Histoires diplomatiques : Leçons d'hier pour le monde d'aujourd'hui

05 Aug, 2024

Book Title:

Histoires diplomatiques : Leçons d'hier pour le monde d'aujourd'hui

Author:

Gérard Araud

Genre:

Essay, Politics, International Affairs

Synopsis:

Histoires Diplomatiques is an essay by veteran diplomat and international affairs commentator Gérard Araud. He was the former French ambassador to the United States and Israel and the former Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations.

His essay is a brilliant manifesto for political realism. He picks several historical turning points to analyze the evolution of great power politics and diplomacy in the past three hundred years.

Former Ambassador Araud takes these historical examples to summarize critical points in diplomacy and negotiations. The book's content is an excellent summary of these diplomatic maxims:

1. The end of the War of the Spanish Succession: Or when to end a conflict.
2. The peace of Amiens: In a diplomatic marriage, the bride must not be too beautiful.
3. The Congress of Vienna: Do not confuse foreign policy and diplomacy.
4. The Ems Dispatch: Or when passions blind us.
5. The Entente Cordiale: Or when an alliance becomes an end in itself.
6. The Treaty of Versailles: Or the centrality of the relationship with Germany to France's foreign policy.
7. The road to France's May - June 1940 disaster: Faced with danger, we are mostly alone.
8. The Suez Crisis: The limits of military intervention.
9. The Irak Invasion: International law bows to power.

Each topic is covered from multiple angles: historical, character study, and contemporary echoes.

Personal Reflection:

This book was a phenomenal read. The analytical rigor and the sharp commentary on both historical and contemporary events give us curious and interested laymen a masterful roadmap to understanding contemporary international events.

Mr Araud is a seasoned diplomat and no stranger to conflict. His deep insights into both history and the craft of diplomacy make this book a hard to put down read. It is witty, tragic, and sometimes hopeful. He talks about the business of managing relationships between states like the seasoned veteran he is.

Mr Araud is not blind to some of realpolitik's issues such as the importance of personalities in shaping world events and the lived-in experience of nations and people that might make them take on suboptimal decisions.

Mr Araud's book is an ode to the craft of diplomacy and meeting your interlocutor in the middle by creating consensus to prevent man's oldest and most terrible disease: War.

"N'oublions jamais qu'en dehors de rares circonstances, la vraie morale, c'est la paix"¹.

Translation: Let's never forget that, outside very rare circumstances, true morality is peace.

Truer words were never spoken.

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5

#Book Review #Diplomacy #International Affairs