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
What Diplomats Do: The Life and Work of Diplomats (Book review)
03 July 2020
Referring to Prof. Geoff Berridge, we learn that ‘diplomacy is the most important institution of our society of states’. Further on, according to Sir Ivor Roberts, diplomacy is both ‘that funny old trade’ as ...
‘Soft power’ is nothing more than influence
01 July 2020
The term soft power (and its siblings hard power and smart power), employed to embrace a particular category of resources of potential power, originated in the stable of Joseph S Nye, Jr, a Harvard University disti...
The opportunity costs of an arms race
24 June 2020
What is the value of sustaining international peace in the age of new technologies with incredible disruptive potential, such as the combination of weapons and artificial intelligence (AI)? The financial costs of mul...
The hole in the fence
20 June 2020
I am a keen gardener, and during the Covid-19 lockdown I had the great good fortune to be allowed by our neighbour, Janet, to take over the care of her very large, tree-lined, and blissfully quiet garden. The weathe...
Q. Which London embassy needs 13 cultural attachés?
17 June 2020
Answer: The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Why? The employment of the Saudi consulate-general and consul general’s residence in Istanbul in the horrifying murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in early October...
