The international summer school in Diplomacy and Global Governance will interest those starting their career in international relations, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines. The course explores the nature of contemporary diplomacy, the challenges posed by non-state actors, and how diplomats attempt to tackle issues of global concern. The central theme running through the course is the question of how far diplomacy has been – or should be – transformed in response to the changing nature of world politics.

Diplomats often get a bad press. They are depicted as secretive and deceitful, operating beyond the knowledge and control of the public, or alternatively as powerless and ineffectual in dealing with international crises. But with pressing global issues such as climate change and the counterproductive results of military responses to international terrorism, diplomacy is more important today than ever. The summer school in Diplomacy and Global Governance introduces participants to the central structures and processes of diplomatic practice and their evolution in a world transformed by globalisation.

• Teaching Methods and Materials

• Academic Staff

• Course Structure

• Who should attend and language level requirements

Teaching Methods

The courses will be taught through a series of lectures, including some by visiting practitioners, and interactive seminars, role-plays and case studies.  There will be lectures from each day from 10 until 1300 and each afternoon from 1400 until 1600.

Teaching Materials

All teaching materials are available free to participants as part of the course fee. A recommended reading list will be provided and online readings will be made available. Book purchases, at the student’s expense, are not necessary.

Steven Curtis

Steven is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and previously taught IR and diplomacy at Brunel and Coventry University. He specialises in new approaches to teaching, including the use of placements with political actors and organisations and the use of Web 2.0 to support his students’ learning and writing. He is the author of several recent books and articles including Alasdair Blair and Steven Curtis, International Politics: An Introductory Guide (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009). He is currently writing the chapter on diplomacy for the Routledge Companion to International Relations.

Dr Shahin Malik

Shahin joined the Department in 2000, having previously taught at Swansea University, and holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham. His core research and teaching interests are in International Relations theory and International Security. His current research interests include British interests in the Persian Gulf region and is presently researching and writing on the role of British defence exports to the GCC States. In addition at present he is co-authoring a book on International Relations to be published by Pearsons in 2010.

The school comprises three blocks. The central theme uniting them is the question of how far diplomacy has been – or should be – transformed in response to the changing nature of world politics. In considering this, we will examine the views of both practitioners and academic commentators.

The Evolving Nature of Diplomacy 

This block introduces participants to the evolution of traditional bilateral institutions of diplomacy: ambassadors, embassies and foreign ministries. Key issues include:

• Why do states maintain embassies when news of events in far away countries reaches us quickly and cheaply through satellite TV news reports and the World Wide Web?
• Why do member states of the European Union maintain embassies in other EU capital cities when so many mutual issues are dealt with by the EU’s institutions in Brussels?
• What is the value of diplomats when societies communicate with each other through multiple channels?   

The New Diplomacy

• We examine three major transformations of diplomacy that have taken place over the past three decades:
• The emergence of open and inclusive multilateral forms of diplomacy, often under the auspices of the UN and its agencies, involving nearly every state in the international system and increasingly non-state actors
• The role played by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and other non-state actors, such as celebrities and the representatives of major cities, in the framing and conduct of international negotiations
• The importance accorded to public diplomacy, that is efforts to influence public opinion in other countries
• We will illustrate these developments through two case studies: the successful global campaign to ban landmines in the late 1990s and the role of public diplomacy in the global ‘war against terrorism’.

Dealing with Global Change

The final block assesses the role of diplomacy in tackling contemporary global issues:

• Diplomacy and environmental degradation
• Diplomacy and international trade and development
• The promotion of human rights and international security.
• We will be questioning the role of diplomacy in global governance and will examine in detail the 2009 Copenhagen climate change negotiations to pull together the central themes of the course.

Who Should Attend?

The course is suitable for those in their second or subsequent year of degree-level study in international relations, political science, history, or related disciplines, or those employed in the public sector or non-governmental organisations who wish to gain a better understanding of the nature of contemporary international negotiation. If you are unsure whether you would be suited to the course, please e-mail s.curtis@londonmet.ac.uk with any queries.

Required Language Levels

Most students at Summer School speak English as a second language, and we do not expect you to be fluent. However, to get the most out of your course, you should be able to read, understand and speak English well enough to take an active part in class, read textbooks and prepare coursework.

It is not necessary to have passed any examinations in English, but as a very rough guide, we suggest that you should be at Cambridge First Certificate level as a very minimum (or IELTS 6). If you are an advanced speaker, you will find the courses offer an excellent means of practising your spoken English in a natural context and expanding your technical vocabulary.