international relations has been understood as a product of interaction with its Western other, formed and developed much like Japanese contested identity. But although much attention has been paid to how the discipline emerged and evolved, very little has been written about how the discipline looks now. To remedy that, we apply a sociology of knowledge perspective to find out whether the Japanese discipline of IR does still possess distinct qualities or whether there has been growing influence from its Euro-American counterpart. We proceed in two steps: (a) We analyze 175 articles from the Japanese language IR journals Kokusai seiji, Kokusai mondai, Kokusai anzen hoshō, Heiwa kenkyū, Ajia kenkyū, Revaiasan and Nenpō seijigaku, and dissect them according to topics, focus, author background and theories/methods used; (b) We conduct four case studies of IR education at Japanese universities to demonstrate how the discipline is taught, with a focus on lecturer background, experience and syllabus composition. Our findings suggest that although there remains a preoccupation with diplomatic history, loose methodology and either realist or atheoretical studies, there is a clear trend of convergence toward Euro-American standards, especially in university education.

Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism

Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism

Confronting Reality, Not Beltway Propaganda

Confronting Reality, Not Beltway Propaganda Seth Anziska. Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. 435 pp. $35.00 (hardcover). Charles D Smith Charles D Smith CDsmith@email.arizona.edu Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diplomatic History, Volume 44, Issue 5, November 2020, Pages 906–909, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa058 Published: 15 July 2020

Nonviolent Grassroots Challenge to U.S.-led Plan Colombia

Nonviolent Grassroots Challenge to U.S.-led Plan Colombia John Lindsay-Poland. Plan Colombia: U.S. Ally Atrocities and Community Activity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. 312 pp. $26.95 (paperback). Luis van Isschot Luis van Isschot luis.vanisschot@utoronto.ca Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diplomatic History, Volume 44, Issue 5, November 2020, Pages 917–920, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa057 Published: 15 July 2020

Contributors

Journal Article Contributors Get access Diplomatic History, Volume 44, Issue 4, September 2020, Pages i1–i3, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa056 Published: 14 July 2020

Предвоенная дипломатическая история Европы (Иванов А.Г. Дипломатическая борьба в Европе в канун Второй мировой войны. Краснодар : Кубанский государственный университет, 2018. 291 с.)

Предвоенная дипломатическая история Европы (Иванов А.Г. Дипломатическая борьба в Европе в канун Второй мировой войны. Краснодар : Кубанский государственный университет, 2018. 291 с.)

Rogue Bankers, Black Radicalism, and the Caribbean History of Racial Capitalism

This essay offers a response to two critical commentaries—from diplomatic historian Brenda Gayle Plummer and political theorist Clarisse Burden-Stelly—on the author’s Bankers and Empire: How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean. While locating both commentaries under the epistemological and political purview of the radical wing of black studies, the essay focuses on four topics that appear in Plummer’s and Burden-Stelly’s comments: (1) the question of class, and in particular the role of the Caribbean middle classes, in the history of finance, banking, imperial expansion, and Caribbean sovereignty; (2) the particular status and nature of the Caribbean region within the history of capitalism; (3) the nature and the meaning of the well-worn term racial capitalism; and (4) the idea of “war” as a fundamental aspect of the modes of regulation and accumulation of said racial capitalism.

The Handwriting of Diplomacy

This study demonstrates that the ability to write in chancery hand was considered to be of crucial importance to diplomatic correspondence in the Italian Renaissance. Chancery hand was perceived as the de facto handwriting of diplomacy. This paper, which contributes to the study of diplomatic history using a palaeographic approach, is based on observations of the Medici’s diplomatic letters collected in units forty-five and forty-seven of Archivio di Stato di Firenze, and Ludovico Arrighi and Giovanni Palatino’s calligraphic books. Palaeographic analysis has also been conducted on MS Monti Riva C.5.1. IX (Como, Comunale library), MS Magliabechiano XXIV 166 (Florence, Nazionale Centrale Library), and MS Royal 6 E. IX (London, British Library).

“Syndromes” and “Solutions”: The Korean War and The Vietnam War, 1950–1973

“Syndromes” and “Solutions”: The Korean War and The Vietnam War, 1950–1973 Edmund F Wehrle Edmund F Wehrle efwehrle@eiu.edu Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diplomatic History, Volume 44, Issue 4, September 2020, Pages 636–663, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa047 Published: 28 June 2020

Military and Diplomatic History of the Khalkhin Gol War of 1939: New Concept of Mongolian Historian and Government Leader - R. Bold (Review of R. Bolds book «Limited War: The Military-Diplomatic History of the Battle at the Khalkhin Gol River». Moscow, The whole world, 2019. 568 p.)

More than 80 years have passed since notorious military events on the Khalkhin-Gol river in which four states took part: on the one hand, Japan and Manchukuo, on the other, the USSR and Mongolia. International scientific conferences were timed to coincide with this event, a lot of research was done, and relevant scientific papers were published. One of them was the book of Doctor of Historical Science R. Bold, «Limited War: The Military Diplomatic History of the Battle of the Khalkhin-Gol River», published by the Whole World Publishing House (2019 - 568 pp.), which proposed a slightly different interpretation of the historical battles at the Khalkhin-Gol river (May-September 1939). This article is a brief analysis of this book and a kind of review of it.

The Language of the Sea: Flags and Identities in Early Modern Dutch Marine Painting

This article investigates the convergence between early modern Dutch marine painting and contemporaneous political identities and diplomatic conventions. It uses the depiction of flags on paintings of naval battles as a lens to query perceptions of national and regional identity as well as international hierarchy. It first introduces the phenomenon of flags on marine paintings and shows how these depictions are not random or ornamental but exhibit patterns and motifs. It then builds on this observation to pursue two further arguments. Firstly, it argues that the configuration of flags on paintings of naval battles resonates with the multi-layered body politic of the Dutch Republic, representing not just the States-General and the Dutch state, but also the towns, provinces, and admiralties as distinct units. Secondly, the positioning of the flags on paintings show an awareness of debates about international hierarchy and thus a convergence with diplomatic practice. The overall purpose of the article is to underscore the value of flag research, and more generally of crossover research between the disciplines of New Diplomatic History, art history, and vexillology.

Protecting the National Interest

This translation from French of Stève Sainlaude’s PhD dissertation, originally published in multiple volumes in France, is a very welcome addition to the diplomatic history of the U.S. Civil War. For too long, our focus has been on the United Kingdom’s relationship with both sides in the Civil War with the French story included as an afterthought. The textbook view was that while the French emperor, Louis Napoleon III, was sympathetic to the Confederacy and wanted to recognize it as a legitimate nation, he was afraid to act without British support. Hence, the focus on British diplomacy. Sainlaude’s work, however, shows that the French government’s interaction with the conflict was far more complicated. Sainlaude organizes his work thematically, dividing the book into three sections: “The French Position”; “France’s View of the South”; and “The Future Lies in Union.” The first section gets into the details of French diplomacy during the...

France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History

France and the American Civil War: A Diplomatic History

Richard Holbrooke: The Not-So-Quiet American

Richard Holbrooke: The Not-So-Quiet American George Packer. Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. 608 pp. $30.00 (hardcover). William A Schabas William A Schabas Email: w.schabas@mdx.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Diplomatic History, Volume 45, Issue 1, January 2021, Pages 213–215, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa043 Published: 01 June 2020

The First World War and the Institutionalization of International Relations as an Academic Discipline

This paper focuses on the stimulating role of WW1 in the process of separation, establishment and institutionalization of international relations (IR) as an academic discipline in its own right. It is well documented that these processes began immediately after 1919 with the creation of IR departments in European and American universities where training in International relations, International law, International politics, and other specific disciplines in the larger area of IR was provided.Our main thesis is that the atrocities of the first European and world catastrophy led to a better understanding of the decisive role which the relations between national governments, and especially the relations between military alliances, played in the world political arena. This, in its turn, led to the realization that these relations should be the prime target of the investigations of specific disciplines which must have their legitimate share in Bachelor, Master and Doctoral programs.In this paper we also examine the significant role of the US President Woodrow Wilson, himself an outstanding academic authority, in International history and relations, and his efforts to raise awareness and to the establishing of IR departments as legitimate entities of university structures. Special emphasis is put on the hopes of the international community that through separating IR from Diplomatic history, Law, Politology and other kin disciplines, under the auspices of which IR had previously existed, the international political life could be significantly ‘humanized’ since the future diplomats, the international and governmental leaders will be trained in the IR departments in the spirit of humanistic values related to peace, stability and prosperity.

Symbolic Communication in Early Modern Diplomacy: Naval Incidents and the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1667–1672)

Abstract This article underscores the significance of symbolic communication in early modern international relations. Taking naval incidents during the period leading up to the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1667–72) as a case-study, it shows how the use of imagery constituted an undervalued symbolic language in which vital interests were communicated by diplomats. Moreover, it argues that the way in which these incidents were discussed in diplomatic circles was relevant to and congruous with public debates. It also highlights the often-ignored international dimension of popular disputes. An overall objective is to further the debate on a New Diplomatic History for the early modern period.

THE CORROSIVE COMPROMISE OF THE SINO-INDIAN BORDER MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK: FROM DOKLAM TO GALWAN

ABSTRACT India and China have entered a new low in their bilateral relations. Having fought a war in 1962, it took over three decades for both countries to achieve normalcy at the borders, aided by a series of border management agreements and protocols to maintain tranquility along the border areas. However, the June 2020 Galwan clashes have changed that permanently. This paper argues that the current escalation of border clashes is both a symptom and consequence of the breakdown of the bilateral border management framework which has been dented since the 2017 Doklam standoff between both countries. Delving into diplomatic history relating to Doklam and Galwan, the findings point to the need to correct the epistemic criteria used to reproduce claims of an unambiguous boundary between India and China by both countries, in order to ensure abatement of similar outcomes.