PREFACE - Jovan Kurbalija

WHO NEEDS DIPLOMATS? THE PROBLEM OF DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION by Paul Sharp

The paper by Professor Paul Sharp focuses on two trends in modern diplomacy: increasingly institutionalised multilateralism aimed at a stronger international order and the "tendency to see diplomats in terms of the skills they possess and the jobs they do, rather than whom they represent." Both of these trends move diplomats away from their roles as professional representatives of sovereign states. However, Professor Sharp points out that diplomats continue to derive their authority from the fact that they represent states. Recent failures in diplomacy can be attributed to over-ambitious attempts at establishing international order without enough support from individual states. Professor Sharp distinguishes between and explores four types of representation: representation as ceremony and symbolism, representing interests and power, representing ideas, and diplomatic representation and popular sovereignty.