Informal Diplomacy in Ancient Rome: An Analysis of Negotiation in Cicero's Letters

这个多学科项目分析古罗马非正式政治谈判，结合古拉丁字母的细读与现代谈判理论。现代政治研究越来越关注非正式外交——不具有法律约束力的政治活动——以解释更广泛的政治趋势（Christiansen and Neuhold, 2012）。罗马历史提供了一个深刻的类比：虽然正式的政治权力主要掌握在选举产生的地方官员手中，但社会政治精英之间的非正式互动严重影响了他们的政策。最近研究了这种非正式外交的各个方面，如社会会议（Hall, 2009）、调解（Tatum, 2017）和非正式谈话（Rosillo-López, 2021）。这个项目将是第一个在现代理论背景下分析罗马谈判过程的项目。政治研究和古典研究都将从中获益：前者通过展示现代谈判理论如何在古代世界得到体现，后者通过重新构建罗马社会中非正式和正式政治行动之间的关系。我们对罗马非正式谈判最好的了解是马库斯·图利乌斯·西塞罗（Marcus Tullius Cicero）的信件，他是公元前80-43年的一位杰出政治家。大约有900封信和90封回信留存了下来，其中许多是写给其他政治家的。值得注意的是，这些文件详细描述了几个涉及与罗马以外各方谈判的“危机点”。历史记录概述了这些事件的结果，表明非正式谈判与正式政治行动之间存在联系。推动这个项目的主要研究问题是非正式谈判在古罗马是如何运作的。通过仔细阅读西塞罗（Cicero）公元前58-43年的信件，我将提出一个新颖的跨学科框架，将现代谈判理论应用于罗马非正式外交，以回答主要研究问题和几个次要问题，包括：政治、外交和行为因素如何影响古罗马非正式外交？权力(a)对称在罗马非正式谈判中扮演什么角色？以信件为基础的谈判如何适应罗马非正式政治的框架？古罗马的非正式外交有多有效？我将利用定性案例研究方法，借鉴西塞罗的信件和现代谈判理论。在构建一个强调最相关理论主题的概念框架之后，我将使用过程追踪方法来分析西塞罗和他的通讯员所使用的外交风格是如何随着时间的推移而发展的，以响应外生（例如在战略层面）和政治（例如西塞罗和他的通讯员的立场变化）因素。这项研究将通过其最多产的作家和标志性政治家之一的通信，为我们理解古罗马非正式外交行为的变化和连续性提供原创、严谨和跨学科的贡献。

This multidisciplinary project analyses ancient Roman informal political negotiations, combining close reading of ancient Latin letters with modern negotiation theory. Modern political studies are increasingly focusing on informal diplomacy - non-legally binding political activity - to explain broader political trends (Christiansen and Neuhold, 2012). Roman history provides an insightful parallel: although formal political power rested primarily in elected magistrates, informal interactions among the socio-political elite heavily influenced their policies. Aspects of this informal diplomacy have been examined recently, such as social convention (Hall, 2009), mediation (Tatum, 2017), and informal conversation (Rosillo-López, 2021). This project will be the first to analyse Roman negotiation processes in the context of modern theory. Both political and classical studies stand to gain: the former by showing how modern negotiation theories are already represented in the ancient world, and the latter by reframing the relationship between informal and formal political action in Roman society.Our best insights into Roman informal negotiations are the letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a prominent statesman from 80-43BCE. Some 900 letters and 90 replies survive, including many to fellow politicians. Notably, these detail several "crisis points" involving negotiations with parties outside of Rome. Historical records outline the outcomes of these events, indicating a connection between informal negotiations and formal political actions.The main research question driving this project is how informal negotiations worked in ancient Rome. Drawing on close readings of Cicero's letters from 58-43BCE, I will present a novel, interdisciplinary framework which applies modern negotiation theories to Roman informal diplomacy, to answer the main research question and several secondary questions, including: How did political, diplomatic, and behavioural factors influence ancient Roman informal diplomacy?What role does power (a)symmetry occupy in Roman informal negotiation?How do letter-based negotiations fit into the framework of Roman informal politics?How effective was informal diplomacy in ancient Rome?I will utilise a qualitative case study methodology, drawing on Cicero's letters and modern negotiation theories. Following the construction of a conceptual framework highlighting the most pertinent theoretical themes, I will use process tracing methods to analyse how the style of diplomacy used by Cicero and his correspondents developed over time in response to exogenous (e.g. at the strategic level) and political (e.g. changes in the positions of Cicero and his correspondents) factors. This research will provide an original, rigorous and interdisciplinary contribution to our understanding of change and continuity in the conduct of informal diplomacy in ancient Rome through the correspondences of one of its most prolific writers and iconic statesmen.