Hare Publishes Op-Ed Arguing for Necessary Reforms to Global Diplomacy
Ambassador Paul Hare, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, published a Smerconish.com op-ed on his latest book The Palgrave Handbook of Diplomatic Reform and Innovation and the need for diplomacy to catch up with the rest of the world.
In the article, titled “Why Diplomacy Needs to Catch Up with the World,” Hare summarizes the arguments developed in the book and seeks to stimulate a wider debate and proposals for action on diplomatic reform. The book – featuring chapters by Hare’s Pardee School colleagues Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations; Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor and Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future; and Ambassador Mark Storella, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and Director of the African Studies Center – argues that diplomacy is a neglected global issue and needs to be readdressed to make it fit for the tasks of the 2020s. As the world changes and the norms of international relations change in an ever-digitizing and accessible world, the book’s 40 global scholars hope to promote a debate about what can be done to improve diplomacy’s chance of responding to the challenges of the 2020s and beyond.
An excerpt:
The topic of diplomatic reform has seldom received collective attention since the 1960s. Indeed few global issues have been neglected to such a degree. Imagine if international air traffic control practice was stuck in the 1960s – the world now networks and plots often without states’ involvement. States now regularly promote false information about other states to damage their reputations. Incendiary language abounds in international platforms, undermining modern diplomacy’s peacemaking capacity. States seldom think about the practice of diplomacy. They may argue about which countries should be permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. But few are concerned that diplomacy is becoming a divisive influence rather than a consensus-building vehicle. How we conduct international relations is vital for the future of the planet. But currently, there is no Greenpeace for better diplomacy.
Hare’s full op-ed can be read on Smerconish.com.
Ambassador Paul Hare was a British diplomat for 30 years and the British ambassador to Cuba from 2001-04. He now teaches classes at Boston University on Diplomatic Practice, Arms Control, Intercultural Communication, and on Cuba in Transition. His novel, “Moncada — A Cuban Story,” set in modern Cuba, was published in 2010. His book, “Making Diplomacy Work; Intelligent Innovation for the Modern World” was published in 2015. Learn more about Professor Hare on his faculty profile.