Guerrilla Diplomacy: Rethinking International Relations

by Daryl Copeland

Daryl Copeland charts the course for a new kind of diplomacy, one in tune with the demands of today's interconnected, technology driven world. Eschewing platitudes and broadly rethinking issues of security and development, Copeland provides the tools needed to frame and manage issues ranging from climate change to pandemic disease to asymmetrical conflict and weapons of mass destruction. The essential keystone of his approach is the modern diplomat, able to nimbly engage with a plethora of new international actors and happier mixing with the population than mingling with colleagues inside embassy walls. Through the lens of "Guerrilla Diplomacy", Copeland offers both a call to action and an alternative approach to understanding contemporary international relations. Copeland charts the course for a new kind of diplomacy, one in tune with the demands of today's interconnected, technology driven world.

Genres: Politics

311 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Horus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very dense book is likely not for the casual reader. Even with an intense interest in politics, I found the writing fairly stogy and too general. The majority of the book is spent setting up the current situation for which his recommended idea of guerrilla diplomacy is suppose to be well suited for. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, certainly his passion for his idea comes through as in the final 2 chapters, when he starts to expand on the idea of guerrilla diplomacy, his writing becomes lively and excited and animated. But it is almost a comical difference. He goes to great pains to explain how dated and mannered the “idea” of diplomacy and diplomats have been (think embassies and high teas and formal meetings and letters etc) and in doing so, makes it sound as boring and inept as possible for the current times. I suppose that is his intent, but then contrast this with his description of a guerrilla diplomat who comes off as a superhero who knows all things, speaks all languages and can mix just as well with the high tea folks as the merchant on the street in the souk.

I’m not sure whom the intended audience was for this book (written in 2009) but its back cover reviewers seem to be mostly academics (one of whom strangely thought the book was “witty”). From my perspective it would have been nice to have a very basic chapter delineating the actual duties of most diplomats, from the very mundane to the high security areas. A lot of this book is written in generalities, with a very generous continual usage of the word “souplesse” and very few synonyms for same (ie flexible). The few specific examples were extremely interesting, but from this outsider’s perspective, not nearly enough.