mercoledì 25 ottobre 2017
Anniversaries of Note in 2017
Twenty-Fifth
Anniversary of the Signing of the Maastricht Treaty, February 7,
1992. The European
Union finds
itself in the midst of an identity crisis these days. Economic growth
is limping
along,
the British
want out,
and Euroskepticism is
gaining ground. Perhaps the 25th anniversary
of the
Maastricht Treatywill
help the EU regain its mojo. What the twelve members of the “European
Economic Community”
(EEC)
committed themselves to a quarter century ago was remarkable. They
weren’t content with having a common economic market. They wanted
deeper economic, legal, and political integration. In advancing this
“European Project,” Maastricht called for enhancing greater
economic cooperation, developing a unified
European foreign policy,
and generating common
judicial policies.
The experiment with deeper integration worked—for a time. The EU
grew to twenty-eight member countries, created
the euro,
and had serious people talking about how Europe
would run the twenty-first century.
Then came the Great
Recession.
Seven years of tough economic times have exposed deep divisions
across the continent about the European Project. The EU’s fans say
that its past stumbles have always led to more and deeper
integration. Perhaps. But sometimes past performance is a poor
indicator of future behavior.
Centennial
of the Russian
Revolutions, March 8-November 7, 1917. The Russian
Revolution was
actually two revolutions, one that gave hope to the dream that Russia
might embrace liberal democracy and another that crushed it. The
first, or February
Revolution,
began on March 8, 1917 when workers struck to protest food shortages
in St. Petersburg. (Russia at the time used the Julian
rather than Gregorian calendar,
which is why the revolution’s name doesn’t match the date we now
give it.) The protests spread rapidly. Calls for “Bread!”
quickly
gave way to chants of “Down with the Autocracy!” On March
10, Tsar
Nicholas II abdicated the
throne after
the troops he sent to suppress the protests defected. The Russian
Duma formed a provisional
government led
by Alexander
Kerensky.
But Kerensky’s government struggled. The applause that greeted its
decision to abolish
the Tsar’s hated secret police and press censorship did
not offset the anger generated by its decision to continue fighting
in World War I. The decision to allow Vladimir
Lenin to
return from exile in July gave opponents a leader. On November 7,
Lenin and his fellow “Bolsheviks”
launched
the October
Revolution,
overthrowing Kerensky’s government in a nearly bloodless
coup d’état.
Lenin made peace with Germany and began asserting control over the
sprawling Russian empire. Anti-Bolshevik and pro-Tsarist forces
fought back, but the “Red Army” defeated the “White
Army”
in
a bloody four-year
civil war.
In 1922 the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics was
officially established. Historians were left to wonder what might
have been.
Centennial
of the U.S. Entry into World War I, April 6, 1917. For
more than a century Americans obeyed George Washington’s injunction
in his Farewell
Address to
keep out of the political affairs of Europe. That obedience ended
on April
6, 1917 when Congress voted for war against Germany.
The break with what had been the defining feature of American foreign
policy did not come easily. When the “Great War” began in
1914, President
Woodrow Wilson immediately declared
U.S. neutrality.
But neutrality was hard to maintain. U.S. trade before the war
favored Great Britain and the Allied
Powers.
With Britain’s dominance of the high seas, that tilt only increased
with time. Germany responded by launching unrestricted
submarine warfare,
which led most famously to the
sinking of the Lusitania in
May 1915, and efforts to sabotage
ports and railroads in
the United States. Germany suspended unrestricted submarine warfare
in 1916, but announced
its resumption on January 31, 1917.
Three days later, Wilson broke diplomatic relations with Germany.
Weeks later he learned of the Zimmermann
Telegram,
a secret German offer to give Mexico land lost in the
Mexican-American War if Mexico joined in a war against the United
States. Wilson initially resisted growing public sentiment for war
with Germany, worrying
what it would do to the country.
But he eventually relented. At 8:30 p.m. on April 2, he addressed a
joint session of Congress to request a declaration of
war, saying that
“the world must be made safe for democracy.”
Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967. Wars
don’t need to last long to have lasting consequences. Take for
example the
Six-Day War.
In mid-May 1967, Egyptian
President Gamal Abdel Nasser mobilized
Egyptian troops along the Israeli border after Soviet officials told
him, incorrectly,
that Israel was poised to attack Syria. Over the next week, Nasser
evicted a UN
peacekeeping force that
had been in Gaza and the Sinai since the 1956
Suez War to
provide a buffer between Egyptian and Israeli forces. He then took
the step that Israel had said it would consider an act
of war:
he closed the Straits
of Tiran,
thereby cutting off Israel’s only access to the Red Sea. The
Israelis were good to their word. At
7:45 a.m.
on June 5, they launched Operation
Focus,
a series of devastating airstrikes against Egyptian airfields. Syrian
and Jordanian forces immediately joined the fighting. Although
numerically outnumbered, the Israelis quickly
routed all
three Arab militaries. On June
11,
a UN-brokered ceasefire took
effect. In just six days, Israel doubled the territory under its
control, gaining the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan
Heights, the West Bank, and most important, East Jerusalem. Fifty
years later, the results of the Six-Day War still reverberate in the
Middle East.
November
22, 1967 marks the passage of UN Security Council Resolution
242,
which demanded that Israel withdraw from territories it occupied
during the Six-Day War.
Centennial
of the Balfour Declaration, November 2, 1917. The
letter that British Foreign Minister Arthur
James Balfour wrote
to Baron
Lionel Walter Rothschild on November
2, 1917 was
no casual thing. It borrowed language that Rothschild himself had
supplied months earlier and that Balfour and colleagues had
reworked.
Why so much effort for a letter that ran
just about 125 words?
Balfour and British Prime Minister David
Lloyd Georgehoped
in good part to notch a much-needed public relations victory. Britain
was locked alongside France in a grinding
stalemate against
Germany. The effort to knock the Ottoman
Empire out
of the war had failed at Gallipoli,
and Russia looked ready to bow out of the war. By writing to
Rothschild, a leading member of the Jewish community in Britain, with
the promise to support the “establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people,” they hoped to rally Jewish
communities, especially those in Russia and the United States, to the
Allied cause. The Balfour
Declaration never
quite had that effect. By the time it became public a week later, the
Bolsheviks had taken power in Russia and sued for peace. But the
declaration helped publicize, legitimate, and advance the cause
of Zionism.
Following the end of World War I, the League
of Nations gave
Britain administration over
Palestine in part to implement the declaration’s promise, and
Jewish migration to Palestine increased
dramatically.
The British government soon learned that the promises it made about a
Jewish homeland conflicted with its
wartime promises to Arab leaders.
from:
https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-historical-anniversaries-note-2017
and
60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome
2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome.
Signed on 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).
The first Treaty, signed by high representatives from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, brought into existence the European Economic Community, also known as the Common Market. While its immediate objectives were to integrate trade and strengthen the economies of the area, one of its underlying political desires was to ‘lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the people of Europe’.
The EURATOM treaty instead was meant to contribute to the formation and development of Europe's nuclear industries so that all the Member States could benefit from the development of atomic energy and that the security of supply would be ensured.
from:
https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-historical-anniversaries-note-2017
and
60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome
2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome.
Signed on 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).
The first Treaty, signed by high representatives from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, brought into existence the European Economic Community, also known as the Common Market. While its immediate objectives were to integrate trade and strengthen the economies of the area, one of its underlying political desires was to ‘lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the people of Europe’.
The EURATOM treaty instead was meant to contribute to the formation and development of Europe's nuclear industries so that all the Member States could benefit from the development of atomic energy and that the security of supply would be ensured.
An in-depth US view:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44249.pdf
Commemorations of the 10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Indigenous_Peoples
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Commemorations of the 10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Indigenous_Peoples
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Making a speech in English
How
to make a welcome speech in English
How
to make a presentation speech in English
and
Expo Milano 2015
and
Destinazione Italia
Other
http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/interventi/2017/02/intervento-dell-on-ministro-al.html
What is the role of culture in diplomacy?
This question can be
interpreted to include at least the following six ideas:
1) Samuel
Huntington’s argument
that international relations depend on the division of the world into
cultural areas. He argued that people's
cultural and religious identities
would be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold
War
world and that intervention in other cultural areas should usually be
avoided as it is likely to be misunderstood and lead to unpredictable
results.
People
have levels of identity: a resident of Rome may define himself with
varying degrees of intensity as a Roman, an Italian, a Catholic, a
Christian, a European, a Westerner. The civilization to which he
belongs is the broadest level of identification with which he
intensely identifies. People can and do redefine their identities
and, as a result, the composition and boundaries of civilizations
change.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizations
2) Cultural
differences
in terms of the ideas contained in the material I will give you in
class. These are all elements that the diplomat must be aware of and
pay particular attention to, especially in relation to non-diplomats
(see below at the end of this section). Compare
and contrast attitudes among the North Americans, Japanese, Italians,
Chinese, South Americans, Germans, Arabs, and other countries,
geographical areas or cultures as appropriate, to some or all of the
following ideas: eye contact, making friends and establishing a
relationship before negotiating, choosing the right kind of venue for
a meeting, addressing the right person, punctuality, gift-giving,
turn-taking and interruptions, hand-shaking and bowing, stance and
distance, body language, linguistic register and forms of address,
dress codes, linguistic signaling, the appropriateness or
inappropriateness of talking business during a meal, norms for
recording what has been said and organizing follow-ups to meetings.
Put all these in a logical order e.g. pre-meeting, start of meeting,
during meeting, end of meeting, post-meeting.
Of
course no particular culture has a ‘better’ or ‘more correct’
approach to maintaining diplomatic relations and negotiating,
although there are norms considered appropriate in the UN context. It
is simply a problem of social norms and expectations and diplomats
therefore need to adapt their approach to their counterpart. This is
important, firstly, as a simple act of politeness in order to put
one’s counterpart at ease and as a way to maintain a good working
relationship. This will be very important for diplomats stationed
abroad where the onus is on them to conform, at least to an
acceptable extent, to the host country’s norms. Secondly, it will
be of crucial importance when diplomats are involved in a negotiation
that is particularly important to their country and which really
needs to succeed. So awareness-raising in this area is a necessary
part of a diplomat’s training and development. The following
provide some ideas on cross-cultural
negotiations in business and diplomacy
You
could link these ideas to some of the other points made on this list
by looking at:
http://kms2.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ESDP/98740/ichaptersection_singledocument/e4b1feb4-d658-4eba-b70c-e532d8025612/en/12+Bolewski.pdf
Of
course, one can also argue that professional diplomats themselves
form their own culture, a group of people particularly skilled at not
being offended
or
confused or unable to respond appropriately to unfamiliar customs,
social norms or behavior,
a group that considers the maintenance of good relations a primary
goal beyond its own cultural expectations and makes a positive effort
to be informed about and respect the norms of other cultures ( in
particular those of the host country).
3) International
conventions
to protect minority cultures e.g. the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and
the
UN Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions and cultural heritage e.g. The Convention
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage
The
EU Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society
4) The
role of the diplomat (particularly the cultural
attaché) in
promoting his own country’s culture
in terms of art or scientific exhibitions, cultural events of various
other kinds (e.g. Italian food, cooking or music), relations with
local Italian emigrant associations in the host country, language
courses, information regarding tourism or where to find tourist
information, and sports events in the host country involving Italy or
ones in Italy that will involve a team from the host country. All of
these are seen as vehicles for promoting a positive image of the
country and overcoming negative stereotypes of the nation, thus
building good relations with the host country, through a continuous
public relations exercise, and gaining more influence and ‘soft
power’. The diplomat himself is expected to behave in a way which
will make him a credit to his country and give foreigners a good
impression. All of this is described as Cultural Diplomacy (see below
#) and is something that potentially relates to all fields, and thus
involves all a state’s actors and all those who can be seen as
representing the country in some way, in the public sector, the
private sector (e.g. businessmen) and as individuals, as cultural
representatives (diplomats in the widest sense). This is something
that will affect efforts to improve relations with other states and
foreign public opinion, promote national interests and enhance
cooperation by embracing cultural diversity and by trying to build
bridges and overcome barriers where there are significant
differences.
5)
Multiculturalism
– We should see multiculturalism as a growing reality of modern
European life, and the need for multiculturalism as a positive and
necessary force to bridge ethnic, religious and national divisions
and tensions within society and between states. In this sense the EU
is one vast attempt at multiculturalism aimed at overcoming the
divisions of the past that led to two world wars, and providing a
common home (with a secular constitution, guaranteeing equality,
respect and basic rights for all) for Europeans and migrant workers
of many different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. In
purely European terms it has been remarkably successful. This is
balanced with EU initiatives to protect the rights of minority
cultures and linguistic groups e.g. The European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
(ECRML)
of 1992.
This
idea is closely linked to the project for European citizenship and
the goal of strengthening European identity. European identity
itself, however – the sense of belonging to something bigger than
the nation – goes far beyond the question of whether Europeans
like or dislike the European Union institutions. As well as sharing a
common cultural history, since the end of World War II many factors
have led Europeans to develop a common bond. Among these are common
democratic and social values, greater contact through travel and
study (e.g. the Erasmus program but also cheap foreign holidays),
closer economic and cultural ties and shared prosperity. While it
would be inaccurate to see most of these developments as the product
of the EU, the EU has been a constant supporter and beneficiary of
this process. However, against a background of economic stagnation
(the loss of the promise of ever-greater prosperity) growing tensions
in Europe over immigrants and immigration (focused mainly on non-EU
citizens and perhaps due mainly to the recession), and fears about
the rise of homegrown terrorism, concerns have been raised about how
far and how fast the multicultural project can go. However, any
decline in the popularity of the EU institutions and the rise of
nationalist parties cannot be automatically read as a rejection of
the idea of European identity in itself.
See
also ‘Homegrown
Islamic Terrorism’
on this blog 19 Nov 2015
6)
Cultural
Diplomacy
Definition
Italian
Cultural Diplomacy
good
examples of events and exhibitions:
Find
your own examples for 2017
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