"All foreign policy is a logical extension of personal relationships. It's the way human nature functions."

(Joe Biden, CNN.com, June 17, 2021)

 

The current project raises highly debated questions regarding whether interpersonal relationships between statespersons have consequences for decision-making processes, foreign policy, and if so, how such connections translate into interstate relations.

We aim to answer these questions by exploring the interpersonal practices conducted as part of diplomacy, the intersubjective knowledge required to build, maintain, downgrade, or recover relations, and the consequences of both positive and negative interpersonal relations for foreign affairs.

We focus on two modes of relationships:

The first mode, positive interpersonal relationship, is harnessed to promote states' interests and strengthen interstate relations.

The second mode, negative interpersonal relationship, may result from unintentional or deliberate attempts to downgrade the relations between states by utilizing face-threatening interpersonal practices.

Our study is based on ethnographic observations in diplomatic settings, semi-structured interviews with statespersons, and analysis of archival materials and autobiographies.

Ethnography of diplomatic communication: The ethnographic study of diplomatic ceremonies and everyday encounters pinpoint statespersons’ interpersonal practices (e.g., gift exchanges, jokes, small talk, etc.) and possible failures in realizing them.

Interviews with states’ representatives: We conduct semi-structured interviews with past and present senior diplomats and political leaders who were involved in a variety of diplomatic interactions and were responsible for assessing their consequences.

Archival materials and autobiographies: We analyse primary sources collected from the national archives and personal archives of statespersons, complemented by the reading of autobiographies of diplomats and politicians from Israel, France, and the United States.