DiploCare - Care as Diplomatic Practice

Diplomacy has long been defined by its relationship to the state: representing national interests, managing inter-state relations, and mediating differences between states. More recent studies have begun to move beyond this state-centric paradigm. For instance, through studies of diplomats at the frontlines, scholarship has highlighted other types of practices that diplomats engage in, such as care for host state individuals in situations of crises or civil society organizations pressured by their own governments.

Following these newer insights in diplomatic studies and borrowing from feminist conceptualizations of care as a political and ethical practice, we aim to position care as a central, if under-acknowledged, dimension of diplomatic practice, one that reshapes current understandings of responsibility and professionalism in diplomacy and global governance. To this end, we gather expertise in the field from international and Swedish scholars to jointly explore how and towards whom diplomats practice care. The funding will be used to organize a series of three workshops, allowing the participants to create a network, exchange theoretical and empirical insights, and aim for a joint submission of a Special Issue to a leading journal in international relations, thus setting the agenda for future studies on care as a diplomatic practice.

Co-organizers of workshops: Chiara De Franco (University of Southern Denmark), Maren Hofius (Hamburg University) and Halvard Leira (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)