Secret Diplomacy: Concepts, Contexts and Cases / Edition 1

by Corneliu Bjola, Stuart Murray

Overview

This volume investigates secret diplomacy with the aim of understanding its role in shaping foreign policy.

Recent events, including covert intelligence gathering operations, accusations of spying, and the leaking of sensitive government documents, have demonstrated that secrecy endures as a crucial, yet overlooked, aspect of international diplomacy. The book brings together different research programmes and views on secret diplomacy and integrates them into a coherent analytical framework, thereby filling an important gap in the literature. The aim is to stimulate, generate and direct the further development of theoretical understandings of secret diplomacy by highlighting ‘gaps’ in existing bodies of knowledge. To this end, the volume is structured around three distinct themes: concepts, contexts and cases. The first section elaborates on the different meanings and manifestations of the concept; the second part examines basic contexts that underpin the practice of secret diplomacy; while the third section presents a series of empirical cases of particular relevance for contemporary diplomatic practice. While the fundamental conditions diplomacy seeks to overcome – alienation, estrangement and separation – are imbued with distrust and secrecy, this volume highlights that, if anything, secret diplomacy is a vital, if misunderstood and unfairly criticised, aspect of diplomacy.

This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, intelligence studies, foreign policy and IR in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138999350
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/23/2016
Series:	Routledge New Diplomacy Studies
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Corneliu Bjola is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies, University of Oxford, UK, and author/editor of four previous books, including, most recently, Digital Diplomacy (Routledge 2015).

Stuart Murray is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Diplomacy, Bond University, Australia, and Associate Editor of the Diplomacy and Foreign Policy Journal.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Secret Diplomacy, Corneliu Bjola Part I: Conceptualising Secret Diplomacy 1. Secret ‘versus’ open diplomacy across the ages, Stuart Murray 2. Making Sense of Secret Diplomacy from the Late Moderns to the Present, Paul Sharp 3. The Social Neuroscience of Secrets in Secret Diplomacy: Theorizing Secrecy Diplomacy, Marcus Holmes 4. Back to the Back Room: Concert Diplomacy and Crisis Management from Vienna to Tehran, Kursten Jung Part II: Contexts of Secret Diplomacy 5. Diplomacy, Secrecy and the Law, Sanderijn Duquet and Jan Wouters 6. Open Secrecy, Anthony Glees 7. The Ethics of Secret Diplomacy: A Contextual Approach, Corneliu Bjola Part III: Cases of Secret Diplomacy 8. Gripengate: when the worlds of secret and public diplomacy collide, James Pamment 9. Public Manifestations of Back-Channel Diplomacy: The Case of the 2013 Iranian Nuclear Agreement, David Wong De-Wei 10. Cyber-Intelligence and Diplomacy: The Secret Link, Ashley Coward and Corneliu Bjola Conclusion: So, does secret diplomacy still ‘work’?, Stuart Murray

Editorial Reviews

'Secret Diplomacy will enlighten and fascinate readers in academic and policy-making circles and in the broader public domain. The editors’ and contributors’ careful analysis of theories and practices of secret diplomacy historically and contemporarily sets an impressive standard of scholarship, research and argument.' — Pauline Kerr, Australian National University, Australia

'This book provides a much needed nuanced view about the evolution of a highly salient diplomatic practice. Exploring historical contingencies, its interplay with other modes of diplomacy, as well as discussing its legal and ethical implications, this book is full of important insights about the opportunities and perils of secret diplomacy. The case studies provide for a fascinating glimpse into the workings of secret diplomacy in 21st century world politics.' — Markus Kornprobst, Vienna School of International Studies, Austria

From the Publisher