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International Pecking Orders. The Politics and Practice of Multilateral Diplomacy

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Vincent Pouliot, International Pecking Orders: The Politics and Practice of Multilateral Diplomacy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016, 340 p.

Presentation

In any multilateral setting, some state representatives weigh much more heavily than others. Practitioners often refer to this form of diplomatic hierarchy as the 'international pecking order'. This book is a study of international hierarchy in practice, as it emerges out of the multilateral diplomatic process. Building on the social theories of Erving Goffman and Pierre Bourdieu, it argues that diplomacy produces inequality. Delving into the politics and inner dynamics of NATO and the UN as case studies, Vincent Pouliot shows that pecking orders are eminently complex social forms: contingent yet durable; constraining but also full of agency; operating at different levels, depending on issues; and defined in significant part locally, in and through the practice of multilateral diplomacy.

  • Explains how international hierarchies are a result of multilateral diplomatic processes
  • Reconciles the practice of multilateral diplomacy with the production of inequality and social stratification
  • Spans different dimensions of the social - situational, dispositional, relational and positional - in making sense of international politics

More informations (publisher's website)

L'ordre hiérarchique international : Une sociologie politique de la diplomatie multilatérale
01 September 2014 - 31 January 2015
31 January 2015
466
Vincent Pouliot
7244
2016
Political science
Contemporary period (1789-…)
World or no region
Vincent Pouliot