As he says in the very first line: ‘This book is an elementary introduction to how multilateral conferences work and what you, as a participant in such a conference, can do to produce the outcome that you want.’ It is comprehensive in its coverage, ranging from discussion of the different purposes of multilateral conferences to advice on what to expect in the personas of different national delegations, how to manage delegations, and the importance of getting the air-conditioning right. It is written in a clear and lively style, with many instructive examples and a number of arresting metaphors. It is above all clearly very shrewd. Moreover, while it may not have been written with academics much in mind, there is a great deal of value for them in this book as well.
Of course, like many first books, Multilateral Conferences has some presentational and structural weaknesses. The result is that at one or two points the argument is not entirely clear and there is repetition. In fact, there are two books here struggling to get out, and I hope that in any future paperback edition the first five ‘contextual’ chapters (including ones on ‘Governments and Committees’ and ‘International Organizations’) will be compressed into an elegant introduction. The author might even with advantage be persuaded to save more space by abandoning his Glossary and the long terminological parentheses in the text by referring his readers instead to the Dictionary of Diplomacy by Berridge & James! Nevertheless, as it stands, this remains a book that provides sound practical advice and will be of absorbing interest to those wishing to embark on a career in multilateral diplomacy. It has no rivals in the field and I warmly recommend it. I was not surprised to learn that it has already been adopted by UNITAR, the training wing of the United Nations.
Related resources
Power: The nexus of global health diplomacy?
22 Aug, 2014
Managing Global Chaos
15 Aug, 1996
Diplomacy at the UN
03 Sep, 1985
Reform of the United Nations Security Council
24 Aug, 2012
The Environmental Movement in the Global South
11 Aug, 2007
The evolution of diplomacy in the Caribbean
02 Aug, 2013
The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations
10 Aug, 2012
The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy
23 Aug, 2013
The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives and protecting the planet
06 Aug, 2014
Strengthening Regional Management: A Review of the Architecture for Regional Co-operation in the Pacific
12 Aug, 2005
Small States at the United Nations
20 Aug, 2010
Global Health and Foreign Policy
13 Aug, 2015
Triangular Co-operation and Aid Effectiveness: Can triangular co-operation make aid more effective?
14 Aug, 2009
Global Health and the Foreign Policy Agenda
07 Aug, 2008
Mainstreaming Development in the WTO
19 Aug, 2005
What’s the World Health Organization For?
15 Aug, 2014
Valletta Statement on Multilateral Trade
05 Aug, 2005
Multilateralism and the End of History
06 Aug, 2004
Modernising Dutch Diplomacy
09 Aug, 2013
Tunis Agenda for the Information Society
12 Aug, 2005
Modern Diplomacy – Opening address
14 Aug, 1998
Regionalism versus Multilateralism
09 Aug, 1996
The challenge of regionalism
08 Aug, 1958
Diplomacy on a south-south dimension
05 Aug, 2004
A United Nations for the Twenty-First Century
04 Aug, 1996
Diplomacy as an instrument of good governance
14 Aug, 1998
How Much is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations
19 Apr, 2006
The Milennium Development Goals Report 2015
01 Aug, 2015
The United Nations and Israel
31 Aug, 2012
WHO reform process: documents
16 Aug, 2013
Development Co-operation Report 2015: Making Partnerships Effective Coalitions for Action
07 Aug, 2015
The study of regional integration
15 Aug, 1970
The MIKTA Way Forward (Briefing Paper #2)
01 Feb, 2015
Global Environmental Politics
03 Aug, 2000
Alliances and Small Powers
04 Aug, 1968
The Role of Regional Cooperation in Eradicating Poverty and Aid Dependency in East Africa
23 Aug, 2012
Use of language in diplomacy
10 Aug, 2001
Innovation in Diplomatic Practice
12 Aug, 1999
Peacemaking 1919
09 Aug, 1933
Governance fore Health in the 21st Century: A study conducted for the WHO Regional Office for Europe
05 Aug, 2011
Old diplomacy in New York
09 Aug, 1985
Regional water cooperation in the Arab – Israeli Conflict: A case study of the West Bank
16 Aug, 2014
Framework of operational guidelines on United Nations support to South-South and triangular cooperation
09 Aug, 2012
Securing the Future of Multilateral Development Finance: Time for Europe to take the Initiative
21 Aug, 2014
Internet Governance: A Grand Collaboration
05 Aug, 2004
Unvanquished: A U.S.-U.N. Saga
09 May, 2002
Consensus Rule Processes
13 Aug, 1998
Small States in International Relations
19 Apr, 2006
The United Nations: An Introduction
17 Aug, 2012
The Procedure of the UN Security Council
06 Aug, 1998
The development of multilateral diplomacy and its fundamental role in global security and progression.
18 Aug, 2016
Security for small states
13 Aug, 1999
Organisational culture of UN agencies: The need for diplomats to manage porous boundary phenomena
05 Aug, 2004
The UN and the world diplomatic system: lessons from the Cyprus and US- North Korea talks
16 Aug, 1996
European Union external action structure: Beyond state and intergovernmental organisations diplomacy
11 Aug, 2018
The globalization of public health: the first 100 years of international health diplomacy
17 Aug, 2001
Funeral summits
09 Aug, 1996
Prenegotiation and Mediation: The Anglo-Argentine Diplomacy after the Falklands/Malvinas War (1983-1989)
05 Aug, 2004
Renewing the United Nations System
19 Aug, 1994
The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary
09 Aug, 2002
Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind
13 Aug, 2010
The Grand Decade for Global Health: 1998-2008
16 Aug, 2013
The European Union and the Latin American and the Caribbean Dialogue: Building a Strong Partnership
14 Aug, 2008
Work Programme on Electronic Commerce
14 Aug, 1998
Global Warming and Global Politics
01 Aug, 1996
Diplomacy Before and After Conflict
06 Aug, 2010
Leadership Selection in the Major Multilaterals
02 Aug, 2001
Reinventing NATO’s Public Diplomacy
05 Aug, 2005
The New Economic Diplomacy
31 Aug, 2012
On Behalf of My Delegation,…: A Survival Guide for Developing Country Climate Negotiators
11 Aug, 2000
Unvanquished: A U.S.-U.N. Saga
06 Aug, 1999
United Nations, Divided World, 2nd ed
09 Aug, 2001
The Diplomacy of Micro States
09 Aug, 2002
Strengthening the region’s participation
19 Aug, 2011
EU Strategy for Africa
14 Aug, 2014
The IberoAmerican System and its Influence in the Ibero-American Regional Summit Diplomacy
23 Aug, 2008
ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (ASED)
04 Aug, 2017
The Reform of the United Nations
19 Apr, 2006
The ‘Working’ Non-Aligned Movement: Between Belgrade, Cairo, and Baku – The NAM’s Leadership Visibility
07 Aug, 2020
The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations
08 Aug, 2008
The inertia of Diplomacy
07 Aug, 2008
United Nations Handbook 2015-16
07 Aug, 2015
Democratic Intergovernmental Organizations? Normative Pressures and Decision-Making Rules
07 Aug, 2015
Our Global Neighbourhood
11 Aug, 1995
International Organisation in World Politics
05 Aug, 2004
Summitry as intercultural communication
06 Aug, 2009