Diplomatic Security - by Eugenio Cusumano & Christopher Kinsey (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The safety of diplomats has animated recent public and political debates. As diplomatic personnel are increasingly targeted by terrorism and political violence while overseas, sending states are augmenting host nations' security measures with their own. Protective arrangements range from deploying military, police, and private security guards to relocating embassies to suburban compounds. Yet, reinforced security may also hamper effective diplomacy and international relations. Scholars and practitioners from around the world bring to light a large body of empirical information available for the first time in Diplomatic Security. This book explores the global contexts and consequences of keeping embassies and their personnel safe.

The essays in this volume offer case studies that illustrate the different arrangements in the U.S., China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Israel, and Russia. Considering the historical and legal contexts, authors examine how states protect their diplomats abroad, what drives changes in existing protective arrangements, and how such measures affect the safety of diplomats and the institution of diplomacy. Diplomatic Security not only reveals how a wide variety of states handle security needs but also illuminates the broader theoretical and policy implications for the study of diplomacy and security alike.

Review Quotes

"Required reading for all diplomacy and security experts, this enlightening volume is also highly recommended to serious research students in the field, and even accessible to general readers. A most fascinating and timely study."--Karl W. Schweizer, The European Legacy

"Diplomats have never been in more danger. Embassies are now fortresses and battlegrounds with their own private armies, as this impressively researched global analysis demonstrates. Definitive reading for serious diplomacy watchers and all terrorism and security experts, this remarkable book is nevertheless fascinating and highly accessible to the general reader."--Richard J. Aldrich, University of Warwick

"Protecting diplomats and other embassy personnel has become increasingly important and difficult. Eugenio Cusumano and Christopher Kinsey and their contributors offer the first conceptually sophisticated and comparative study of this problem. This is a must-read for every foreign ministry and for scholars interested in the ways diplomats and their immunity are threatened."--Richard Ned Lebow, King's College London

About the Author

Eugenio Cusumano is Assistant Professor in International Relations at the University of Leiden. Christopher Kinsey is Reader in Business and International Security at King's College London.