The European corps: Diplomats and international cooperation in Western Europe

Are diplomats agents of international cooperation or transmission belts for states? In other words, do they really deliberate and why? Many scholars of the European Union tend to assume that supranational governance is determined by relative power of states, and underpinned by the maximization of self-interest. However, there is an important distinction to be made between diplomacy as foreign policy, and diplomacy as the process of negotiation and deliberation. By looking more closely at the internal processes of deliberation and the subjective realities of the diplomats themselves I argue that diplomats as actors are instrumental in enabling cooperation among Western European states. European diplomats comprise a kind of "epistemic community," with shared norms, expertise, worldviews, and identity by virtue of their continued interaction. The concept of epistemic community has thus far not been applied to diplomats, but I argue that this is an appropriate and useful expansion of the concept.; This book looks historically at diplomatic processes to generalize about the endurance and importance diplomats have in fostering transnational ties in ways that impact outcomes of cooperation among states. The case studies include the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, 1878 Congress of Berlin, 1919 Treaty of Versailles, and 1992 Treaty on European Union (Maastricht). Through in-depth secondary, historical and primary document research, as well as ambassadorial interviews, I demonstrate the extent to which and why diplomats have agency, and most importantly, how the diplomatic community operates within the complex and ever-evolving administrative structure of the European Union. This study draws upon and adds to the constructivist and sociological approaches to understanding the important role of transnational networks and cooperation.