Engaging the Enemy: An Essential Norm for Sustainable US Diplomacy

Abstract

This chapter examines the role that diplomatic engagement of an enemy – that is, an adversarial state – plays in sustainable diplomacy.1 My key claim is twofold: that the idea of talking with – or, more accurately, engaging – hostile regimes is inherent in and essential to diplomatic culture’s norm of continuous dialogue, and that the US must embrace this norm by engaging, rather than isolating and imposing preconditions on, adversarial states if it is to reap the full benefits of, and at the same time contribute to, the conflict-resolving potential of sustainable diplomacy.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1057/9780230297159_11

Citations and references