Summary Diplomatic Skills
Introduction – to ‘know what’ and to ‘know how’ ................................................................................................. 2
Chapter 1 – Effective communication .................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 2 – Conversation ........................................................................................................................................ 8
Chapter 3 – Debate ................................................................................................................................................ 12
Chapter 4 – Negotiation (Statics) .......................................................................................................................... 14
Chapter 5 – Negotiation (Dynamics) .................................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 7 – Public Speaking ................................................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 8 – Dealing with the Media ..................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter 9 – Writing and Drafting ......................................................................................................................... 31
1
,Introduction – to ‘know what’ and to ‘know how’
Diplomacy as a practice
• Diplomacy is not a science, but a practice.
• Like law, medicine and engineering, it is defined by practice, not theory.
• “Diplomacy is what diplomats do.”
• Most literature focuses on ‘what’ questions:
o history of international relations
o geopolitics and geo-economics
o foreign policy and grand strategy
• This knowledge is necessary, but only the beginning.
• Once a diplomat understands what is going on, they must act:
o debating
o negotiating
o mediating
o public speaking
• This is where diplomatic skills become central.
Knowing that and knowing how (Ryle)
• Gilbert Ryle distinguishes between:
o ‘knowing that’
o ‘knowing how’
‘Knowing that’
• Concerns propositional knowledge.
• Refers to a stock of truths accumulated over time.
• Example:
o knowing that Article 51 of the UN Charter concerns self-defence
• Evaluated in terms of true or false.
‘Knowing how’
• Concerns procedural knowledge.
• What is known is not a truth, but an activity.
• Example:
o knowing how to argue convincingly that the Second Gulf War was not
legitimate self-defence.
• ‘Knowing how’ is the knowledge that inheres in skills and competences.
• It is action-oriented.
Linguistic and historical clarification
• In French:
o connaître = knowing that
o savoir = knowing how
• In Ancient Greece:
2
, o technè = skill or art
• Classical illustration:
o the kybernètes (ship’s steersman)
▪ does not primarily know about the sea
▪ but knows how to steer a ship through rough waters
• Diplomacy consists of similar arts:
o the art of negotiation
o conversation
o debating
o mediating
o public speaking
o writing and drafting
Performance, success, and rules
• Knowing that aims at truth.
• Knowing how aims at successful performance.
• Success is a pragmatic category, not an epistemic one.
• It concerns whether objectives are reached.
• To legitimately claim knowing how, performances must:
o meet standards
o satisfy criteria
• These standards are called “the rules of the game”.
• The book studies these rules as they apply to diplomatic skills.
Revaluing practice in diplomacy
• The study of diplomacy has traditionally privileged ‘know what’ over ‘know how’.
• The author aims to revalue the practice side of diplomacy.
• Diplomatic skills constitute a sophisticated form of applied knowledge.
• Good diplomats are not just smart analysts:
o “What is the problem?”
• They are also skilful performers:
o “What is to be done about it?”
Making the implicit explicit
• Most diplomatic skills are already used intuitively.
• They often appear as common sense.
• The purpose of the book is to make the implicit explicit.
Methodological approach
• The book does not provide a simple rulebook.
• Prescriptions alone (dos and don’ts) are insufficient.
• To become truly skilful, one must understand:
o why the rules exist
o where they come from
o their rationale
3
, • The book adopts a dual-track approach:
o surface prescriptions
o deeper analysis of the underlying structure of skills
• This approach is applied especially to the:
o conversation – debate – negotiation cluster
Exam-ready takeaway
Diplomacy is a practice in which ‘knowing how’—procedural knowledge embedded in
skills and governed by rules of the game—is at least as important as ‘knowing that’, or
propositional knowledge.
4
Introduction – to ‘know what’ and to ‘know how’ ................................................................................................. 2
Chapter 1 – Effective communication .................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 2 – Conversation ........................................................................................................................................ 8
Chapter 3 – Debate ................................................................................................................................................ 12
Chapter 4 – Negotiation (Statics) .......................................................................................................................... 14
Chapter 5 – Negotiation (Dynamics) .................................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 7 – Public Speaking ................................................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 8 – Dealing with the Media ..................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter 9 – Writing and Drafting ......................................................................................................................... 31
1
,Introduction – to ‘know what’ and to ‘know how’
Diplomacy as a practice
• Diplomacy is not a science, but a practice.
• Like law, medicine and engineering, it is defined by practice, not theory.
• “Diplomacy is what diplomats do.”
• Most literature focuses on ‘what’ questions:
o history of international relations
o geopolitics and geo-economics
o foreign policy and grand strategy
• This knowledge is necessary, but only the beginning.
• Once a diplomat understands what is going on, they must act:
o debating
o negotiating
o mediating
o public speaking
• This is where diplomatic skills become central.
Knowing that and knowing how (Ryle)
• Gilbert Ryle distinguishes between:
o ‘knowing that’
o ‘knowing how’
‘Knowing that’
• Concerns propositional knowledge.
• Refers to a stock of truths accumulated over time.
• Example:
o knowing that Article 51 of the UN Charter concerns self-defence
• Evaluated in terms of true or false.
‘Knowing how’
• Concerns procedural knowledge.
• What is known is not a truth, but an activity.
• Example:
o knowing how to argue convincingly that the Second Gulf War was not
legitimate self-defence.
• ‘Knowing how’ is the knowledge that inheres in skills and competences.
• It is action-oriented.
Linguistic and historical clarification
• In French:
o connaître = knowing that
o savoir = knowing how
• In Ancient Greece:
2
, o technè = skill or art
• Classical illustration:
o the kybernètes (ship’s steersman)
▪ does not primarily know about the sea
▪ but knows how to steer a ship through rough waters
• Diplomacy consists of similar arts:
o the art of negotiation
o conversation
o debating
o mediating
o public speaking
o writing and drafting
Performance, success, and rules
• Knowing that aims at truth.
• Knowing how aims at successful performance.
• Success is a pragmatic category, not an epistemic one.
• It concerns whether objectives are reached.
• To legitimately claim knowing how, performances must:
o meet standards
o satisfy criteria
• These standards are called “the rules of the game”.
• The book studies these rules as they apply to diplomatic skills.
Revaluing practice in diplomacy
• The study of diplomacy has traditionally privileged ‘know what’ over ‘know how’.
• The author aims to revalue the practice side of diplomacy.
• Diplomatic skills constitute a sophisticated form of applied knowledge.
• Good diplomats are not just smart analysts:
o “What is the problem?”
• They are also skilful performers:
o “What is to be done about it?”
Making the implicit explicit
• Most diplomatic skills are already used intuitively.
• They often appear as common sense.
• The purpose of the book is to make the implicit explicit.
Methodological approach
• The book does not provide a simple rulebook.
• Prescriptions alone (dos and don’ts) are insufficient.
• To become truly skilful, one must understand:
o why the rules exist
o where they come from
o their rationale
3
, • The book adopts a dual-track approach:
o surface prescriptions
o deeper analysis of the underlying structure of skills
• This approach is applied especially to the:
o conversation – debate – negotiation cluster
Exam-ready takeaway
Diplomacy is a practice in which ‘knowing how’—procedural knowledge embedded in
skills and governed by rules of the game—is at least as important as ‘knowing that’, or
propositional knowledge.
4
