Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This introductory article situates Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) as gendered institutions at the intersection between domestic and international relations. Based on an extensive literature review and analysis of articles on Australian, Bulgarian, Czech, Japanese, Turkish, UK, and US MFAs in this special issue, we claim that research on gender and MFAs has made important contributions to diplomatic studies by deepening, challenging, and diversifying understandings of what MFAs are; MFAs' institutional structures; and power struggles within MFAs. MFA relations with other actors remain decidedly understudied from a gender perspective, however. Future research on gender and MFAs should direct attention to these relationships, including how they shape MFAs as gendered institutions. Future studies would also benefit from global and intersectional analyses of multiple axes of power and differentiation. By identifying research questions, new theoretical perspectives, and largely unapplied research designs, we hope to facilitate the pursuit of such studies.

Ministries of foreign affairs are prominent institutions at the heart of state diplomacy. Although they have lost their monopoly on the making of national foreign policies, they still are the operators of key practices associated with diplomacy: communication, representation and negotiation. Often studied in a monographic way, ministries of foreign affairs are undergoing an adaptation of their practices that require a global approach. This book fills a gap in the literature by approaching ministries of foreign affairs in a comparative and comprehensive way. The best international specialists in the field provide methodological and theoretical insights into how best to study institutions that remain crucial for the world diplomacy. Contributors are: Thierry Balzacq, Guillaume Beaud, Gabriel Castillo, Andrew Cooper, Rhys Crilley, Jason Dittmer, Mikael Ekman, Bruno Figueroa, Karla Gobo, Minda Holm, Marcus Holmes, Walid Jumblatt Abdullah, Nikolaj Juncher Waedegaard, Casper Klynge, Halvard Leira, Christian Lequesne, Ilan Manor, Jan Melissen, Iver B. Neumann, Birgitta Niklasson, Kim B. Olsen, Pierre-Bruno Ruffini, Claudia Santos, Jorge A. Schiavon, Damien Spry, Kamna Tiwary, Geoffrey Wiseman, and Reuben Wong

This paper aims to provoke a discussion about the ineffectiveness and redundancies associated with current institutional arrangements for conducting foreign affairs. Our argument is made in three steps. First, we examine current institutional frameworks for foreign policy. Second, we explain how changing global conditions undermine the basic assumptions that support those institutional frameworks. Finally, we offer a radical alternative for restructuring the institutions responsible for foreign affairs. This alternative replaces the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a smaller (coordinating) Bureau of Foreign Affairs, allowing professional competence to be developed within existing sectoral ministries of government. Though our argument is a general one, we illustrate the argument with reference to the Norwegian case.

Taking into account the rapidly developing sphere of ICT and its importance, it seems relevant to consider the role and features of the practical use of information and communication technologies in the activities of the Central Asian foreign ministries. The article emphasizes that the use of such an important tool as ICT in the work of the ministries of foreign affairs of Central Asia countries is not developed enough, although, there is a positive trend.