The Hague Diplomacy Podcast

Ilen Madhavji sits down with the 2023 winner of the HJD Book Award, Dr. Rohan Mukherjee, to discuss how rising powers seek status from the established international order, to reserve their seat at the table of power. Inspired by Dr. Mukherjee's award-winning book 'Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions", they explore how countries like China and Ind...

Host Ilen Madhavji speaks with Saadia Pekkanen, co-editor of the recent HJD Special Issues on Space Diplomacy, to see what there is to learn from Japan's approach to Space Diplomacy. Uniquely situated next to China but with extensive military ties to the United States, Japan cleverly employs Space Diplomacy to maintain its position between the two. This happens all the while they continue to be a...

Host Ilen Madhavji is joined by Mai'a Cross, co-editor of the new HJD Special Issues on Space Diplomacy, to explore how diplomacy operates in outer space. With the United States and China engaging in a "Space Race 2.0" we are often exposed to the security implications of space competition, but space diplomacy can give us confidence that collaboration can be an even stronger driving force for peace...

In the first episode of 2023, our host Simran Kataria sits down with David Eichert to discuss his paper titled “Hashtagging Justice: Digital Diplomacy and the International Criminal Court on Twitter,” which was published in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. They go a bit beyond the state-centric understanding of digital diplomacy to understand how the International Criminal Court (ICC) uses Twitter...

Inspired by the HJD paper "Everyday Migrant Accompaniment: Humanitarian Border Diplomacy" by Cristina Churruca Muguruza, host Ilen Madhavji sits down with Cristina and field practitioner Diego Fernández Maldonado (Jesuit Migrant Service) to discuss this very relevant and burgeoning corner of diplomacy. We often hear of and see the impact of crisis on migrants and refugees, but seldom are we expose...

In part 2 of this two-part episode, host Ilen Madhavji explores the delicious world of culinary diplomacy alongside Chef Ritu Dalmia and Chef Emmanuel Stroobant, to get a taste of their perspective from the kitchen. This episode focuses on the inter-cultural element of food and its potential to unite people of difference. Our chef guests, who both have combined European and Asian approaches to cui...

In part 1 of this two-part episode, host Ilen Madhavji explores the delicious world of culinary diplomacy alongside Chef Ritu Dalmia and Chef Emmanuel Stroobant, to get a taste of their perspective from the kitchen. This episode focuses on the inter-cultural element of food and its potential to unite people of difference. Our chef guests, who both have combined European and Asian approaches to cui...

In the first episode of the year, our host Ilen Madhavji guides us through a conversation on crisis co-management with The Hague Journal of Diplomacy's Book Award winner, Markus Kornprobst. His work titled "Co-Managing International Crises: Judgments and Justifications" sets the agenda by asking how states have traditionally worked together to solve security crises that demand immediate responses....

In the second part of our mini series on Culinary Diplomacy, Ilen Madhavji dives further to explore how states have harnessed the soft power of cuisine to brand themselves globally and influence the masses. Particularly the cases of Peru and Thailand are proof that good food can boost a country's reputation and spread their culture with ease. Also, Gilles Bragard and Sam Chapple-Sokol return once...

In the first of two episodes on Culinary Diplomacy, Ilen Madhavji delves into the roots of this field to find out how Heads of State have used food as a tool of influence, cultural exchange, and public diplomacy. With the help of Sam Chapple-Sokol's expert insights and Gilles Bragard's diplomatic experience with the chefs of world leaders, The Hague Diplomacy Podcast learns about the power of food...

In this episode, Ilen Madhavji sits down with Jorg Kustermans to unwrap the world of diplomatic gift giving and the influence it has on power dynamics. By building on The Hague Journal of Diplomacy's recent forum on this same topic, they try to understand the evolution of this practice over time, as well as how dominant and subordinate states use it differently. Additionally, the United Nations ha...

In our ninth episode, our host Sophie Vériter talks to Heidi Maurer to discuss their recent contributions to the “Diplomacy After COVID” Forum, which both focus on the European Union. Heidi and Sophie talk us through their papers’ relevance, key points, avenues for research, and takeaways for practitioners - highlighting both the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic has generate...

In the first episode of the new year, our host, Ilen Madhavji, builds on Episode 7 and the Journal's "Diplomacy After COVID" Forum with insights from two guests with practical experience within the world of diplomacy during COVID. Ye-Min Wu, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Singapore to the World Trade Organisation, and Rebecca Webber Gaudiosi, former representative of the US at the UN, curr...

This time, in our seventh episode, Ilen Madhavji is joined by Tristen Naylor to discuss his recent contribution to our "Diplomacy After COVID" Forum. His piece, entitled "All That’s Lost: The Hollowing of Summit Diplomacy in a Socially Distanced World", forms the starting point of their discussion on how COIVD has changed the way diplomatic summits and meetings have adapted to the new normal. With...

Our sixth episode takes a different format than usual. Our host Ilen Madhavji speaks to Her Excellency Sahar Ghanem, Ambassador of Yemen to the Netherlands, about her experiences as non-career diplomatic envoy. By touching on her multiple tasks and role as Coordinator of the Women's Ambassadors Group in The Hague's corps diplomatique, this conversation reflects the diversity of diplomacy that The...

For our fifth episode, we welcome Dr. Stuart Murray who speaks with us about the quickly evolving field of Sports Diplomacy. In many ways, this episode is a check-up since the 2013 Special Issue of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy that Stuart guest edited. Our host, Ilen Madhavji, explores some historical cases with Stuart, like the 1936 Berlin Olympics and Colin Kaepernick's protest, in order to il...

For our fourth episode, Pierre-Bruno Ruffini discusses the field of science diplomacy through his perspective as a practitioner and leading academic in the field. He is also the guest editor of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy's upcoming online forum on science diplomacy. This time, our host Ilen Madhavji, helps unpack this exciting new field of study and how it has been a cooperative diplomatic too...

In our third episode, Birgitta Niklasson discusses her article "The Gendered Networking of Diplomats", part of our latest Special Issue on Ministries of Foreign of Affairs. In a dynamic conversation with our host Tingting Yang, she explores the gendered aspects of diplomacy, drawing on both gender theories and interviews conducted with Swedish diplomats. Gender permeates all spheres of society, no...

In our second episode, Damien Arnaud discusses his practitioners piece "How the 'Post-Truth' Phenomenon Harms Political Dialogue between States" for The Hague Journal of Diplomacy in Vol. 14, Issue 4. Together with out host, Ilen Madhavji, the impact that post-truth has had on the highest level of international--and particularly security--cooperation is explored. Through the experiences of our gue...

We welcome Prof. Christian Lequesne (SciencePo, Paris) in this first episode. You may recognize our guest as editor for the recently-released special issue of the journal entitled Ministries of Foreign Affairs: Institutional Responses to Complexity Diplomacy. Expanding on this special issue, Prof. Lequesne explains why studying the MFA is vital to gauging the climate of modern diplomacy. Host Ilen...