Need a Thesis Topic? Postgraduateresearch required on contemporarydiplomacyWhile some aspects of contemporary diplomacy have attracted great attention

(mediation, for example), large areas remain seriously under researched. For

example:

Consuls – The Other Missing Dimension

The welcome recent book by the journalist, John Dickie, The British Consul, has

served to remind us of the great importance of the work of consular officers (often

political), especially at the moment. However, they have been neglected by scholars

in the same way that spies were neglected until Christopher Andrew and David

Dilks published The Missing Dimension back in 1984. Someone should contrive a

similar kick-start to consular research with a monograph or collection of essays

called The Other Missing Dimension.

There is huge scope for research here, e.g. different kinds of consular officer, incl.

honorary consuls, and (more historical) dragomans; biographies of notable

consular officers (e.g. Harry Boyle, Adam Block and Andrew Ryan in the British

Levant Service); and studies of the more elite, specialized consular services such as

the Levant Service just mentioned. Plenty of consular officers have left papers or

(now) oral histories. Ryan’s papers, which contain his own detailed views on the

problems of the Levant Service, can be consulted at St Antony’s College Oxford. A

good place to start is Platt’s Cinderella Service.

Locally engaged staff

I have the strong impression that there has been a trend in recent years for Western

MFAs (and others?) to increase the proportion of their overseas staff who are

recruited locally. It would be extremely useful to know (a) what the facts are about

this and (b) what is the explanation. I have discovered some useful figures on the

State Department and FCO websites but a serious study will have to go back some

years and go well beyond the resources available on the web. Avanti!

Diplomatic education and training

Historically, scholars have always been more interested in the recruitment of

diplomats – and especially the social groups from which they come – than in their

post-admission training. MFAs themselves now take more interest than they used

to do in the latter and perhaps scholars should do the same. Those with an

historical interest might begin with a look at the views on the subject contained in

the classic texts, such as Wicquefort. (I have recently done a paper on the British

tradition in this - see Work in Press). Those with an interest in modern diplomatic

training methods might compare those employed in different states, or focus on a

particular kind of training, e.g. the simulation of negotiations with a view to

teaching negotiating skills. I am deeply sceptical of the value of ‘negotiation

workshops’ myself, believing that they teach us only how to succeed in … ahem …

negotiation workshops. Let their supporters prove that they are not just a more or

less entertaining parlour game but are actually valuable in preparation for the very

different world beyond the classroom!

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The International Sections of Government Departments

The growth, value, and control (or lack of it) exercised over, the international

sections of ‘OGD’s (Other Government Departments) by MFAs. I am grateful to

Mark McDowell, a Canadian FSO, for this valuable suggestion. A thesis on this

subject might focus on one state, or it might compare the international sections of

equivalent ministries in a number of different states, e.g. the international sections

of transport ministries.

Consensus decision-making

This is now the most important form of decision-making in multilateral bodies but,

as far as I am aware, not a great deal of research has been done on the various

procedural devices that are its hallmarks – straw votes, silence procedure, and so

on, which I have discussed briefly on the Online Updating page for Chapter 9 of my

textbook. An MA dissertation might look at the style and effectiveness of consensus

decision-making in one body (e.g. ‘Silence Procedure in NATO’), while a PhD thesis

might engage in a comparative study of several multilateral bodies.

Video-conferencing

This has clearly received a boost as a result of the implications for air travel both of

terrorism and fears concerning its impact on climate change. However, I have

found no serious published research on it at all.

Telephone diplomacy

There is hardly anything on this at all, though it is clearly of great importance. The

internet is a valuable source here, not least because transcripts of some of

Kissinger’s calls can be found on it. It would be very interesting to discover, for

example, what kind of training – if any – is given on the use of the telephone in

different MFAs. Try asking them. There is also an increasing amount of relevant

material in more recently released confidential government papers. In the ‘Search’

facility of the British National Archives Catalogue I have just (Oct. 2007) keyed

‘telephone’ into the ‘Word or Phrase’ box and ‘FO’ [Foreign Office] into the

‘Department or Series Code’ box and brought up 359 files! Obviously most are not

relevant but some look very interesting indeed.

History of the US-Soviet hot line

There are short pieces on this but that is all.

Legal advisers

Role and influence of in MFAs. The last book on this appears to have been written

in 1962, though I believe that Robbie Sabel is working on the subject. Hans Corell,

the UN’s own legal adviser – there’s another topic – has a good reading list on this

subject, so there’s a start.

Planning departments in MFAs

Opinion on the value of these has always been divided, not least because – as far as

I am aware – there is no systematic published research on them.

Comparative study of Commercial Diplomacy

Should embassies be used to promote trade and inward investment or should it be

left to the private sector? This is a public policy question of considerable

importance, and leads to many others. Some diplomatic services give more weight

to this than others. Which are they? Does it work?

Public Diplomacy

Not propaganda in general but propaganda conducted by professional diplomats.

This has become a fashionable topic since I first flagged it up but there is still plenty

of scope for research here.

Interests Sections.

An old favourite of mine. John W. Young at Nottingham has recently done some

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work on this but he would be the first to admit that there is plenty more to be done:

features, extent of use, advantages and disadvantages, and their origins – much

earlier than I once thought. Their use in the First World War would be a good topic.

American embassies seem to have housed quite a few (certainly the US Emb. in

Turkey did), and FRUS would be a good place to start. Key words: ‘protecting

powers’ as well as ‘interests sections’.

Prenegotiations

In view of the importance of this subject it is amazing that it has been so

overlooked. As far as I am aware, there is not a full-length monograph on it. A

useful approach for a thesis would be to compare the pre-negotiations in a number

of negotiations of different kinds, e.g. between friendly and hostile states; on low

and high stakes issues; bilateral and multilateral; and so on. An MA dissertation

might focus on just one pair.

Summitry

More detailed case studies are always needed. Plenty of scope for comparative

studies here as well.

Vienna Conference [not Convention] on Diplomatic Relations, 2

March-14 April 1961

We await a history of the conference that produced this enormously important

convention, the legal bedrock of the world diplomatic system. Many official

documents on this have been available for years. Lorna Loyd’s new book,

Diplomacy with a Difference, has something on this and would be a good place to

start, both for its insights and its references.

Switzerland and the world diplomatic system

General theme: if Switerland did not exist would it have to be invented? Particular

themes worth exploring: Switzerland’s role as a protecting power; Geneva as a

diplomatic centre; Switzerland as provider of good offices rather than mediation;

International Committee of the Red Cross (though quite a bit on this already,

notably Caroline Moorhead’s Dunant’s Dream (1998); and bearing on all of this of

permanent neutrality; etc.

Vatican diplomacy

The account of this subject needs carrying forward from the end of the 1950s, when

Robert Graham published his Vatican Diplomacy. More on the role of the Vatican

in international mediation would be particularly helpful. I tried teaching this on my

Mediation module but had to abandon it after a few years for want of decent books

and articles to which to refer my students. There are a couple of articles on the

Vatican role in the mediation of the Beagle Channel dispute between Argentina and

Chile, but that appears to be it.

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