Diplomatic Writing, Past and Present

In this class we will do a deep dive into diplomats and their writings. While writing is only one thing that diplomats do, it is one of their most important functions, as it enables states to convey information to one another in clear, durable, and scalable ways. The course interweaves the history of diplomatic writing with an analytic approach to its evolution over time. We will look at famous episodes where the written communications of state leaders and diplomats have shaped history, including: the Amarna letters (14th century BCE), the Zimmerman telegram (1917), and selected excerpts from President Trump's Truth Social feed (2022-). We will also, however, attempt to place these specific episodes into a broader analytical framework, noting how structural factors have influenced the form that diplomatic writing takes, with a specific emphasis on socialization, bureaucracy, state capacity, and technology. Students interested in history, foreign affairs, and global politics are likely to find this course interesting, as well as anyone who wants to imagine how different the world might look today if just a couple of words on a document had been written slightly differently decades ago.