Call for Contributors: Contemporary and Historical Uses of Military Diplomacy

Jason Gosnell Announcement
Location
Virginia, United States
Subject Fields
American History / Studies, Asian History / Studies, Diplomacy and International Relations, European History / Studies, Military History

Proposal Instructions: Send a 1-page abstract (300–500 words) for the proposed chapter and CV for consideration. If a multiauthor work, submit information for all parties involved in the research and writing.

Description: Militaries throughout history have been used for diplomatic relations. This proposed book of contributed chapters to be published by Marine Corps University Press aims to explore contemporary and historical examples of diplomatic uses of militaries.

Diplomatic uses of the military can be found on the broad spectrum of diplomatic strategies, from diplomatic defense, wherein a country uses its military for cooperative exchanges and military training exercises, to more aggressive tactics. Diplomatic defense allows for transnational links with other countries by creating collaborative environments with other countries. The U.S. military, for instance, has used military diplomacy to build partner countries’ strength through military-to-military relationships, personnel exchange, and humanitarian assistance operations. Through these efforts, the U.S. military helps to carry out the diplomatic mission of the United States. Japan uses a defense diplomacy that promotes Japan as a reliable and transparent partner in world affairs and subscribes to a rules-based system and to international law.

Conversely, countries such as Russia employ military arms sales as a major component of their military diplomacy. The People’s Republic of China’s writings on military diplomacy during the last decade emphasize the growing importance of military diplomacy, including supporting overall national foreign policy, protecting national sovereignty, advancing national interests, and shaping the international security environment.

Historical examples of military diplomacy might include the American use of defense diplomacy under President Theodore Roosevelt, often called “big stick diplomacy.” Simultaneously threatening with the “big stick”—the military—ties in heavily with the idea of Realpolitik. Diverse historical examples of military diplomacy can include the Soviet Union, the British Empire, and other countries that used military diplomacy extensively throughout their existence.

Ideal contributors will:

  • Contextualize the current crises in Europe regarding Russia’s use of natural resources and arms sales to keep both the European Union and NATO at bay, at the intersection of historical and contemporary examples; or
  • Critique great power relations, especially as they relate to Russia and China’s aim for great power competition with the United States and how they use military diplomacy to advance these aims; or
  • Offer political visions of the future that imagine future strategies of the United States, Japan, NATO, the EU, China, and Russia and what may be done by the United States and its allies to counter these threats.

Chapter submissions should be able to stand alone based on a well-researched argument but also contribute to a larger work on the topic. Each chapter should be approximately 10,000 words, including footnotes, and formatted according to the most recent edition of Chicago Manual of Style. Email mcu_press@usmcu.edu for more information or to submit a chapter proposal. Final submissions are due by no later than 29 April 2022.

Contact Information

Angela Anderson

Contact Email
mcu_press@usmcu.edu