Diplomacy

Governments that distrust each other still have to talk, and the way they talk can reveal what they intend. Robert F. Trager argues that diplomats rely on a small set of signals: how far they push their demands, how close they come to cutting ties, whether they back a client state, how much of their prestige they put at risk, and when they choose to reach out at all. The book shows how each of these moves tells the other side something specific.

Drawing on historical episodes and on network data from the Confidential Print of the British Empire, Trager traces how these exchanges left lasting marks on world affairs. He links them to the Concert of Europe, to the sense of existential danger that grew before the two world wars, to the thaw in Cold War hostility known as détente, and to the institutions that structure the present international order. In each case, officials read one another's statements as the true will of the states they represented.

The central claim is that private conversations between diplomats can build stable international systems and also set off violent wars. The book will appeal to readers of international relations, diplomatic history and security studies who want to understand how words exchanged behind closed doors shape the course of global politics.