International Pecking Orders
The Politics and Practice of Multilateral Diplomacy

Argues that diplomacy is structured by a largely unspoken hierarchy of standing, which practitioners refer to as the 'pecking order'.

Vincent Pouliot (Author)

9781316507766, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 March 2016

340 pages, 6 b/w illus. 4 colour illus. 5 tables
22.7 x 15 x 1.6 cm, 0.57 kg

'Overall, International Pecking Orders represents a significant contribution to the literature on international practices; the theoretical analysis is innovative, with meticulous, multimethod research on NATO and the UN.' Miles Evers, International Studies Review

In any multilateral setting, some state representatives weigh much more heavily than others. Practitioners often refer to this form of diplomatic hierarchy as the 'international pecking order'. This book is a study of international hierarchy in practice, as it emerges out of the multilateral diplomatic process. Building on the social theories of Erving Goffman and Pierre Bourdieu, it argues that diplomacy produces inequality. Delving into the politics and inner dynamics of NATO and the UN as case studies, Vincent Pouliot shows that pecking orders are eminently complex social forms: contingent yet durable; constraining but also full of agency; operating at different levels, depending on issues; and defined in significant part locally, in and through the practice of multilateral diplomacy.

Introduction: all the world's a stage
Part I. Situations: 1. The politics of multilateral diplomacy
2. A practice theory of social stratification
Part II. Dispositions: 3. The diplomatic sense of place
4. A working consensus: the negotiation of the 2010 Strategic Concept and the NATO pecking order
Part III. Relations: 5. Permanent representation: relational structure and practical logics
6. Clan politics: Security Council reform and the UN pecking order
Part IV. Positions: 7. State practices and multilateral fields
8. The field logics of multilateral pecking orders: NATO and the UN compared
Conclusion: the miracle of multilateral pecking orders
Appendix: research design, methods and data.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]