Conference Diplomacy and International Order

This volume's focus on establishing a direct exchange between History

and International Relations is unique in the contemporary literature on

international institutions. While there have been attempts in both disciplines

to engage with the other and to integrate their respective insights, a direct,

focused exchange on core issues of international institutional development has

rarely taken place.



The volume takes this lacuna as a starting point. The structure of the

volume is strictly symmetrical. In each of the four main sections, one

historian and one IR scholar elaborate their views on one of four main aspects

of conference diplomacy: inclusion/exclusion, effectiveness, legitimacy, and

international order. This approach allows the authors to tackle the more general role of

institutions in international order in a long-term historical perspective. The

diagnosed crisis of contemporary, liberal order appears in a different light

when viewed before the background of continuity and change in the past 200

years. This book has the potential to become essential reading for scholars

and practitioners alike.