Analysis of Albania's diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union during the years 1948-1959

Background

This paper aims to shed light on a very intense period of relations between Albania and the Soviet Union (USSR), focusing on the period from 1948 with the intensification of Albania's relations with the USSR until the termination of diplomatic relations in 1959. The paper will overview the USSR's relationship with Albania and its behaviour.

Methods

The paper analyses a specific period between 1948 and 1959 as a case study. The analysis is conducted on context, actors, and outcomes. The research aims to identify key indicators and the implications of the relationship in both domestic and international contexts. The data sources include various materials such as interviews, films, newspapers, and books. The researchers have requested permission to use the Archival resources of the Albanian Central State Archives (AQSH), where they have made some non-state secret resources accessible. However, some of these resources can only be accessed within the archive, but the researchers have been permitted to use them.

Findings

The facts show that the relations between Albania and the USSR benefitted Albania more. particularly with economic support from the USSR, which helped Albania emerge from the crisis and build the so-called 'socialist state.' Albania took its place in the international arena through these relations and contributions.

Conclusions

The study, regardless of the issues it addresses, does not aim to exhaust the paper's topic but to contribute to the objective analysis and to have some impact on the continuation and deepening of the treatment of this topic. Albania's relations with the Soviet Union are still not fully revealed as long as many documents found in Russian archives are not available for study. But further, numerous documents show that this could be the 'best cover' to safeguard the interests and personal power of the leadership.

A puzzling marriage? UNESCO and the Madrid Festival of Science (1955)

From 17 to 22 October 1955, Madrid hosted the UNESCO Festival of Science. In the early years of the Cold War, in a dictatorial country that had recently been admitted into the international community, the festival aimed to spread science to the public through displays of scientific instruments, public lectures, book exhibitions, science writers professional associations, and debates about the use of different media. In this context, foreign visitors, many of whom came from liberal democracies, seemed comfortable in the capital of a country ruled by a dictatorship that had survived after the defeat of fascism in the Second World War and was struggling to gain foreign recognition after years of isolation.This article analyzes the political role of science popularization in Madrid at that time. It approaches the apparently puzzling marriage between UNESCO's international agenda for peace and democracy and the interests of the Francoist elites. Shared views of technocratic modernity, the fight against communism, and a diplomacy that served Spanish nationalism, paved the way for the alliance.

Conflict and cooperation in the age of COVID-19: the Israeli–Palestinian case

How do disasters influence conflict and diplomacy in conflict areas? The scholarship shows that while they can provide opportunities for cooperation and ‘disaster diplomacy’ between parties to a conflict, they can also intensify tension and hostility. This article uses the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, exploring the impact of the crisis on relations between the rival parties and examining the conditions under which an ongoing pandemic might lead to either conflict or cooperation in a conflict area. The research is based on within-case analysis, comparing three conflict arenas: Israel–Palestinian Authority relations in the West Bank; relations between Israel and the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem; and Israel–Hamas government relations in the Gaza strip. The article outlines the possibilities and limitations of ‘disaster diplomacy’ in intractable conflicts and contributes to the literature by identifying how different contexts, relations and actors in each conflict arena affect the development of patterns of conflict and cooperation with regard to the pandemic. The study analyses the factors that shape how the pandemic affects the conflict, and the COVID-19-related diplomacy, in each sub-case, with attention to three main variables: the structure of the conflict arena, domestic politics and the developments in the pandemic. The analysis addresses the unique conditions of an ongoing global pandemic, as opposed to an isolated disaster event, and traces the changing impact of the pandemic on the conflict and on disaster-related cooperation at various stages.

On the Centenary of the Communist Party of China

This July marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. This event motivated the authors of this article to consider the main problems that modern Chinese society is solving, the place of the PRC in the world economy and politics at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, and China's growing influence on the planet. China's undoubted successes, including in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and in overcoming the recession caused by tough quarantine measures in early 2020, show the considerable viability of the state created by the Chinese communists, which is increasingly at the forefront of the world in the economy, science and technology, and culture. However, the path to the current rise of the great power was by no means an easy one, and the prospects for its development are perhaps one of the most debated issues in international discussions. China never tires of emphasizing the specifics of its history. At the same time, the diversity of the internal conditions of the colossal country together with the skillful application of carefully studied foreign experience yielded the extraordinary wealth of forms of development, which can serve as a guarantee of new achievements and, possibly, useful universals for all humankind.

Diplomatic activities of Iranian Nursing Organization: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Nursing organizations play an important role in fulfilling the professional demands of nurses. The Iranian Nursing Organization (INO) is also using diplomatic activities in this direction.

AIM

This study was conducted to explain the diplomatic activities of INO.

METHODS

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis. A purposive sampling approach was used. Data were collected via in-depth, unstructured, face-to-face interviews with 21 nurses at various INOs in different cities from March to July 2020. The data collection process continued until data saturation. Interviews were analyzed using Graneheim and Lundman's (2004) guidelines. The MAXQDA software (v. 10) was used.

FINDING

The results showed that the diplomatic activities of INO comprise professional (three categories), social (two categories), and diplomacy in power network (two categories).

CONCLUSION

INO carries out diplomatic activities at organizational, national and international levels and pursues its professional nursing goals through diplomacy. INO also uses social diplomacy and political diplomacy to influence decision-makers in the community and network of power.

The Effect of War Commemorations on Support for Diplomacy: A Five-Nation Study

We remember the past in order not to repeat it, but does remembrance of war in fact shape support for military or diplomatic approaches to international conflict? In seven samples from five countries (collected online, total N = 2,493), we examined support for military and diplomatic approaches to conflict during war commemorations (e.g., Veterans Day). During war commemorations in the United States, support for diplomacy increased, whereas support for military approaches did not change. We found similar results in the United Kingdom and Australia on Remembrance Day, but not in Germany, or France, nor in Australia on Anzac Day. Furthermore, support for diplomacy was predicted by concern about loss of ingroup military lives during war, independently of concern about harm to outgroup civilians. These studies expand our understanding of how collective memories of war may be leveraged to promote diplomatic approaches to contemporary geopolitical conflict.

The Approach to the Chinese Diplomatic Discourse

This research article aims to examine the problem of comprehending Chinese diplomatic discourse. We argue that China’s diplomatic discourse is a multilevel and complicated system underpinned by figurative and symbolic semantics, divergent translations into foreign languages, multidimensionality of the cognitive sphere and versatility of communication. The discussions of well-known Chinese scholars on the issue of comprehension of China’s diplomatic discourse are highlighted in the article. We also analyze the concept of a “shared future for humankind,” which is the systemic core of China’s diplomatic discourse today and represents a brand of a global worldview promoted by Chinese leadership. We examine this concept using sociolinguistic, cognitive and pragmatic approaches.

Why the COVID-19 response needs International Relations

The COVID-19 pandemic affects all countries, but how governments respond is dictated by politics. Amid this, the World Health Organization (WHO) has tried to coordinate advice to states and offer ongoing management of the outbreak. Given the political drivers of COVID-19, we argue this is an important moment to advance International Relations knowledge as a necessary and distinctive method for inclusion in the WHO repertoire of knowledge inputs for epidemic control. Historical efforts to assert technical expertise over politics is redundant and outdated: the WHO has always been politicized by member states. We suggest WHO needs to embrace the politics and engage foreign policy and diplomatic expertise. We suggest practical examples of the entry points where International Relations methods can inform public health decision-making and technical policy coordination. We write this as a primer for those working in response to COVID-19 in WHO, multilateral organizations, donor financing departments, governments and international non-governmental organizations, to embrace political analysis rather than shy away from it. Coordinated political cooperation is vital to overcome COVID-19.

Brain health INnovation Diplomacy: a model binding diverse disciplines to manage the promise and perils of technological innovation

BACKGROUND

Brain health diplomacy aims to influence the global policy environment for brain health (i.e. dementia, depression, and other mind/brain disorders) and bridges the disciplines of global brain health, international affairs, management, law, and economics. Determinants of brain health include educational attainment, diet, access to health care, physical activity, social support, and environmental exposures, as well as chronic brain disorders and treatment. Global challenges associated with these determinants include large-scale conflicts and consequent mass migration, chemical contaminants, air quality, socioeconomic status, climate change, and global population aging. Given the rapidly advancing technological innovations impacting brain health, it is paramount to optimize the benefits and mitigate the drawbacks of such technologies.

OBJECTIVE

We propose a working model of Brain health INnovation Diplomacy (BIND).

METHODS

We prepared a selective review using literature searches of studies pertaining to brain health technological innovation and diplomacy.

RESULTS

BIND aims to improve global brain health outcomes by leveraging technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and innovation diplomacy. It acknowledges the key role that technology, entrepreneurship, and digitization play and will increasingly play in the future of brain health for individuals and societies alike. It strengthens the positive role of novel solutions, recognizes and works to manage both real and potential risks of digital platforms. It is recognition of the political, ethical, cultural, and economic influences that brain health technological innovation and entrepreneurship can have.

CONCLUSIONS

By creating a framework for BIND, we can use this to ensure a systematic model for the use of technology to optimize brain health.

Corrected and Republished: Global Health Diplomacy Fingerprints on Human Security

Human security is a concept that challenges the traditional notion of national security by placing the ‘human’ as the central referent of security instead of the 'state.’ It is a concept that encompasses health and well-being of people and prioritizes their fundamental freedoms and basic livelihoods by shielding them from acute socioeconomic threats, vulnerabilities and stress. The epicenter of “health security” is located at the intersection of several academic fields or disciplines which do not necessarily share a common theoretical approach. Diverse players in the “health security” domain include practitioners in such fields as security studies, foreign policy, international relations, development theory, environmental politics and the practices of the United Nations system and other multilateral bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Improvements in health are not only dependent on continued commitments to enhance the availability of healthcare and to strengthen disease prevention systems; they are very much enhanced by that intersection between global security and global health. What is emerging is global health diplomacy paradigm that calls for strengthening of core capacities in the public health and foreign policy arenas aimed at advancing human security through the strengthening of global health diplomacy practices. Human security in its broadest sense embraces far more than the absence of violence and conflict. It encompasses human rights, good governance, access to education and health care, and ensuring that each individual has opportunities and devices to fulfill his or her potential. Every step in this direction is a step towards reducing poverty, achieving growth and preventing conflict. Freedom from want, freedom from fear and the freedom of future generations to inherit a natural environment – these are the interrelated building blocks of human- and therefore national security.

How gains for SRHR in the UN have remained possible in a changing political climate

As right-wing populist movements make electoral gains around the world, one might expect that resultant policy and legislative reversals against sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) would be mirrored by a similar backlash in United Nations (UN) human rights negotiations. Yet the past five years have seen unprecedented advances for SRHR within the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), treaty bodies, and special procedures. In this article, we provide an overview of SRHR gains and setbacks within the HRC and analyse their broader significance, particularly as socially conservative nation states and non-governmental organisations seek to challenge them. We analyse how states have advanced SRHR in the HRC and examine efforts that states which oppose SRHR have undertaken to limit these advances. In an increasingly hostile political climate, the inter-related legal, technical, and political mechanisms through which human rights are advanced within the UN has helped to mitigate the effects of rapid political reversals. Additionally, the HRC's emphasis on previously agreed language helps dampen significant changes in resolutions on SRHR.

Global Health Diplomacy Fingerprints on Human Security

Human security is a concept that challenges the traditional notion of national security by placing the 'human' as the central referent of security instead of the 'state.' It is a concept that encompasses health and well-being of people and prioritizes their fundamental freedoms and basic livelihoods by shielding them from acute socioeconomic threats, vulnerabilities and stress. The epicenter of "health security" is located at the intersection of several academic fields or disciplines which do not necessarily share a common theoretical approach. Diverse players in the "health security" domain include practitioners in such fields as security studies, foreign policy, international relations, development theory, environmental politics and the practices of the United Nations system and other multilateral bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Improvements in health are not only dependent on continued commitments to enhance the availability of healthcare and to strengthen disease prevention systems; they are very much enhanced by that intersection between global security and global health. What is emerging is global health diplomacy paradigm that calls for strengthening of core capacities in the public health and foreign policy arenas aimed at advancing human security through the strengthening of global health diplomacy practices. Human security in its broadest sense embraces far more than the absence of violence and conflict. It encompasses human rights, good governance, access to education and health care, and ensuring that each individual has opportunities and devices to fulfill his or her potential. Every step in this direction is a step towards reducing poverty, achieving growth and preventing conflict. Freedom from want, freedom from fear and the freedom of future generations to inherit a natural environment - these are the interrelated building blocks of human- and therefore national security.

Conservation geopolitics

We reviewed recent work concerning the impact of geopolitics on wildlife conservation (and vice versa) and identified future priorities in conservation geopolitics research. Geopolitics is understood as both an analytical focus on geopolitical practices (especially concerning the behavior) of countries with respect to territory and national security and a set of theories developed to explain and predict those behaviors. We developed a typology of core geopolitical practices of relevance to conservation: territorial practices of colonization and the management of migrations and borders, and security practices relating to military, economic, and environmental security. We identified research that considers how these practices affect conservation situations and outcomes, noting the recent emergence of conceptual developments such as "environmental geopolitics" and "geopolitical ecology" that draw on multiple fields within the social sciences to theorize the links between geopolitics and environmental management. We defined a "geopolitical perspective" as a focus on geopolitical practices combined with an explicit engagement with geopolitical theory and identified conservation situations where this perspective could contribute to analytical clarity. We suggest the most pressing questions in conservation research to which the geopolitical perspective might contribute are how political and economic differences between countries affect biodiversity outcomes, how geopolitical practices to address those differences facilitate or frustrate conservation efforts, how national borders and human and wildlife movements can be better managed for the benefit of both, and how the most effective conservation strategies can be best selected to suit existing (and future) geopolitical realities.

What explains the lacklustre response to Zika in Brazil? Exploring institutional, economic and health system context

By early-2016, the international community began to pressure Brazil for a stronger policy response to Zika. In contrast to what was seen in the past, however, these international pressures did not elicit such a response. In this article, we explore why this was the case, reviewing the government’s policy response and the broader political and economic context shaping this response. The authors used single case study analysis and qualitative sources, such as books, journal articles, and government policy reports to support their empirical claims. We found that despite increased international pressures from the WHO, domestic political factors and economic recession hampered the government’s ability to strengthen its health systems response to Zika. Consequently, those states most afflicted by Zika have seen policy initiatives that lack sufficient funding, administrative and human resource capacity. This study revealed that despite a government’s deep foreign policy history of positively responding to international pressures through a stronger policy response to health epidemics, a sudden change in government, rising political instability, and economic recession can motivate governments to abandon this foreign policy tradition and undermine its response to new public health threats.

Rituals of global health: Negotiating the World Health Assembly

The World Health Assembly is the WHO's supreme decision-making body and consists of representatives from the 194 WHO Member States who take formal decisions on the WHO's policies, workplan and budget. The event is also attended by representatives of non-governmental organisations, the private sector, the press and even members of the public. Based on participant observation at six World Health Assemblies, in-depth interviews with 53 delegates to the WHA, and an analysis of WHA Official Records, this article examines the ritualistic aspects of WHA negotiations. We argue that analysing the WHA as a ritual provides an insight into power and legitimacy within global health. Not only are certain understandings of health issues and courses of actions decided by the Assembly, but also the very boundaries of global health community are set. The rules of the ritual place limits on different categories of actors, while both formal and informal rules of behaviour further serve to include or exclude actors from the rituals. Success in negotiation is measured by through the inclusion of certain ideas, norms and values in the wording of resolutions and is achieved through the repetition of language in speeches and by adhering to the rules of behaviour.

'The Pope's own hand outstretched': Holy See diplomacy as a hybrid mode of diplomatic agency

The unconventional nature of Holy See diplomats rests in the composite character of their ecclesiastical role as the Pope's representatives and their legal diplomatic status and commencement to ordinary diplomatic practice. Holy See diplomacy is a form of conduct created by a set of mixed secular and religious standards in which agents are guided by practices. I locate this argument within a classical English School and a conventional understanding of practice, diplomacy, and agency while incorporating understandings of the diplomat as a stranger. The article situates a Holy See diplomat's mode of agency as a hybrid one by nature, located at the intersections of political and religious modes of agency and substantial and relational conceptions of international politics. I probe this conceptual framework of hybrid agency by analysing episodes involving papal diplomats in turmoil-ridden historical episodes, and correspondence with informed agents.

Global Disease Detection-Achievements in Applied Public Health Research, Capacity Building, and Public Health Diplomacy, 2001-2016

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established 10 Global Disease Detection (GDD) Program regional centers around the world that serve as centers of excellence for public health research on emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. The core activities of the GDD Program focus on applied public health research, surveillance, laboratory, public health informatics, and technical capacity building. During 2015-2016, program staff conducted 205 discrete projects on a range of topics, including acute respiratory illnesses, health systems strengthening, infectious diseases at the human-animal interface, and emerging infectious diseases. Projects incorporated multiple core activities, with technical capacity building being most prevalent. Collaborating with host countries to implement such projects promotes public health diplomacy. The GDD Program continues to work with countries to strengthen core capacities so that emerging diseases can be detected and stopped faster and closer to the source, thereby enhancing global health security.

Has development assistance for health facilitated the rise of more peaceful societies in sub-Saharan Africa?

Growing evidence suggests that health aid can serve humanitarian and diplomatic ends. This study utilised the Fragile States Index (FSI) for the 47 nations of the World Health Organizations' Africa region for the years 2005-2014 and data on health and non-health development aid spending from the United States (US) for those same years. Absolute amounts of health and non-health aid flows from the US were used as predictors of state fragility. We used time-lagged, fixed-effects multivariable regression modelling with change in FSI as the outcome of interest. The highest quartile of US health aid per capita spending (≥$4.00 per capita) was associated with a large and immediate decline in level of state fragility (b = -7.57; 95% CI, -14.6 to -0.51, P = 0.04). A dose-response effect was observed in the primary analysis, with increasing levels of spending associated with greater declines in fragility. Health per-capita expenditures were correlated with improved fragility scores across all lagged intervals and spending quartiles. The association of US health aid with immediate improvements in metrics of state stability across sub-Saharan Africa is a novel finding. This effect is possibly explained by our observations that relative to non-health aid, US health expenditures were larger and more targeted.

Global Health Diplomacy, "San Francisco Values," and HIV/AIDS: From the Local to the Global

BACKGROUND

San Francisco has a distinguished history as a cosmopolitan, progressive, and international city, including extensive associations with global health. These circumstances have contributed to new, interdisciplinary scholarship in the field of global health diplomacy (GHD). In the present review, we describe the evolution and history of GHD at the practical and theoretical levels within the San Francisco medical community, trace related associations between the local and the global, and propose a range of potential opportunities for further development of this dynamic field.

METHODS

We provide a historical overview of the development of the "San Francisco Model" of collaborative, community-owned HIV/AIDS treatment and care programs as pioneered under the "Ward 86" paradigm of the 1980s. We traced the expansion and evolution of this model to the national level under the Ryan White Care Act, and internationally via the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In parallel, we describe the evolution of global health diplomacy practices, from the local to the global, including the integration of GHD principles into intervention design to ensure social, political, and cultural acceptability and sensitivity.

RESULTS

Global health programs, as informed by lessons learned from the San Francisco Model, are increasingly aligned with diplomatic principles and practices. This awareness has aided implementation, allowed policymakers to pursue related and progressive social and humanitarian issues in conjunction with medical responses, and elevated global health to the realm of "high politics."

CONCLUSIONS

In the 21st century, the integration between diplomatic, medical, and global health practices will continue under "smart global health" and GHD paradigms. These approaches will enhance intervention cost-effectiveness by addressing and optimizing, in tandem with each other, a wide range of (health and non-health) foreign policy, diplomatic, security, and economic priorities in a synergistic manner--without sacrificing health outcomes.

The Florentine Archives in Transition: Government, Warfare and Communication (1289-1530 ca.)

A turning point in European administrative and documentary practices was traditionally associated, most famously by Robert-Henri Bautier, with the monarchies of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. By summarizing previous research in this field, as well as by using both published and unpublished sources, this article intends to underline an earlier process of transition connected to the development of significant new techniques for the production and preservation of documents in Renaissance Italian city-states. Focusing on the important case of Florence, the administrative uses of records connected to government, diplomacy and military needs will be discussed, and evidence will be provided that such documentary practices accelerated significantly during the so-called Italian Wars (from 1494 onwards). A particular reason of interest for Florence at this time is that a major role in the production and storage of a large quantity of state papers was played by Niccolò Machiavelli, one of the outstanding political thinkers of the age. This was especially true in connection to the new militia which he himself created in 1506. By stressing the role of information management and the importance of correspondence networks at a time of war and crisis, this article also contributes to recent scholarship which has focused on the growth of public records relating to diplomacy in Italy during the second half of the fifteenth century, as well as to a recent field of historiography which has lately gained importance: namely the 'documentary history of institutions'.

Capacity building for global health diplomacy: Thailand's experience of trade and health

A rapid expansion of trade liberalization in Thailand during the 1990s raised a critical question for policy transparency from various stakeholders. Particular attention was paid to a bilateral trade negotiation between Thailand and USA concerned with the impact of the ‘Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Rights (TRIPS) plus’ provisions on access to medicines. Other trade liberalization effects on health were also concerning health actors. In response, a number of interagency committees were established to engage with trade negotiations. In this respect, Thailand is often cited as a positive example of a country that has proactively sought, and achieved, trade and health policy coherence. This article investigates this relationship in more depth and suggests lessons for wider study and application of global health diplomacy (GHD). This study involved semi-structured interviews with 20 people involved in trade-related health negotiations, together with observation of 9 meetings concerning trade-related health issues. Capacity to engage with trade negotiations appears to have been developed by health actors through several stages; starting from the Individual (I) understanding of trade effects on health, through Nodes (N) that establish the mechanisms to enhance health interests, Networks (N) to advocate for health within these negotiations, and an Enabling environment (E) to retain health officials and further strengthen their capacities to deal with trade-related health issues. This INNE model seems to have worked well in Thailand. However, other contextual factors are also significant. This article suggests that, in building capacity in GHD, it is essential to educate both health and non-health actors on global health issues and to use a combination of formal and informal mechanisms to participate in GHD. And in developing sustainable capacity in GHD, it requires long term commitment and strong leadership from both health and non-health sectors.

Implementing an emergency medical services system in Kathmandu, Nepal: a model for "white coat diplomacy"

Wilderness medicine providers often visit foreign lands, where they come in contact with medical situations that are representative of the prevailing healthcare issues in the host countries. The standards of care for matters of acute and chronic care, public health, and crisis intervention are often below those we consider to be modern and essential. Emergency medical services (EMS) is an essential public medical service that is often found to be underdeveloped. We describe our efforts to support development of an EMS system in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, including training the first-ever class of emergency medical technicians in that country. The purpose of this description is to assist others who might attempt similar efforts in other countries and to support the notion that an effective approach to improving foreign relations is assistance such as this, which may be considered a form of "white coat diplomacy."

A new governance space for health

Global health refers to 'those health issues which transcend national boundaries and governments and call for actions on the global forces and global flows that determine the health of people'. (Kickbusch 2006) Governance in this trans-national and cross-cutting arena can be analyzed along three political spaces: global health governance, global governance for health, and governance for global health. It is argued that the management of the interface between these three political spaces of governance in the global public health domain is becoming increasingly important in order to move the global health agenda forward. Global health governance refers mainly to those institutions and processes of governance which are related to an explicit health mandate, such as the World Health Organization; global governance for health refers mainly to those institutions and processes of global governance which have a direct and indirect health impact, such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization or the Human Rights Council; governance for global health refers to the institutions and mechanisms established at the national and regional level to contribute to global health governance and/or to governance for global health--such as national global health strategies or regional strategies for global health. It can also refer to club strategies, such as agreements by a group of countries such as the BRICS. In all three political spaces, the involvement of a multitude of state and non-state actors has become the norm--that is why issues of legitimacy, accountability and transparency have moved to the fore. The transnational nature of global health will require the engagement of all actors to produce global public goods for health (GPGH) and to ensure a rules-based and reliably financed global public health domain.

Defining health diplomacy: changing demands in the era of globalization

CONTEXT

Accelerated globalization has produced obvious changes in diplomatic purposes and practices. Health issues have become increasingly preeminent in the evolving global diplomacy agenda. More leaders in academia and policy are thinking about how to structure and utilize diplomacy in pursuit of global health goals.

METHODS

In this article, we describe the context, practice, and components of global health diplomacy, as applied operationally. We examine the foundations of various approaches to global health diplomacy, along with their implications for the policies shaping the international public health and foreign policy environments. Based on these observations, we propose a taxonomy for the subdiscipline.

FINDINGS

Expanding demands on global health diplomacy require a delicate combination of technical expertise, legal knowledge, and diplomatic skills that have not been systematically cultivated among either foreign service or global health professionals. Nonetheless, high expectations that global health initiatives will achieve development and diplomatic goals beyond the immediate technical objectives may be thwarted by this gap.

CONCLUSIONS

The deepening links between health and foreign policy require both the diplomatic and global health communities to reexamine the skills, comprehension, and resources necessary to achieve their mutual objectives.