Empathy and Diplomacy

Empathy is a valuable asset in international diplomacy. Defined in its simplest form, it is an attempt to understand, and consciously imagine, the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of other people, communities and states. It can be both emotional and cognitive: a felt sense of connection, a deliberate process, or a combination of the two. 

Prominent figures have cited its significance in building bridges and creating a better society. Former President Barack Obama regularly extolled its virtues. Speaking to the United Nations in 2011, for example, he spoke of empathy’s necessity in relations between Israel and the Palestinian Territories: ‘each side has legitimate aspirations -- and that’s part of what makes peace so hard. And the deadlock will only be broken when each side learns to stand in the other’s shoes; each side can see the world through the other’s eyes. That’s what we should be encouraging. That’s what we should be promoting.’ More recently at Davos, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden advocated that: ‘what the world needs now is the quality of empathy’.

Although there is a growing body of literature on its value to society, no book has so far has explored what empathy looks like in the creation and implementation of diplomacy, and how it can be incorporated into policy-making processes to inform more effective and beneficial relations between states. Empathy and Diplomacy will address this gap.

Combining academic and theoretical analysis with original material from diplomatic archives, interviews with practitioners, and researcher observations from within these institutions, this book will provide a detailed and evidence-based argument for why empathy is an integral and valuable component of diplomacy and foreign policy. It is intended to be accessible and engaging, yet academically rigorous and empirically rich. The target audience is international, and it will be written for people who are interested in politics and international affairs, as well as practitioners who work within government and the broader policy-making community.