Halvard Leira

The value of diplomatic history in a changing world

This chapter argues for the value of a careful reading of diplomatic history in approaching our changing world. Diplomatic history does not hold unambiguous and clear lessons or analogies, but can alert us to both contingency and the existence of different developmental trajectories.

The Intercity Origins of Diplomacy: Consuls, Empires, and the Sea

City diplomacy is a fairly new topic in the study of diplomacy, and, many would argue, a fairly recent empirical phenomenon. A counterpoint to this could be to reference how the alleged origin of diplomacy in Greek antiquity was city-centered, as were the earliest forms of Renaissance diplomacy in...

Afterword: Gendering the Brand

One potentially productive way of framing the debates about nation-branding and public diplomacy is to consider them both subsumed under the broader motivations of status, prestige and reputation. On the one hand, it emphasizes how domestic politics can shape status-seeking and how the domestic resonance...

Inter-governmentality: A framework for analysis

This chapter explores the analytical purchase of the governmentality-framework when applied to interactions between polities before the early modern period, what I refer to as inter-governmentality. Starting from the assumptions that: (1) governmentality (historically understood) was always entangled...

Hva er Internasjonal Politikk

The term international politics is used both for events and processes in the world around us - and for the study of these. The subject covers obvious topics such as war, trade and diplomacy, but it also deals with more everyday phenomena such as tourism, immigration and how individuals are affected by...

Utenrikspolitikkens opprinnelse

In this book, Halvard Leira deals with how Norwegian foreign policy originated. He shows that foreign policy is a relatively new phenomenon and that its origins must be sought in the field of tension between royal power and popular power in the second half of the 19th century. The way this happened in...

Making foreign policy foreign

Building on earlier work, I delve into the translations of “foreign policy” and the potential challenges following from these translations. I start with a section on how something conceptualizable as “foreign policy” first emerged. Then I discuss at an overarching level how this something was translated....

A Conceptual History of International Relations

In this lecture, I discussed why we need a conceptual history of international relations, and how we can go about writing it.

Ethnic Diversity in the Recruitment of Diplomats: Why MFAs Take the Issue Seriously

Diversity and its management have become an issue in all organisations. Ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) do not escape the issue. In the 2000s, states decided to consider more ethnic diversity in the recruitment of their diplomats. In some countries, this new goal requires affirmative action programs....

Stubbornly Stumbling into Making History: Constructivism and Historical International Relations

The aim of this chapter is threefold; first we try to recollect through the hazy dim of personal history and histories how we eventually became the researchers we are today. Second, we focus on what to us at the time – and, to some extent, still – appeared as contingent, random and haphazard experiences...

The Duty of Care in International Relations Protecting Citizens Beyond the Border

This book offers a first overarching look at the relationship between states and their citizens abroad, approached through the concept 'Duty of Care'. How can society best be protected, when increasing numbers of citizens are found outside the borders of the state? What are the limits to care...

Introduction: The Duty of Care in International Relations

In this introduction, we lay out the premises, logics and content of the book in more detail. In the next section, we introduce a varied set of current international challenges concerning the relationship between states and citizens. In the third section, we present the historical background for why...