Meditations on Diplomacy: Comparative Cases in Diplomatic Practice and Foreign Policy. An E-IR Open Access book by Stephen Chan.
Available now on Amazon (UK, USA, Ca, Ger, Fra), in all good book stores, and via a free PDF download.

Diplomacy is an evolving practice in terms of historical circumstance and changing national interests. History and interests do not always coincide. This book explores in brief, pungent case examples, the challenges diplomacy faces today as actors seek to change history and undermine interests. Stephen Chan OBE was Foundation Dean of Law and Social Sciences at SOAS University of London, where he remains as Professor of World Politics. He has occupied many named chairs around the world, most recently the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Chair of Academic Excellence at Bir Zeit University in 2015, and the George Soros Chair of Public Policy at the Central European University in 2016.

Table of contents

1. THEORIES OF FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
2. FEET OF IRON AND CLAY: US AND BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY AND DIPLOMACY FROM ONE REGIME CHANGE TO ANOTHER
3. THE RISE AND FALL OF EUROPE: UNITY AND CHALLENGE
4. WHEN THE DRAGON WAKES
5. AFRICAN DIPLOMACY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
SELF-AWARENESS
6. THE IMPONDERABLES OF MIDDLE EASTERN DIPLOMACY:
 AN HISTORICAL CATALOGUE OF DISASTERS AND DEFERMENTS
7. INSIDER AND OUTSIDER: ISRAEL’S DEMONS IN
 THE NEW MILLENNIUM
8. THE WORLD UNITES AND DISUNITES: SOMEONE MUST TRY 
TO KEEP IT TOGETHER
9. THE EXCLUDED FIGHTS BACK: CHINA’S ECONOMIC
 MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY
10. THE SEPARABILITY OF JIHAD
11. THE END DAYS OF THE WORLD SYSTEM? BEFORE ARMAGEDDON THE LONG NIGHTS OF IGNORANCE
12. A MEDITATIVE CODA: DIPLOMACY AND THE END OF FOREIGN
 POLICY AS WE KNOW IT

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