ABSTRACT
Whilst there is a rich and growing literature on diplomacy, theories of diplomacy are less abundant. In view of its pivotal role in international relations (IR), diplomacy has received surprisingly little attention amongst theoretically oriented IR scholars. Indeed, diplomacy has been described as ‘particularly resistant to theory’,1 and the well-known Israeli diplomat and foreign minister, Abba Eban, has argued that the ‘intrinsic antagonism’ between theory and practice is more acute in diplomacy than in most other fields.2 Why, then, has diplomacy not been the object of more theorising? There may be several reasons for the relative dearth of diplomatic theory. Two major factors have to do with the conceptualisation of diplomacy and the character of the authors writing about diplomacy.
