Workshop “Ruptures and Resumptions”

In March 2018, a sudden deterioration of British-Russian diplomatic relations following the Skripal case produced  headline after headline. The British government expelled 23 Russian diplomats. Russia followed suit by expelling 23 British diplomats and shutting down the British Council, a programme promoting British culture and the English language. In support of the UK, other states (the US in particular, but also the Ukraine and EU countries) decided to follow the British example and expel Russian diplomats based in their own countries. Russia summoned the British ambassador to demand a downsizing of British diplomatic staff in Russia to the size of diplomatic missions still left in the UK.

From the outside, this spiral of retaliations seemed hard to follow. What does it mean to summon an ambassador and what consequences does it have?  How do political crises translate into diplomatic practices? What is the scale of possible escalation? And: What are the origins of these practices?

In an upcoming workshop, we will look at the handling of crises in diplomatic practice in history. The workshop will engage with ruptures and resumptions in different diplomatic contexts and look at their legal framework, their agents, and their implementation.

Workshop: Ruptures and Resumptions. Crises of Diplomatic Practice in the 20th Century. Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd June 2018 at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Convenors Julia Eichenberg and Marcus Payk.  To register for the event, please contact the convenors. Programme Rupture and Resumption 20180612