Kieran O'Meara
Diplomacy is an intricate phenomenon. In his seminal work on the topic, Adam Watson (1982: 11) accentuates that diplomacy concerns the complex and multifaceted dialogue between distinct and independent civic political units, fundamentally maintaining international society. Forged from the interplay of constitutively reproduced and mutually recognised practices, as Hedley Bull (2012: 13) succinctly identifies, an international society ‘exists when a group of states, conscious of certain common interests and common values, conceive themselves to be bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one another, and share in the working of common institutions.’ In the contemporary context, international society has been globalised to include all omni-acknowledged sovereign states, and so it may be referred to interchangeably with ‘Global International Society’ (GIS).
Functioning as one such institution through its commonly performed role in legitimating action, the practice of diplomacy functions in similar vein to WD40 on a rusted hinge. By this, I propose that it permits antiquated and otherwise corroding entities – entities formed in a socio-relational context sometime in the past – the capability to co-manoeuvre and interconnect with fluidity. It is the facilitation of dialogue, as ease of formalised and legitimate intercourse that grants Diplomacy its status as a key institution of GIS.
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