Jérémie Cornut

Practice theory and the study of diplomacy: A research agenda

This introductory article explores the multiple synergies between international practice theory and diplomatic studies. The timing for this cross-fertilizing exchange could not be better, as the study of diplomacy enters a phase of theorization while practice scholars look to confront the approach to new empirical and analytical challenges. The article first defines diplomacy as a historically and culturally contingent bundle of practices that are analytically alike in their claim to represent a given polity to the outside world. Then the key analytical wagers that practice theory makes are introduced, and debates currently raging in the discipline are briefly reviewed. Next, it is suggested what a practice theory of diplomacy may look like, discussing a variety of existing works through their common objective to explain the constitution of world politics in and through practice. Finally, a few research avenues to foster the dialogue between diplomatic studies and practice theory are outlined, centered on the nexuses of transformation and reproduction, rationality and know-how, and the technical vs. social dimensions of practices –diplomatic or otherwise.

To be a diplomat abroad: Diplomatic practice at embassies:

This article shows that the simultaneous management of three different social roles – knowledge producer, representative of a government, and bureaucrat – defines the everyday work and practice of contemporary diplomats posted at embassies. This argument rests on an analysis of information gathering in Western embassies before, during and after the eighteen days of the revolt that ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. I first identify various practices influencing diplomatic knowledge and prompting the production of particular interpretations of the revolt in Egypt. I then analyze how actors manage multiple positions and dispositions within overlapping social fields. This point illustrates what practice theorists mean when they assert that agents are always speaking from a position. Overall, the article unravels what being a diplomat posted abroad actually consists of in practice, complementing existing studies on the diplomatic mode of knowledge production. I provide insights on the interactions between diplomats and non-state actors and show that diplomats’ social skills and analytic competence constantly require and support each other.

Diplomacy, agency, and the logic of improvisation and virtuosity in practice

Immersed in the flow of activities, diplomats and other international practitioners are simultaneously influenced by past experiences and constantly innovating in response to situations that are never exactly the same. The conceptual tools of International Relations scholars must be capable of capturing this practical reality. To that end, I introduce in this article a relational approach to agency that can make sense of practitioners’ innovative ways of doing things in practice. Practice theorists in IR often emphasize hierarchies, struggle, and the role of habitus in shaping practices. Both building on and departing from them, I dig into the logic of practical sense and discuss Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of regulated improvisations, virtuosos/amateurs, and illusio to grasp agency in practice. I develop the idea that international actors are primarily practical and put improvisations and virtuosity — rather than rationality, cognitive processes, emotions, norm-compliance, path-dependency or even habits/habitus — in the foreground. I contend that this approach holds broader promise for the analysis of international politics than existing conceptions. We have much to gain by focusing on how international practitioners in their local contexts actually improvise in the moment. These improvisations in specific sites are constitutive of the ‘big picture’ of international politics. I take diplomatic practices in embassies and in permanent representations as an illustration.

The Status of Women in Canadian Foreign Policy Analysis

ABSTRACT What is the status of women scholars who study Canadian foreign policy (CFP)? Our study, the first of its kind to concentrate on the Canadian situation, addresses this question by studying publications and authorship. We assess the status of women in CFP since 1945 using the Canadian Foreign Relations Index, supplemented by studies on women in the academy. We show that the number of publications by women is substantially lower than those of men, and work by women remains underrepresented in the so-called “core” of what is traditionally defined as CFP. Regardless of the nature of the work, women scholars are less represented, and they appear to be disadvantaged by mixed collaborative work. These findings speak to the culture and personality of the discipline. They invite us to revisit assessments of the discipline as “mature” and “robust.”

Mothers, Militarization and War: Quebec in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT Even though Quebec society is often defined as pacifist and antimilitarist, scripts of militarization are deeply embedded in its social fabric. In order to explore this controversial contention and problematize the construction of elements of Quebec’s pacifist identity, this article focuses on the figure of mothers grieving their soldier-children killed in combat and on the politics of the performances of motherhood in Quebec and Canada. We first turn our attention to the very idea of militarization and the role of mothers in it. We then examine the traditional figure of the militarized grieving mother in Canada through an exploration of Remembrance Day ceremonies. Finally, we focus on the efforts to resist this construction of militarized motherhood in an antimilitaristic video released by the Fédération des femmes du Quebec in October 2010. The different reactions to these two opposed performances of motherhood suggest that motherhood in Quebec is militarized, and demonstrate that seemingly pacifist societies can be profoundly militarized.

The Special Relationship Transformed. The Canada–Quebec–France Triangle after de Gaulle

ABSTRACT Because of France’s unique role in Quebec’s international relations, any study of Quebec’s emergence on the international scene necessarily involves an analysis of this relationship. This article proposes an examination of Canada–France–Quebec relations in the decades following de Gaulle’s resignation in 1969. Several scholars focus on France’s implicit support for Quebec independence, considering that to be the essential ingredient of their “special relationship,” whereas I demonstrate that the foregoing interpretation overlooks the fact that France began to withdraw from the Canadian internal debate soon after de Gaulle’s resignation. During the last forty years, France’s abstention from interfering in Canadian internal affairs enabled both the flourishing of Quebec diplomacy and the deepening of the France–Quebec relationship.