Delegated Diplomacy: How Ambassadors Establish Trust in International Relations

Why do states still need diplomats? Despite instantaneous electronic communication and rapid global travel, the importance of ambassadors and embassies has in many ways grown since the middle of the nineteenth century. However, in theories of international relations, diplomats are often neglected in favor of states or leaders, or they are dismissed as old-fashioned. David Lindsey develops a new theory of diplomacy that illuminates why states find ambassadors indispensable to effective intergovernmental interaction. He argues that the primary diplomatic challenge countries face is not simply communication--it is credibility. Diplomats can often communicate credibly with their host countries even when their superiors cannot because diplomats spend time building the trust that is vital to cooperation. Using a combination of history, game theory, and statistical analysis, Lindsey explores the logic of delegating authority to diplomats. He argues that countries tend to appoint diplomats who are sympathetic to their host countries and share common interests with them. Ideal diplomats hold political preferences that fall in between those of their home country and their host country, and they are capable of balancing both sets of interests without embracing either point of view fully. Delegated Diplomacy is based on a comprehensive dataset of more than 1,300 diplomatic biographies drawn from declassified intelligence records, as well as detailed case studies of the U.S. ambassadors to the United Kingdom and Germany before and during World War I. It provides a rich and insightful account of the theory and practice of diplomacy in international relations.

Politics & Social Sciences

LINDSEY, DAVID

Politics & Government

Columbia University Press

Why do states still need diplomats? Despite instantaneous electronic communication and rapid global travel, the importance of ambassadors and embassies has in many ways grown since the middle of the nineteenth century. However, in theories of international relations, diplomats are often neglected in favor of states or leaders, or they are dismissed as old-fashioned.\nDavid Lindsey develops a new theory of diplomacy that illuminates why states find ambassadors indispensable to effective intergovernmental interaction. He argues that the primary diplomatic challenge countries face is not simply communication―it is credibility. Diplomats can often communicate credibly with their host countries even when their superiors cannot because diplomats spend time building the trust that is vital to cooperation. Using a combination of history, game theory, and statistical analysis, Lindsey explores the logic of delegating authority to diplomats. He argues that countries tend to appoint diplomats who are sympathetic to their host countries and share common interests with them. Ideal diplomats hold political preferences that fall in between those of their home country and their host country, and they are capable of balancing both sets of interests without embracing either point of view fully.\nDelegated Diplomacy is based on a comprehensive dataset of more than 1,300 diplomatic biographies drawn from declassified intelligence records, as well as detailed case studies of the U.S. ambassadors to the United Kingdom and Germany before and during World War I. It provides a rich and insightful account of the theory and practice of diplomacy in international relations.

Animosity

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

WARNER BOOKS

An Absence of Light

DOUBLEDAY

Houston is shattered by a shock wave of  unbelievably vicious sex killings.  And this time the pattern is unique--way out of line with traditional violent-crime psychology.  In Detective Carmen Palma's experience, a psychopath always chooses anonymous targets.  But the Houston victims know and trust their killer:  They meet willingly in hotel rooms, even in their homes.  They don't fight when the leather cuffs are fastened to their wrists and ankles.  They don't even struggle when the first blows fall . . .Palma's first lightning instinct is that the victims expected their torture.  They were practicing masochists, apart of a secret clique that includes some of the city's most prominent women.  They helped choreograph their own punishments-every blow.  They just didn't expect to die. . .

Mercy

World Literature

Houston homicide detective Carmen Palma and a specialist in serial killers investigate the murders of several upper-middle-class Houston women living secret, double lives

United States

From the bestselling author of Mercy, an artfully crafted, hypnotically suspenseful thriller that combines the intensity of Thomas Harris with the moral complexity of Graham Greene. David L. Lindsey is one of those rare writers who have enjoyed both critical and commercial success. His six previous novels have received widespread acclaim for their elegant writing and vivid characters, but they also have been virtually impossible to put down, and his last novel, Mercy was a huge national bestseller. Now, in Body of Truth, Lindsey's popular hero Stuart Haydon returns as he investigates the disappearance of a young American woman in the murky underworld of Guatemala. When Lena Muller, daughter of a wealthy Houston businessman, disappears in Central America, her father, convinced she has been murdered, hires private detective Jim Fossler to investigate. Six months later Haydon receives an urgent call from Fossler - an old friend - from Guatemala City. Fossler has found Lena, but believes she is in serious trouble; sounding quite shaken, he asks Haydon to fly down to help him clear up the situation. Haydon complies, and upon arriving in Guatemala is immediately drawn into the country's surreal and violent netherworld, where a small group of American expatriates are engaged in quasi-official intrigues that have entangled them with corrupt military officials and an elusive faction of Guatemalan guerrillas. The unforgettable cast of Lena's "friends," all desperately trying to locate her, include Bennett Pittner, the brilliant, jaded semi-alcoholic CIA head of station in Guatemala; Janet Pittner, his wealthy and dangerously impetuous ex-wife, a woman for whom deceit is second nature - and a pleasure; Dr. Aris Grajeda, a young Guatemalan doctor who passionately fights both his country's suffering and the corruption that causes it; and Taylor Cage, a shadowy "freelancer" in the intelligence trade, an undeniably arrogant, calculating, and charming man, as "possessing of true bravery as any man Haydon had ever met." As Haydon is drawn further into this maze of conspiracies, he soon realizes that Lena Muller is not the young woman either he or her parents thought her to be. And, much to his regret, he also learns that it is not only people who disappear in Guatemala - often the border between reality and illusion vanishes as well. Body of Truth is a brilliant thriller: literate, haunting, and as impossible to put down as it is to forget.

Body of Truth

A female ex-CIA operative traces the death of a Houston Police Department investigator to a former, and legendary, Mossad agent (now dealing in drugs and arms), and the chase begins. By the author of Body of Truth. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Sensing that they are being set up, an Eastern European assassin and an undercover DEA agent cross paths at a summit meeting of international crime lords and must choose between their true selves and their secret identities. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Requiem for a Glass Heart

Americans in Conflict: The Civil War and Reconstruction (Houghton Mifflin books in American history)

History

Americas

Houghton, Mifflin Company

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by LINDSEY, DAVID. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by LINDSEY, DAVID

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by LINDSEY, DAVID. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Delegated Diplomacy: How Ambassadors Establish Trust in International Relations

Delegated Diplomacy: How Ambassadors Establish Trust in International Relations

Animosity

An Absence of Light

Mercy

Mercy

Body of Truth

An Absence of Light

Requiem for a Glass Heart

Americans in Conflict: The Civil War and Reconstruction (Houghton Mifflin books in American history)