The privatisation of diplomacy: Indian and Pakistani experiences

In Western Europe and later on in the rest of the world, the formation of the modern State relied on a new doctrine of sovereignty. But however absolute sovereignty claimed to be, it always remained a fiction: whether inside or outside, no state has ever been able to exert an undisputed authority over its society. This lecture focused on these breaches of sovereignty, particularly in the international realm, by emphasizing the failure of the modern state in enforcing a monopoly over the international representation of its citizens. Transnational cultural, religious, economic or political linkages offer individuals a wide range of options to project themselves and their communities in the international sphere. But if private diplomats tend to corrode the doctrine of sovereignty, the state can also undermine it by privatizing its international relations, for the personal sake of the political elites or for the “public good” (as understood by these political elites or by certain sections of the diplomatic/strategic apparatus).

The privatization of diplomacy thus involves two distinct dynamics, which may overlap each other: on one side, individuals and communities project themselves internationally through “popular modes of diplomatic action”; on the other side, state actors may delegate to their citizens, or to foreign non-state actors, diplomatic missions.

The diplomatic trajectories of India and Pakistan are particularly eloquent in this regard. Indeed, both states have been experiencing the two manifestations of the privatization of diplomacy: in the 1980s and 1990s, India and Pakistan had to deal with the internationalization of their internal conflicts through “ethnic diplomacies” carrying the plight of their aggrieved minorities into the international arena. At the same time, these two states have been privatizing peace and war through parallel diplomacies involving non-state actors. The collusions between these private actors and their state mentors do not imply that they are simple “contractors” of the state: they always retain their own interests and values, which are sometimes irreducible to those of the state. The current tussle between the Pakistani state and its former jihadi allies exemplifies the complexity of the dialectic at work in such parallel diplomacies and their profoundly ambivalent contribution to state (mal)formation.

Speaker

Dr Laurent GAYER,Head, International Relations Division, CSH, New Delhi / Research associate at CEIAS, Paris

Organisers

Department of Social Sciences, French Institute of Pondicherry

Venue

Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry - 605001

Time

16:30