Lectures
,Global politics and diplomacy (part 1)
4th December guest lecture (ambassador of Armenia) 11am - will be on toledo
BOOK: DIPLOMATIC TRADECRAFT - NICOLAS KRALEV
Lecture 1
Course objectives
- understand (more than you already do) global politics
- understand the relevance and concrete manifestation of Geo)politics and geo-economics
- understand the role and relevance of diplomacy here
- understand the role, and required skills of diplomats
- understand the limits and constraints under which diplomats (have to) work.
- show that you possess, or acquired some basic strategic and emphatic skills.
Required attitude:
- a curiousness with regard to politics and diplomacy
- a curiousness with regard to geo-politics and geo-economics.
- the willingness to work for your grade through reading and debating
- an openness towards the input of others and their opinions
- a willingness to understand (which is not the same as approve) positions opposite to
your own
- the collegiality to let everybody else in this class enjoy the benefit of your insights.
- the willingness to actively participate in the class debates even if you are shy and/or
introvert
PART 1: What is diplomacy
PART 2: Diplomacy and Statecraft
PART 3: Diplomatic Skills
Assignment: based on the op-eds on the gaza war
,Lecture 2
topics identified in the last assignment:
● The recognition of Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic:
○ Which made it urgently needed
○ Which makes it useless
Student argumentation
■ Isolation Netanyahu
■ Long-term empowerment, short-term ineffective
■ Could bring international stability to Gaza
Meertz made a point that Western countries tend to underestimate the value of symbolism
● Recognition of Palestinian statehood can be used as a bargaining chip against Israel:
○ Yes. It strengthens the position of the countries recognized
Student Argumentation
■ It needs plurality of recognition, strength in numbers
■ Not just a matter of which country it does, but more related to the priority
of doing something with the recognition, being able to bare the costs, so
make it a bargaining ship
■ Possible spillover
■ Important component, but we need more than just words, we need
actions
■ The recognition could be a problematic topic, internally
■ By recognizing the country, you create a legal fiction, weakening your
claim to label the situation as genocide
→ What signal does it give compared to your initial stance
○ No. It has no impact in terms of exerting influence on Israel
○ No. It rather weakens than strengthens the position of the countries that are
recognized.
● According to the Montevideo Convention (1933), a recognized state requires a defined
territory, a government, sovereignty, a permanent population, and the means to conduct
relations with other states
○ Palestine meets all these criteria except for sovereignty. So recognition was
warranted.
○ Palestine doesn’t meet most of these criteria. Recognition means that a fiction is
being which could be exploited later by Israel
○ These criteria don’t really matter here. Recognition is a long-overdue rectification
of a historical wrong.
■ If we start like this, recognition of states will snowball, its sets a
precedence
■ They don’t follow these criteria but we recognize out of guiltiness
, ● You have to assess the recognition of Palestinian statehood with an eye for Israeli
domestic politics:
○ The recognition of Palestinian statehood support those Israeli political
movements that favor a two-state solution
○ The recognition of Palestinian statehood has triggered a rigid position against a
two-state solution across the Israeli political parties.
○ The recognition of Palestinian statehood motivates the settlers in the West Bank
(and their representatives in Government) to create ‘faits accomplis’ in the West
Bank
Student Argumentation
■ Very little effect
■ Proof their point
It all comes down to the empirical question, proof your point, opinion polls, reliability, what are
the counter arguments
● The recognition of Palestinian statehood and Hamas
○ Recognizing Palestinian statehood now is the same as regarding a mastiff
terrorist attack on Israel
○ Recognizing Palestinian statehood has nothing to do with supporting or
rewarding Hamas
At the end of the day, on any issue, there are always different perspectives on those issues.
There should be recognition of a difference between trying to understand something and
approve of certain statements and ideologies.
,Global politics and diplomacy (part 1)
4th December guest lecture (ambassador of Armenia) 11am - will be on toledo
BOOK: DIPLOMATIC TRADECRAFT - NICOLAS KRALEV
Lecture 1
Course objectives
- understand (more than you already do) global politics
- understand the relevance and concrete manifestation of Geo)politics and geo-economics
- understand the role and relevance of diplomacy here
- understand the role, and required skills of diplomats
- understand the limits and constraints under which diplomats (have to) work.
- show that you possess, or acquired some basic strategic and emphatic skills.
Required attitude:
- a curiousness with regard to politics and diplomacy
- a curiousness with regard to geo-politics and geo-economics.
- the willingness to work for your grade through reading and debating
- an openness towards the input of others and their opinions
- a willingness to understand (which is not the same as approve) positions opposite to
your own
- the collegiality to let everybody else in this class enjoy the benefit of your insights.
- the willingness to actively participate in the class debates even if you are shy and/or
introvert
PART 1: What is diplomacy
PART 2: Diplomacy and Statecraft
PART 3: Diplomatic Skills
Assignment: based on the op-eds on the gaza war
,Lecture 2
topics identified in the last assignment:
● The recognition of Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic:
○ Which made it urgently needed
○ Which makes it useless
Student argumentation
■ Isolation Netanyahu
■ Long-term empowerment, short-term ineffective
■ Could bring international stability to Gaza
Meertz made a point that Western countries tend to underestimate the value of symbolism
● Recognition of Palestinian statehood can be used as a bargaining chip against Israel:
○ Yes. It strengthens the position of the countries recognized
Student Argumentation
■ It needs plurality of recognition, strength in numbers
■ Not just a matter of which country it does, but more related to the priority
of doing something with the recognition, being able to bare the costs, so
make it a bargaining ship
■ Possible spillover
■ Important component, but we need more than just words, we need
actions
■ The recognition could be a problematic topic, internally
■ By recognizing the country, you create a legal fiction, weakening your
claim to label the situation as genocide
→ What signal does it give compared to your initial stance
○ No. It has no impact in terms of exerting influence on Israel
○ No. It rather weakens than strengthens the position of the countries that are
recognized.
● According to the Montevideo Convention (1933), a recognized state requires a defined
territory, a government, sovereignty, a permanent population, and the means to conduct
relations with other states
○ Palestine meets all these criteria except for sovereignty. So recognition was
warranted.
○ Palestine doesn’t meet most of these criteria. Recognition means that a fiction is
being which could be exploited later by Israel
○ These criteria don’t really matter here. Recognition is a long-overdue rectification
of a historical wrong.
■ If we start like this, recognition of states will snowball, its sets a
precedence
■ They don’t follow these criteria but we recognize out of guiltiness
, ● You have to assess the recognition of Palestinian statehood with an eye for Israeli
domestic politics:
○ The recognition of Palestinian statehood support those Israeli political
movements that favor a two-state solution
○ The recognition of Palestinian statehood has triggered a rigid position against a
two-state solution across the Israeli political parties.
○ The recognition of Palestinian statehood motivates the settlers in the West Bank
(and their representatives in Government) to create ‘faits accomplis’ in the West
Bank
Student Argumentation
■ Very little effect
■ Proof their point
It all comes down to the empirical question, proof your point, opinion polls, reliability, what are
the counter arguments
● The recognition of Palestinian statehood and Hamas
○ Recognizing Palestinian statehood now is the same as regarding a mastiff
terrorist attack on Israel
○ Recognizing Palestinian statehood has nothing to do with supporting or
rewarding Hamas
At the end of the day, on any issue, there are always different perspectives on those issues.
There should be recognition of a difference between trying to understand something and
approve of certain statements and ideologies.
