21st-Century Diplomacy: A Practitioner's Guide

Description

In the 21st century, new kinds of challenges resulting from interdependence among states and globalization have had a determining impact of the conduct of diplomacy. Diplomacy has become multifaceted, pluri-directional, volatile and intensive, due to the increased complexity in terms of actors, dialogues subjects, modes of communication, and plurality of objectives. This unique text, written by a leading scholar and Foreign Service expert, examines all such factors to provide the definitive guide to diplomacy as it is practiced today. With a multitude of examples from around the world, including the US, UK, EU, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the book covers the spectrum of diplomacy practice, including regional diplomacy, diplomacy of small states, performance management, handling of decisions and crisis, use of information technology, and reform in foreign ministries. Also included are chapters on craft skills and practical exercises. 21st Century Diplomacy will be essential to anyone learning diplomacy, and will also support courses in international relations, foreign policy, and intercultural communication.

Kishan Rana is Professor Emeritus, Foreign Service Institute of New Delhi, and Senior Fellow, DiploFoundation, Malta and Geneva. He served as Ambassador to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany, and Consul-General in San Francisco. He was Archives By-Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge University, 2004, and Public Policy Scholar at Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC, 2005. He Chairs the India Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP).

"In 21st Century Diplomacy, Ambassador Rana has produced an invaluable guide for junior diplomats to the fast-changing and demanding world in which they will work, and he has done so from the perspective of a senior and highly successful insider." -Paul Sharp, University of Minnesota Duluth, USA. "A seminal contribution to scholarship on modern diplomatic theory and practice. 21st Century Diplomacy is a nuts and bolts manual for modern diplomacy, which will be invaluable to both scholars and practitioners in the field of international relations. There is no better person than Ambassador Rana to undertake this significant study, given his vast diplomatic experience and his keen involvement,in recent years, in building human resource capacity in the craft of diplomacy across the world." - Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India and currently Chairman, Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries, New Delhi. "The cliched image of the venerable profession of diplomacy is one of stuffed shirts living in exotic, well-appointed residences and attending a whirl of cocktail parties. Yet how far this is from reality is superbly described in this new book by Kishan Rana. This seasoned representative of one of the best diplomatic services in the world reveals the true story of diplomats as modern managers of foreign relations, networking and negotiating with politicians, businessmen, academics or artists, and equally at home with the use of modern methods of technology. Rana's comprehensive picture of the diplomat of the 21st century is not only scholarly and magisterial but also, with its telling use of amusing anecdotes taken from everyday life in embassies and international conference halls, highly entertaining. This excellent volume can be highly recommended to every student of contemporary diplomacy." -Ambassador Hans Winkler Kishan Rana's book 'A Practitioner's Guide' on 21st Century Diplomacy is essential reading for all who are diplomats, who may wish to become diplomats, and even for those who have been diplomats. -- Eric Gonsalves * The Book Review *