Leading Innovative Diplomacy

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Short Description

Diplomacy is a practice of leadership steeped in power, negotiation, protocol, and tradition. Diplomatic leadership practices are challenged by today’s emerging political and social contexts and norms. The new normal — turbulent change characterized by rapid, unpredictable, paradoxical, and tangled (RUPT) conditions — requires innovative approaches to diplomacy to address both historic and emerging global, multi-national, national, and local challenges. With decades of experience in international relations, this esteemed panel will provide insights on the skills, training, and expertise that leaders engaged in diplomacy today need. In short: What is required of current and future diplomats to address today’s challenges rather than the challenges of the past?

Detailed Abstract

Crisis and conflicts today do not necessarily follow conflicts of the past. New forms of increased, un-familiar turbulence has become the new normal in international and national affairs. Turbulence is the context, not necessarily the cause (or not) of conflict and crisis. Diplomats are traditionally prepared for conflict and crisis, but most often not for the constant turbulence that is characterizing todays’ environment.
A number of factors in particular impact the unfolding of events in international and national affairs. First, time has become considerably shortened so that actions and reactions generated by quicker news cycles, intelligence cycles, propaganda processes unfold more rapidly now. Second, the elements involved - actors, issues, interactions of mass contra/and social media - are much more unpredictable. Third, conflicts are increasingly polarised and paradoxical in some key ways. Local vs global interests and institutions can be in great tension. When epidemics call for fast isolation, WHO wants to call it an epidemic, yet nations do not want to be stigmatized as suffering an epidemic, due to the longer-term trade, travel and other type of consequences of stigmatisation. Fourth, the sheer volume of issues, actions, conflicts, actors, methods, consequences, feedback and feedforward loops, combine into a new state that is tangled.
The new normal – a turbulent environment characterised by RUPT: Rapid, Unpredictable, Paradoxical, Tangled, requires new approaches to diplomacy if the international community is to be able to better address the very critical challenges posed to leaders across the globe in a constant stream of unfolding crisis and new conditions and realities. Traditionally, when crisis hit, diplomats engaged following diplomatic protocol. However, today and given the impact of RUPT, traditional diplomatic protocols, concepts and tools are often not sufficient to address todays more amorphous challenges. What is required to avoid diplomats being trained to addressed the last crisis – but rather be properly and effectively equipped to solve the crisis and conflicts of today and tomorrow? What is required for diplomacy to meet the challenges of major and rapidly unfolding events? What is required to better prepare for constant unpredictability? How are polarized and paradoxical situations best addressed? How can tangled realities be effectively taken into account in order to address an unfolding conflictual situation or crisis?

Sub Unit

• Public Leadership

Chair

• Annika Hilding Norberg, Geneva Centre for Security Policy

Presenters

• Christian Dussey, Geneva Centre for Security Policy

• Michael C. Hardy, Coventry University

• Claude-French Arnould, Government of France