Studying Diplomacy Diplomatically – Between Theorizing History and Historicizing Theory

Authors: Ákos Kopper and Tamás Peragovics 

In: Diplomatica, 7(2), 250-256.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/25891774-bja10156

Abstract

In our contribution, we reflect on two challenges the Manifesto identifies in conducting diplomatic history. The first challenge is how to expand and diversify New Diplomatic History (ndh) while keeping its identity intact, while the second has to do with overcoming Eurocentrism. To resolve these dilemmas, we propose turning the ethos of diplomacy into an ethos of academic conduct, suggesting that just as the diplomat mediates between home and away, the scholar-diplomat mediates between history and theory, the particular and the universal. We believe the Manifesto’s laudable goals regarding the diversification of the ndh are better served by studying diplomacy diplomatically than by achieving globality.