Diplomatic Investigations: Essays On The Theory Of International Politics

260 Pages·2019·1.603 MB·English

by  Herbert Butterfield, Martin Wight

OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
Diplomatic Investigations
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
Original Description of the Book
fi
by Butter eld and Wight
This volume of essays breaks new ground in the study of international
relations, and at the same time revives the older tradition of thought. Its
fundamental concern is to throw light on the principles of prudence and
moralobligationwhichhaveheldtogethertheinternationalsocietyofstates
throughout its history, and still hold it together. Thus it is concerned with
the nature of the international states-system, the assumptions and ideas of
diplomacy, the principles of foreign policy, and the ethics of international
politics and war. It differs from many contemporary writings on inter-
national theory in three ways. First, it does not attempt to impose an all-
embracing theoretical framework on international relations; its mode is,
rather, empirical and inductive. Secondly, it is firmly grounded in inter-
national history, believing that the touchstone of all theory must be the
recordofhistoricalexperience,andwhathasactuallybeenfoundtowork.In
this connexion the relevance and topicality of certain classical writings on
internationallawandonwarisshown.Thirdly,theessayshaveapervading
moral concern. They do not forget that foreign affairs and international
politicsareintheendneitheragamenorasystem,butthepoliticalregion
preeminently of the contingent and the unforeseen, in which the life of
nationsmaybeatstake,andagonizingdecisionshavetobemade.
Theunifyingconceptionofthebookis‘internationalsociety’.Theessays
explore whether, and in what sense, there is an international community,
andwhatitsnatureis.Whatarethedutiesandconsequencesofmembership
in this society? What are its tested and established principles of political
intercourse?ThelongestessayexamineswhetherthereisadistinctWestern
tradition in international relations. The last three essays discuss aspects of
conflictandchangewithininternationalsociety,andlooktowhatmightbe
theproblemsofafuturedisarmedworld.
Thebookistheresultofregulardiscussionsinrecentyears,inCambridge,
by a group of international theorists, historians, and persons in official posi-
tions.Theyincludeanambassador,aneditorofanationalnewspaper,asenior
Treasuryofficial,andaphilosopher.Theirdiscussionshavebeenparalleltobut
distinctfromthoseofasistercommitteeintheUnitedStates.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
Diplomatic
Investigations
Essays in the Theory of
International Politics
Edited by
HERBERT BUTTERFIELD
and
MARTIN WIGHT
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP,
UnitedKingdom
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof
OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries
©T&FexceptIntroduction©TimDunne&IanHall2019
PublishedbyarrangementwithRoutledge,animprintofthe
Taylor&FrancisGroup,anInformabusiness.AllRightsReserved.
Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted
FirstEditionpublishedin2019
Impression:1
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin
aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe
priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted
bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics
rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe
aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe
addressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform
andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress
198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2019941463
ISBN978–0–19–883646–9
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
ClaysLtd,ElcografS.p.A.
LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand
forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials
containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
Preface
The papers composing this volume have been chosen from a number,
written in recent years, by a group of scholars and others with an official
orprofessionalinterestinthetheoreticalaspectsofinternationalpolitics.
Thecircleforwhichthepaperswerewrittenhaditsoriginintheenterprise
andliberalityoftheRockefellerFoundation.In1954tworepresentativesof
theFoundation,MrDeanRuskandDrKennethW.Thompson,conveneda
committeeofAmericanswhowereinterestedintheoreticalquestionsabout
international relations. They included publicists, university professors, and
formermembersofthepolicyplanningstaffoftheStateDepartment.They
met principally atColumbia University, and their discussions ledto publi-
cation.¹ The success of the American group prompted Dr Thompson to
suggest that there should be a similar committee in England. In 1958 the
editorsofthepresentvolumeactedupontheproposal,andinvitedcolleagues
whosharedtheirinterestinthetheoryofinternationalpoliticstoaprelim-
inarytalk.Itwasthebeginningofregularweekendmeetings,threetimesa
year, in Peterhouse, Cambridge, under the chairmanship of the Master.
Besides the contributors to this volume, Sir William Armstrong, Donald
McLachlan, Adam Watson, and Desmond Williams have been members.
On one occasion, Kenneth Thompson was able to come to a meeting; on
anotheroccasionSirPiersonDixonwasaguest.
The Rockefeller Foundation gave the group the name of the British
Committee on the Theory of International Politics. ‘The theory of inter-
nationalpolitics’isaphrasewithoutwidecurrencyorclearmeaninginthis
country. The group took it to cover enquiry into the nature of the inter-
national states-system, the assumptions and ideas of diplomacy, the prin-
ciplesofforeignpolicy,theethicsofinternationalrelationsandwar.Thisisa
region that still calls for new approaches and for academic treatment.² It
marcheswiththedomainsofthepoliticaltheorist,theinternationallawyer,
¹ TheoreticalAspectsofInternationalRelations,ed.W.T.R.Fox(UniversityofNotreDame
Press,1959).
² ‘WhatIdoregretisthatwehavefailedtoestablish,alongsideinternationallaw,aparallel
and articulate science of international ethics,’ D. H. N. Johnson, The English Tradition in
International Law, an inaugural lecture (Bell, for the London School of Economics, 1962),
pp.26–7.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
vi 
the diplomatic historian, the student of international relations, and the
strategic analyst. With each of these it blends, butit is something different
fromallofthem.TheCommitteehavenothadtheintentionofundertaking
the kind of discussions promoted by Chatham House or the Institute for
Strategic Studies, and believe that no other body in England has made the
theoreticalaspectsofinternationalpoliticsitscentralconcern.
ItsoonbecamecleartothemembersoftheBritishCommitteethatwithin
this ill-defined field they had different interests from their American col-
leagues. The connoisseur of national styles may notice the contrasts. The
British have probably been more concerned with the historical than the
contemporary,withthenormativethanthescientific,withthephilosophical
thanthemethodological,withprinciplesthanpolicy.Butthediscussionsof
theAmericancommitteewerethemselvesinsomerespectstraditionalcom-
paredwiththeflourishingcontemporaryschoolofAmericanandAustralian
internationaltheoryandsystemsanalysis.HeretheBritishCommitteehave
beenconsciousoftheantithesistotheirownapproach.Someoftheirpapers
examining the differences between them may form the basis of a second
volume which is in contemplation. Meanwhile, attention may be drawn to
someofthecharacteristicsofthepresentcollection.Thesewerenotdesigned
beforehand,butemergedbycommonconsentasthediscussionsproceeded.
First, the frame of reference has been, not the limits and uses of inter-
national theory, nor the formulation of foreign policy, but the diplomatic
community itself, international society, the states-system. The Committee
found themselves investigating the nature and distinguishing marks of the
diplomaticcommunity,thewayitfunctions,theobligationsofitsmembers,
its tested and established principles of political intercourse. The longest
essay in the book examines whether there is a distinct Western tradition
ininternationalrelations.Thelastthreeessaysdiscussaspectsofconflictand
changewithininternationalsociety,andlooktowhatmightbetheproblems
ofafuturedisarmedworld.
Secondly,theCommitteehavenotbeenconcernedwithanall-embracing
theoretical framework, a general theory, for international politics. Their
procedure has been, rather, empirical and inductive. Their point of view
has on the whole been historical. They have tended to suppose that the
continuities in international relations are more important than the inac-
tions;thatstatecraftisanhistoricaldepositofpracticalwisdomgrowingvery
slowly, that the political, diplomatic, legal, and military writers who might
loosely be termed ‘classical’ have not been superseded as a result of recent
developmentinsociologyandpsychology,andthatitisausefulenterpriseto
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
 vii
explorethecorpusofdiplomaticandmilitaryexperienceinordertorefor-
mulateitslessonsinrelationtocontemporaryneeds.
Thirdly, it might be claimed that these papers have a pervading moral
concern.IntheirdiscussionstheCommitteehavenotbeenabletoforgetthat
foreign affairs and international relations, however they may be studied or
analysed, are in themselves not a closed theoretical system. They are the
politicalregionpre-eminentlyofthecontingentandtheunforeseen,inwhich
thesurvival ofnationsmaybe atstake, andagonizing decisions have tobe
made.Theunderlyingaimofthepresentcollectionistoclarifytheprinciples
ofprudenceandmoralobligationwhichhaveheldtogethertheinternational
societyofstatesthroughoutitshistory,andstillholdittogether.
To begin with the Committee’s discussions were discursive rather than
systematic.Thefirstpaperprintedherewasalsothefirstpaperofferedtothe
group;itstitlewasintendedtobeprovocative.Atthesamefirstfullmeeting,in
January1959,DonaldMacKinnonreadapaperentitled‘WhatIstheAttrac-
tionofCommunismToday?’Thuslaunched,thediscussionstooktheirown
course,followingthewindoftheargument.Arecordofthediscussionswas
made and circulated afterwards. Subsequent papers arose out of the discus-
sions.Sometimestwoindependentpapersonthesametopicwereofferedfor
discussionatthesamemeeting;sometimesonetreatmentofathemeevokedan
alternativetreatmentlater—thusthetwoessayson‘TheBalanceofPower’.
After some time it was seen that the papers, though not systematically
planned,hadacommunityofassumptionsandtreatmentthatmightmake
themofinteresttoawidercircleofreaders,andone oftheeditorsmade a
selectionforpublication.Eachcontributorhashadtheopportunitytorevise
his paper to whatever extent the discussions upon it and further reflection
haveseemedtohimtorequire.Theeditorshavetriedtorespectthevaried
length and nature of the papers, but to give them some uniformity by
bringing themup to date andsupplying references sofar as possible.Only
oneessay,thaton‘ThreatsofForceinInternationalRelations’,hasbeenleft
entirelyasitwaswritteninApril1961.
Thepaperentitled‘WhyIsThereNoInternationalTheory?’hasalready
beenpublishedinInternationalRelations,vol.ii,no.I,April1960.Wethank
theeditorofthatjournalforpermissiontoreprintit,withsomechangesand
additions. It remains for the editors, on behalf of all the members of the
Committee,toexpresstheirgratitudetotheRockefellerFoundationforthe
grantthatmakepossibletheirmeetingsanddiscussions.
H.Butterfield
M.Wight
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,9/9/2019,SPi
Contents
ListofContributors xi
IntroductiontotheNewEdition 1
IanHallandTimDunne
1. WhyIsThereNoInternationalTheory? 37
MartinWight
2. SocietyandAnarchyinInternationalRelations 55
HedleyBull
3. TheGrotianConceptionofInternationalSociety 71
HedleyBull
4. NaturalLaw 95
D.M.MacKinnon
5. WesternValuesinInternationalRelations 111
MartinWight
6. TheBalanceofPower 154
HerbertButterfield
7. TheBalanceofPower 171
MartinWight
8. CollectiveSecurityandMilitaryAlliances 198
G.F.Hudson
9. TheNewDiplomacyandHistoricalDiplomacy 203
HerbertButterfield
10. WarasanInstrumentofPolicy 215
MichaelHoward