Investigating diplomatic transformations
Investigating diplomatic transformations
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调查外交转变
DOI：
10.1111/1468-2346.12028
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发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
4.5
通讯作者：
WHEELER N
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
WHEELER N
这篇文章探讨了在转变敌对关系中，特别是在最高层，忠诚度所扮演的角色。基于马丁·怀特对这些问题的探索，特别是两个对手如何说服对方他们是认真的谈判伙伴的问题，文章认为，实现冲突的显著降级取决于信任的增长。与怀特对外交在结束冲突方面可以实现什么的有限概念相反，这里提出的论点是，外交官，特别是领导人之间的特定类型的沟通接触，可以在人际层面上建立一定程度的信任，这可以导致政策制定者采取和解的框架破坏行动。为了证明这一点，本文采用了美国总统罗纳德里根和苏联总统戈尔巴乔夫之间的峰会案例研究。这里的关键论点是，里根和戈尔巴乔夫之间的面对面接触促进了他们之间的信任程度，使20世纪80年代后半期发生的冷战从根本上降级成为可能。竞争对手的解释集中在核武器和苏联的经济衰退进行了分析，但虽然这些都是在关系的转变有利的条件，文章认为，有必要认识到，美国和苏联领导人之间的人际信任在实现这一外交转型中发挥的关键作用。
This article investigates the role that diplomacy—especially at the highest levels—can play in transforming adversarial relationships. Building on Martin Wight's exploration of these issues, in particular the question of how two adversaries can convince each other that they are serious negotiating partners, the article contends that achieving a significant de-escalation of a conflict depends upon the growth of trust. In contrast to Wight's limited conception of what diplomacy could achieve in terms of ending conflicts, the argument made here is that particular types of communicative encounters between diplomats, and especially leaders, can build a level of trust at the interpersonal level which can lead policy-makers to make conciliatory frame-breaking moves. To make good on this claim, the article employs a case-study of the summitry between US President Ronald Reagan and his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev. The key contention here is that the face-to-face encounters between Reagan and Gorbachev promoted a level of trust between them that made possible the fundamental de-escalation of the Cold War that took place in the second half of the 1980s. Rival explanations focusing on nuclear weapons and Soviet economic decline are analysed, but while these were enabling conditions in the transformation of relations, the article argues that it is necessary to recognize the critical role that interpersonal trust between US and Soviet leaders played in achieving this diplomatic transformation.