The Diplo Wisdom Circle is a Diplo initiative that goes beyond the realm of diplomacy. It’s aim is to foster exchanges on social, economic, political, and other important issues between our readers and the eminent and innovative thinkers, professors, Diplo alumni, diplomats, activists, and business people Diplo has had the fortune to work with over the years.
In the spirit of café philosophique, we encourage you to join the discussions via article comments. Each article contains a ‘Discussion topic’ on which we invite you to share your ideas, experiences, and reflections, as well as questions.
If you feel there are important topics our authors should consider, or would like to share your comments on the initiative, please write to use at wisdomcircle@diplomacy.edu.
Latest articles
Of topoi and memes
20 April 2021
I’ll admit to a prejudice. I dislike Richard Dawkins, the emeritus professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. Holding such a pompous title is enough to warrant a demerit. Dawkins is broadly known fo...
Violent left and right: Which is more dangerous?
03 February 2021
We condemn the violent left and right. Are the threats equivalent? Is one more dangerous? Let’s reflect – in compact fashion. 1. Both share an ideology of a ‘desirable’ hierarchical social order...
The abuse of analogies: Upon reading the article ‘Reading the CCP Clearly’
20 January 2021
The pivoting argument in the article ‘Reading the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] Clearly’ by Perry Link (The New York Review of Books, 11 February 2021 issue) on US policy toward China is the topos of appeasement...
All there is to know in international relations
26 December 2020
Some see two black faces, Some see a white vase. A few see them both. Both sides mock the relativists. It is all a matter of the right imagination... [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRV...
Diplomats at US intelligence hub in UK lose immunities
03 December 2020
Recent official revelations about the ‘special arrangements’ governing the diplomatic status of the US intelligence hub at the Croughton airbase in the English Midlands, which were provoked by the Sacoolas affa...
Connected objects: Is there need for greater scrutiny?
08 August 2020
What are connected objects? Consider home assistants, smart thermostats, fitness wearables and connected cars to name but a few which advocate the advantages of convenience, home efficiency, health monitoring, safet...
Discussion topics
- What is your favourite clichéd metaphor and why?
(Of topoi and memes, Aldo Matteucci) - What are the main differences between the violent left and the violent right in your region?
(Violent left and right: Which is more dangerous?, Aldo Matteucci) - Is the use of analogies in determining foreign policy appropriate? Why (not) and when?
(The abuse of analogies: Upon reading the article ‘Reading the CCP Clearly’, Aldo Matteucci) - To what extent should diplomatic officers be worried by the Anglo-US Exchange of Notes of July 2020 on the Croughton airbase?
(Diplomats at US intelligence hub in UK lose immunities, G R Berridge) - Considering the consumer and human rights issues of connected objects, to what extent do you think you will have control over their tracking and analytics features?
(Connected objects: Is there need for greater scrutiny?, Lee Hibbard) - From your country experience, what do you think works best?
(What gives? Revolution or civil engagement and resistance?, Aldo Matteucci) - How does your nation deal with embracing defeat, accepting closure, the burden of compensation for the state, adequacy of compensation, and internal issues of monetary compensation?
(Compensating victims of terrorism – looking at it from the point of view of international law and national culture, Aldo Matteucci) - To what extent to do you agree – if at all – that the arrangement of separate but discreetly connected ministries is the best way for richer states to balance their development assistance and foreign policy priorities, and why?
(Hostile takeover: Foreign Office swallows Development ministry, G R Berridge) - How would you qualify concepts like ‘identity’?
(A tale of influencers, Aldo Matteucci) - Will AI dehumanise us, or valorise the essence of human beings?
(Artificial intelligence (AI) and the human condition, Petru Dumitriu) - What is the top priority for health attachés?
(Where have all the health attachés gone?, G R Berridge) - Do you believe that governments avoid using biological warfare? If not, why?
(COVID-19 is not a bioweapon and it is dangerous to claim that it is!, Ljupčo Jivan Gjorgjinski) - What is the most challenging aspect of a diplomat’s life?
(What Diplomats Do: The Life and Work of Diplomats (Book review), Milan Jazbec) - Soft power might be nothing more than another term for influence but perhaps signals its meaning better?
(‘Soft power’ is nothing more than influence, G R Berridge) - What do you see as the dangers of using AI in warfare?
(The opportunity costs of an arms race, Ljupčo Jivan Gjorgjinski) - Are there circumstances in which one should not help a neighbour in difficulty?
(The hole in the fence, G R Berridge) - Should states permit foreign embassies to monitor and – if they think it necessary – ‘correct’ the activities of their students studying abroad?
(Q. Which London embassy needs 13 cultural attachés?, G R Berridge) - Is the work of honorary consuls likely to be changed for good by the pandemic?
(An honorary consul in the pandemic, G R Berridge) - What are the main lessons of the Sacoolas affair?
(The Sacoolas affair: Diplomatic immunity or special immunity?, G R Berridge) - Has the pandemic highlighted the limits of videoconferencing – or hinted at further potential?
(EU-UK videoconferencing. All for show?, G R Berridge)
Authors
Aldo Matteucci
Former Deputy Secretary General of the European Free Trade Association
Anne-Rachel Inné
Director of the ITU Regional Office for Africa
Biljana Scott
Associate of the China Centre, University of Oxford
Geoff Berridge
Emeritus Professor of International Politics, University of Leicester
Katharina Höne
Director of Research
Kishan Rana
Professor Emeritus, former Indian Ambassador, and a joint secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
Lee Hibbard
Administrator, Bioethics Unit, Council of Europe
Liz Galvez
Former Senior British Diplomat
Ljupčo Jivan Gjorgjinski
Senior Advisor for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia
Marília Maciel
Head - Digital Commerce and Internet Policy
Milan Jazbec
Ambassador and Professor of Diplomacy
Petru Dumitriu
Senior Diplo Fellow
Yolanda Kemp Spies
Director of the Diplomatic Studies Programme at Oxford University
Videos
Amb. Kishan Rana: Bilateral Diplomacy
‘Bilateral diplomacy might sound like a boring subject, but it can actually be quite fun.’ This is how Amb. Kishan Rana opens his first of 20 diary videos on diplomacy. In this video he covers 3 topics: 1. What is bilateral diplomacy? 2. The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (the foundation of all diplomatic relations) 3. Moderating problems through the examples of Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia (1979) and the Vietnam-USA relationship after the 1955-75 Vietnam War.
Amb. Kishan Rana: The Essence of Diplomacy
In the 20th and last video in his series on diplomacy, Amb. Kishan Rana focuses on the practice (vs theory) of contemporary diplomacy. He summarises his suggestions in 8 useful points.
Rana spent 35 years in the Indian Foreign Service, and was ambassador to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany.