Outposts of diplomacy: A history of the embassy
By GR Berridge, Reaktion Books £25
More than two centuries ago, the British government bought the French Hotel de Charost, above, from Napoleon’s sister and, in 1814, it became the first British official ambassador’s residence. Today, it is still Britain’s embassy in Paris, one of 83 embassies and more than 40 consulates around the world.
In this enlivening book, historian GR Berridge describes how the embassy has evolved over time, defending its exceptional role: ‘The resident embassy constitutes an indispensable mode of diplomacy that persists because every state needs to have some sort of relation to other states, whether friendly or not.’
According to our reviewer, Birgitta Niklasson from the University of Gothenburg, the book contains ‘many fascinating stories and richly detailed descriptions’ of the embassy staff, buildings, diplomatic standing, the means of communication and intelligence purposes. On this last facet, Niklasson praises Berridge’s ‘equally interesting accounts of how diplomatic staff have always tried to distance themselves from those involved in intelligence gathering’ as the latter is seen as a less savoury and less gentlemanly activity.
Despite its apparent linear narrative, the book is ‘full of disagreements’ that reflect the range of diplomatic practices beyond the British sphere, and the comparison of the content of the ‘diplomatic service lists of the British Foreign Office and the Austro-Hungarian equivalent offers wonderful insights into the organizational cultures of two different foreign services, as well as into the everyday lives of the diplomats’. For the loyal Chatham House reader, Berridge’s book will prove irresistible and nostalgic in equal parts.
To read the full review in ‘International Affairs’, click here
Future of denial: The ideologies of climate change
By Tad DeLay, Verso £20
Denial is not a one-stop shop – nor a roadblock – on the path to climate change. Rather, it contains multitudes that Tad DeLay’s new book brings to the forefront in a forensic examination of how denialism infuses and reproduces our collective narratives and state apparatuses designed to respond to the overlapping issues of climate change, capitalism and conflict. Zooming in on climate denialism in the United States, DeLay identifies four groupings of denialists, revealing how their different ideologies distort or deny facts, in ‘meticulously researched chapters’ that merit ‘careful reading’, writes reviewer Hilde Rapp, of the Centre for International Peacebuilding
To read the full review in ‘International Affairs’, click here
On Xi Jinping: How Xi’s Marxist Nationalism is Shaping China and the World
By Kevin Rudd, Oxford University Press £26.99
From his undergraduate years to his diplomatic postings, Kevin Rudd has nurtured both a widely successful political career and a lifelong interest in China that led reviewer Ian Hall, an Australia-based professor, to describe him as ‘the most China-literate leader the country had ever had’.
It might be surprising then, to learn that Rudd struggled to grasp why the Communist Party of China became so assertive during his time as the Australian PM. This book is the result of Rudd’s turn to academia to shed light on Xi Jinping’s worldview. He provides a ‘painstaking analysis’ of the core elements of Xi’s ideology. For Hall, ‘it is hard not to be impressed by the project’s ambition’.
To read the full review in ‘International Affairs’, click here
Greenland in Arctic Security: (De)Securitization Dynamics Under Climatic Thaw and Geopolitical Freeze
Edited by Marc Jacobsen, Ulrik Pram Gad and Ole Wæver, University of Michigan Press £45.49
In this nod to the ‘resilience’ of the Copenhagen School of International Relations and its theory of securitization, 17 experts explore how different actors have securitized Greenland in the context of Arctic security. Securitization refers to the process whereby states elevate issues from the normal sphere into a level of concern that legitimizes extraordinary measures.
Reviewer Karsten Friis, a political scientist, describes it as ‘an excellent edited volume’, from which readers can ‘learn about Greenland and its unique place in global politics’. Although the US has tried to buy Greenland several times since 1625, Donald Trump’s renewed ambition make this a timely read.
To read the full review in ‘International Affairs’, click here
