Darkness by Design: The Hidden Power in Global Capital Markets. By Walter Mattli. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. 264p. $29.95 cloth.
Darkness by Design: The Hidden Power in Global Capital Markets. By Walter Mattli. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. 264p. $29.95 cloth.
复制标题
设计的黑暗:全球资本市场中隐藏的力量。
作者:
Jeffrey M. Chwieroth;A. Walter
others) think that they are able to ascertain intentionality in others. Indeed, Holmes writes, “If there is fundamental uncertainty in the international system, which leads to a problem of intention understanding, practitioners often belie that uncertainty and act as if they are certain about the other” (p. 244, emphasis in the original). This “as if” might be enough to explain the overall puzzle of why practitioners insist that tête-à-tête interactions matter. Indeed, if face-to-face diplomacy is a social practice with its own shared expectations, including that such meetings have value, it could still shape outcomes—with or without the brain’s mirror system. In short, the book highlights the need for further research on the relationship between the reflective and intuitive aspects of face-to-face interactions. Third, can we really understand state intentions as “individual intentions since it is individuals who create them” (p. 28)? Certainly, we should not underestimate the role of individual decision makers, especially not in the cases that Holmes examine, but today, state intentions are hardly individual: they are based on group decisions and institutional and historical legacies. Moreover, individual leaders often lack the time and resources to develop clear intentions. Instead, as Holmes also emphasizes, top-level or summit diplomacy is often a staged spectacle, following a detailed playbook, where most of the negotiations are done before the actual face-to-face meeting summit. Thus, Holmes’s argument might be even more relevant to lowerlevel diplomacy where continuous face-to-face interactions are more common. Although they challenge the book’s argument, these questions also illustrate Holmes’s thought-provoking contribution to our understanding of diplomacy. Face-to-Face Diplomacy deserves to be read not just by students of diplomacy but also by any scholar of international relations interested in the microdynamics of world politics.