Knowledge and Diplomacy Ed. Jovan Kurbalija Prepared by Academic Training Institute About this Publication Knowledge and Diplomacy is a collection of papers addressing the topic of knowledge and diplomacy from a variety of perspectives. Most of the papers were presented at the Conference on Knowledge and Diplomacy which took place in Malta in January, 1999. The publication is available in two formats: online, and print. In order to access the online version you need to register with us ([email protected] ). We will provide you with a username and password, and then you can access the website at http://www.diplomacy.edu/Books/knowledge To order the print volume, please fill in the web-based order form available at http://www.diplomacy.edu/Books/Order_Forms Or contact: DiploProjects Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies University of Malta Msida, Malta Tel: +356-3290-2820 Fax: + 356-21-483091 E-mail: [email protected] 2 Contributors JOVAN KURBALIJA is Director of DiploProjects, and lectures on diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, Malta. He has academic and professional background in diplomacy, international law and computer science. Along with academic research, Kurbalija has developed many applications in the field of diplomacy (knowledge management systems, databases, online learning courses, etc.). His major research interests focus on a multidisciplinary study of the influence of information technology on diplomacy and international relations. Ambassador WALTER FUST is Head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), a branch of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is responsible for humanitarian aid and relief, the Swiss Corps of Disaster Relief, and bilateral and multilateral development cooperation programs. Fust has widely varied experience in international relations, having served both in the Swiss diplomatic service and in private industry. Professor RICHARD FALK is the Albert B. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice at Princeton University. He has lectured as a guest at a number of universities, including the University of Stockholm, the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta and the Institute of International Relations in Vietnam. Falk is the author of numerous books and articles on globalisation, international relations, international law, conflict, and human rights, among other topics. His most recent book, Predatory Globalization: A Critique , has just been published by Polity Press in the UK. Falk currently serves as an advisory member for a great variety of American and international committees and organisations. COLIN JENNINGS has served as Director of Wilton Park, an academically independent agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), since 1996. He worked for the UK Ministry of Defence from 1976 to 1983, primarily on NATO conventional and nuclear weapons defence policy. Jennings transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1983, working in Policy Planning Staff on security policy issues and the Americas, and eventually serving in Lagos and Cyprus. Dr. KEITH HAMILTON is Historian in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Senior Editor of Documents on British Policy Overseas. His publications include Bertie Thame: Edwardian Ambassador (Royal Historical Society: Woodbridge, 1990) and (with Richard Langhorne) The Practice of Diplomacy: Its Evolution, Theory and Administration (London: Routledge, 1994). He is currently Honorary Visiting Fellow in the University of Leicester's Centre for the Study of Diplomacy. J. THOMAS CONVERSE has served as the Chief of the Records Management Section of the Inter-American Development Bank since 1993. His experience as an archivist began with his work, from 1979 to 1985, at the State Archives of Kentucky, following completion of an M.A. in Library Sciences at the University of Kentucky. In 1985 Converse joined the Foreign Service of the U. S. Department of State, serving in Guatemala, Spain and Nicaragua. In 1991 he resigned his commission in the Foreign Service to return to the United States as Head of the Library of the U.S. National Archives. Professor ROBIN ALSTON served as the Chair of Library Studies at London University from 1990 to 1998, teaching and guiding research in librarianship at University College, and since 1994 at the Centre for English Studies in the School of Advanced Study, where he started the first postgraduate MA degree in book history. Before this, Alston was involved in a British Library undertaking of cataloguing all of the books printed in Britain and her dependant territories during the 18 th century. Alston has also taught English Literature at Leeds University, and has initiated innovative projects in the printing of classic texts for the study of English literature and history, and art lithography. 3 Dr. JOHN PACE is an international civil servant of long standing in the United Nations. He served as Secretary to the Commission on Human Rights from 1978 to 1994, and was the Coordinator of the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993). He has headed Special Procedures and Technical Cooperation programmes and has led fact-finding missions for the Commission in several countries. He is currently the head of the Research and Right to Development Branch in the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Dr. JOHN HARPER is a consultant in manpower planning and human resource development with worldwide experience in both developed and developing economies. A Visiting Professor in International Management at the American University in Cairo, he has worked in both public and private sectors, dealing with the variety of HR situations arising in each of these environments. He is currently Director of Studies at the Malta Chamber of Commerce. JENNIFER CASSINGENA HARPER is the International Relations Officer of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, responsible for coordinating international relations in science and technology. She read international relations at Keele University and carried out her postgraduate studies at the London School for Economic and Political Sciences. She is currently completing her doctoral research at the University of Malta on the theme "The Internationalisation of S&T Policy: Malta Case Study 1988-1996." Professor DIETRICH KAPPELER served as Director of the Diplomatic Studies Program of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva from 1993 to 1998. He was the founding Director of the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Malta, 1990-1993. Kappeler has extensive experience in diplomacy and international relations, and lectures and writes on International Law, Diplomatic and Consular Law, Law of International Institutions, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Diplomacy, and Constitutional and Administrative Law of Switzerland. Dr. ALEX SCEBERRAS TRIGONA has been organizing courses simulating international negotiations—bilateral and multilateral—at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta, since 1991. Dr. Trigona served as Malta's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1981-1987. He negotiated Malta's Neutrality Agreements. He lobbied for, won and managed Malta's first ever seat on the United Nations Security Council for 1983-1984. His Law Doctorate was awarded on the basis of a seminal thesis "Constitutional Change and the Maltese Constitution." Fundamental constitutional changes in 1974 followed this thesis in both manner and substance. His thesis as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford on "The Anglo-Maltese Crisis 1971-1972" innovatively used a rigorous multi-disciplinary approach to international relations employing legal, political, strategic, and economic analyses of international disputes. GAETAN NAUDI was appointed Malta’s Ambassador to Egypt in April 1999. Naudi entered Malta’s civil service in 1964 and progressed through a variety of administrative and managerial roles, assuming responsibility for activities mainly in the fields of financial management, human resource administration and internal audit. From 1990 to 1993 Naudi served as Manager of the Finance and Administration Division in the Management Systems Unit (now MITTS), and was the Secretary of the Board of Directors. In 1993 Naudi became Director of Corporate Services in the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has promoted and actively participated in the computerisation and ICT projects of the ministry. DRAZAN PEHAR currently works in Sarajevo at the Office of the High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina as media analyst. He served as Chief of Staff to the President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, and took part in the final series of 1996 negotiations on establishment of the Federation institutions. Pehar acquired a Masters of Diplomacy from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta in 1997 with summa cum laude. His theoretical interest is primarily in creative uses of language (metaphors, ambiguities, politeness figures, historical analogies) focusing on international politics, diplomacy, and conflict research. 4 PREFACE Jovan Kurbalija Knowledge management is a new concept in the business sector. Recognising the importance of knowledge as a key resource, many companies have started implementing knowledge management policies. Knowledge is even more central in diplomacy than in the business sector. Diplomats operate in a highly fluctuating and flexible