Hybrid Practices of Diplomacy and Warfare

Project Information

DIPLOWAR

Grant agreement ID: 792932

DOI

10.3030/792932

Project closed

EC signature date 27 February 2018

Start date 1 September 2018

End date 31 August 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 159 795,60

EU contribution

€ 159 795,60

Coordinated by

JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE-UNIVERSITAET FRANKFURT AM MAIN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DIPLOWAR (Hybrid Practices of Diplomacy and Warfare)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Hybrid Practices of Diplomacy and Warfare (DIPLOWAR) was a transdisciplinary research project that aimed to shed light on the changing relationship between diplomacy and war. An important analytical move of the project was to understand diplomacy and war not primarily as political or legal relations between states, but as structuring principles of peaceful and violent political practices. This reconceptualization made it possible to bring together insights from research on the “new diplomacy” and research on the “new wars”, two literatures that have not yet been systematically linked to each other. DIPLOWAR sought to sharpen our analytical vocabulary and deepen our empirical understanding of the changing relationship between violent and nonviolent political practices to help scholars, practitioners, and the public better to grasp the new realities of war and peace. During the first year of the project, the researcher was hosted by the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, New York; during the second year he was based at the Research Center “Normative Orders” at Goethe University Frankfurt.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The researcher produced a theoretical framework that can guide the empirical analysis of how the relationship between diplomacy and war has changed over time and carried out a number of historical case studies to demonstrate its empirical purchase. To disseminate the results of this research, three journal articles were written and a number of conference presentations were given. The findings were communicated to the public via public talks, the project homepage, a blog and social media.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has generated a theoretical framework that opens up a novel perspective on the relationship between diplomacy and war. Furthermore, empirical case studies were produced that demonstrate the analytical purchase of the framework and contribute to the debates on foreign policy in the US and Germany respectively. The results of the project will advance the academic debate on political violence and foreign policy and can inform more prudent foreign policy decision-making.

Normative Orders building; © Uwe Dettmar/ Normative Orders