Roman Diplomacy

The organisers of the IANVA Project invite people interested in the spatial aspects of Roman diplomacy (509–27 BCE) to visit their website. 

ISA – Call for Nominations

The diplomatic studies section of the International Studies Association gives several awards each year: for books, articles, early career scholars, and scholars writing on women in diplomacy. More information about the awards and nomination instructions may be found here.

New Podcasts

The Debating Diplomacy Workshop sponsored by the British Academy and the University of Birmingham has produced a number of recent podcasts, which are available on Spotify, here.

New Issue of Diplomatica

Our latest issue, vol 8, no 1, is now available.

Mattingly Prize Winner Announced

Every year Brill, the editorial board of Diplomatica, and the New Diplomatic History Network award a prize for an article of excellence and originality on the subject of diplomatic society or culture, broadly defined. 

The recipient of the prize for Volume 7 (2025) is Felix Kuhn for his article, ‘Diplomatic Practices in Early Modern East Asia’. This clearly written and well-organized article offers a constructive critique of traditional narratives characterizing early modern Asian diplomacy as based on the ‘tribuary system’. Instead, it proposes five categories of diplomatic practices that can enable comparison with diplomacy in other regions and/or analyses at a global scale. The article is rooted in impressive primary research across multiple languages. Indeed, it is admirably attentive to issues of language, unpacking specific terminology and explaining concepts in a nuanced and contextualized way that is still clear enough to be understood by specialists of other regions and periods. Overall, the article expands global diplomatic history by recovering extensive yet less-known practices of early modern East Asian diplomacy and placing them in critical dialogue with European diplomatic history. It skillfully challenges Eurocentric assumptions of diplomatic modernity by demonstrating the sophistication, longevity and normative coherence of East Asian diplomatic systems. Through careful juxtaposition with conventional aspects of diplomatic practice, it repositions European diplomacy as one tradition among many rather than the universal template of international order. 

Some Recent Articles of Note