'With their broad and illuminating perspective, Ruth Craggs, Jonathan Harris, and Fiona McConnell draw on legal, historical, and political studies of the European experience to offer a fresh and global approach to the content, sites, and power dynamics of diplomatic training.' Laurence Badel, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

'This new book is a major contribution to the study of diplomacy and international relations. With its empirically rich chapters and far-reaching insights, the book will be of interest to a wide range of readers in the humanities and social sciences.' Deepak Nair, Australian National University

This collection provides the first book-length critical engagement with diplomatic training. Despite the essential role diplomatic training plays in the everyday workings of international relations, international law and in the various multilateral organisations, this practice has received little critical attention in the humanities, social and political sciences. Bringing together detailed accounts of the histories, development and contemporary practices of diplomatic training with insights from key practitioners, it places training centrally within our understanding of international relations.

The book demonstrates that diplomatic training both reflects and reproduces hegemonic power relations, whilst at the same time offering opportunities to contest them and imagine alternative futures. With chapters exploring the practice from a range of disciplinary perspectives, the book provides an essential insight into the history, geography and politics of diplomatic training as it expanded throughout the twentieth century and as it is conducted today. Through these diverse insights, the book asks us to recognise the central role of diplomatic training in making and remaking the profession and practice of diplomacy, and with it, international society as a whole.