The politics of international diplomatic training

Representation and socialisation in programmes for diplomats from the Balkans

This chapter explores a central tension in international diplomatic training. Experienced diplomats who teach diplomats from other – usually less powerful – states engage in two modes of representation at once. On the one hand, they represent their state, its people, and its interests. In this sense, diplomatic training is a particular form of diplomacy and as such mediates difference without attempting to overcome or transcend it. In spaces of international diplomatic training, representatives of different polities come together, learn about each other’s views, and explore possibilities for coexisting in difference. On the other hand, diplomatic trainers also represent diplomacy as a profession and practice to their ‘young colleagues’, as they are often called irrespective of their age in these settings. While diplomatic relationships are horizontal, at least in a formal sense, these teaching and mentoring relationships are hierarchical. The relationship between master and apprentice here is distinctly undiplomatic, with the aim to assimilate the other into the world of diplomacy. Drawing on participant observation of training programs for diplomats from Kosovo and in-depth interviews, this chapter shows how this tension reproduces a particular imaginary of international politics and forms individual and collective subjects of a particular kind. Theoretically, the chapter engages with recent literatures on diplomacy as a profession and shows that diplomacy grants agency to those invited to participate in it, but always on terms that are not fully their own.