"To Understand the Place": Geographical Knowledge and Diplomatic Practice. Issue 4 (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kuus, Merje
• Is Part Of: Professional geographer. Volume 68:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 546
• Page End: 553
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: agency -- diplomacy -- geographical knowledge -- geopolitics -- regional knowledge; 行动 -- 外交 -- 地理知识 -- 地缘政治 -- 区域知识。; agencia -- diplomacia -- conocimiento geográfico -- geopolítica -- conocimiento regional; Geography -- Periodicals; 910
• DOI: 10.1080/00330124.2015.1099450
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-0124

Abstract

Abstract : Diplomats produce a great deal of geographical knowledge: By reporting on distant places to their governments, they create particular understandings of political space. Yet these professionals rarely link their work to geography: What a geographer might call a geographical sensibility is labeled cultural knowledge by a diplomat. This article clarifies the relationship between geographical knowledge and diplomatic practice. Empirically, it draws from nearly 100 interviews with foreign policy professionals to offer a more "peopled" or quasi-ethnographic account of diplomacy than is usually available in scholarly literature. Conceptually, the article contributes to our understanding of how geographical knowledge is created inside diplomatic and bureaucratic institutions.