Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T18:03:13.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

One-upmanship and putdowns: the aggressive use of interaction rituals in face-to-face diplomacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2020

Seanon S. Wong*
Affiliation:
Department of Government and Public Administration, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

When leaders meet in person, they perform a wide range of interaction rituals. They dress for the occasion, greet each other and shake hands, exchange pleasantries and gifts, arrive at the meeting venue and have themselves seated according to protocol, and so on. What do they make of the performance of such rituals? In this paper, I argue that leaders often take advantage of or outright flout what the sociologist Erving Goffman calls the prevailing ‘ceremonial idiom’ of an interaction – that is the intersubjective understanding they share on what rituals to perform and how to perform them – to realize a number of political and personal objectives, with larger international consequences. The ‘ceremonial idiom’ is deliberately transgressed and a counterpart's ‘face’ threatened – overtly but more often subtly – to achieve what are commonly known as ‘one-upmanship’ and ‘putdowns’ in interpersonal contact. Empirically, I demonstrate my argument with over two dozen episodes of face-to-face diplomacy across six categories of interaction rituals: the identity of leaders, gestural, spatial–physical, task-embedded, linguistic, and communication rules. I also outline several directions for future research.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, Emanuel, and Pouliot, Vincent. 2011. “Interactional Practices.” International Theory 3 (1): 136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler-Nissen, Rebecca. 2014a. Opting Out of the European Union: Diplomacy, Sovereignty and European Integration. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler-Nissen, Rebecca. 2014b. “Stigma Management in International Relations: Transgressive Identities, Norms, and Order in International Society.” International Organization 68 (1): 143–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler-Nissen, Rebecca, and Pouliot, Vincent. 2014. “Power in Practice: Negotiating the International Intervention in Libya.” European Journal of International Relations 20 (4): 889911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albright, Madeleine. 2003. Madam Secretary. New York: Miramax Books.Google Scholar
Banks, David E. 2019. “The Diplomatic Presentation of the State in International Crises: Diplomatic Collaboration during the US–Iran Hostage Crisis.” International Studies Quarterly 63 (4): 1163–74.Google Scholar
Beschloss, Michael R. 2003. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Bischof, Günter, Karner, Stefan, and Stelzl-Marx, Barbara, eds. 2014. The Vienna Summit and Its Importance in International History. Plymouth: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Bjola, Corneliu. 2013. “Understanding Enmity and Friendship in World Politics: The Case for a Diplomatic Approach.” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 8: 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Levinson, Stephen C.. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueger, Christian, and Gadinger, Frank. 2015. “The Play of International Practice.” International Studies Quarterly 59 (3): 449–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, Austin. 2016. “Facing Off and Saving Face: Covert Intervention and Escalation Management in the Korean War.” International Organization 70 (1): 103–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, Jimmy. 1995. Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press.Google Scholar
Cicourel, Aaron V. 1988. “Text and Context: Cognitive, Linguistic, and Organizational Dimensions in International Negotiations.” Negotiation Journal 4 (3): 257–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Peter, and Horowitz, David. 1984. The Kennedys: An American Drama. San Francisco: Summit Books.Google Scholar
Collins, Randall. 2004. Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornut, Jérémie. 2018. “Diplomacy, Agency, and the Logic of Improvisation and Virtuosity in Practice.” European Journal of International Relations 24 (3): 712–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costigliola, Frank. 2011. Roosevelt's Lost Alliances: How Personal Politics Helped Start the Cold War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Coupland, Justine. 2003. “Small Talk: Social Functions.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 36 (1): 16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobrynin, Anatoly. 1995. In Confidence: Moscow's Ambassador to Six Cold War Presidents. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Eisenhower, John S. D. 1974. Strictly Personal. Garden City: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Faizullaev, Alisher. 2006. “Diplomacy and Self.” Diplomacy and Statecraft 17: 497522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faizullaev, Alisher. 2013. “Diplomacy and Symbolism.” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 8 (2): 91114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faizullaev, Alisher. 2017. “Symbolic Insult in Diplomacy: A Subtle Game of Diplomatic Slap.” Brill Research Perspectives in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy 2 (4): 1116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faizullaev, Alisher, and Cornut, Jérémie. 2017. “Narrative Practice in International Politics and Diplomacy: The Case of the Crimean Crisis.” Journal of International Relations and Development 20 (3): 578604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, Tom. 2016. The Naked Diplomat. London: William Collins.Google Scholar
Fuller, Robert W. 2003. Somebodies and Nobodies. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.Google Scholar
Goddard, Stacie E. 2008. “When Right Makes Might: How Prussia Overturned the European Balance of Power.” International Security 33 (3): 110–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1961. Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1963. Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1969. Strategic Interaction. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1983. “The Interaction Order.” American Sociological Review 48: 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groll, Elias. 2014. “Shinzo Abe and Xi Jinping Shared a Really Awkward Handshake in Beijing.” Foreign Policy, 10 November 2014.Google Scholar
Gromyko, Andrei. 1989. Memoirs. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Hall, Todd H. 2015. Emotional Diplomacy: Official Emotion on the International Stage. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, Todd H., and Yarhi-Milo, Keren. 2012. “The Personal Touch: Leaders’ Impressions, Costly Signaling, and Assessments of Sincerity in International Affairs.” International Studies Quarterly 56: 560–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herring, George C. 2001. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Holbrooke, Richard. 1998. To End a War. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Holmes, Marcus. 2013. “The Force of Face-to-Face Diplomacy: Mirror Neurons and the Problem of Intentions.” International Organization 67 (4): 829–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Marcus. 2016. “You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression? First Encounters and Face-Based Threat Perception.” Journal of Global Security Studies 1 (4): 285302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Marcus. 2018. Face-to-Face Diplomacy: Social Neuroscience and International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Marcus. 2019. “Re-Evaluating Theory and Methods in Diplomatic History: Bringing in Psychology, Neuroscience, Micro-Sociology, and Quantum.” Diplomatica 1 (1): 1925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Marcus, and Traven, David. 2015. “Acting Rationally Without Really Thinking: The Logic of Rational Intuitionism for International Relations Theory.” International Studies Review 17 (3): 414–40.Google Scholar
Holmes, Marcus, and Yarhi-Milo, Keren. 2016. “The Psychological Logic of Peace Summits: How Empathy Shapes Outcomes of Diplomatic Negotiations.” International Studies Quarterly 61 (1): 107–22.Google Scholar
Holmes, Marcus, and Wheeler, Nicholas J.. 2020. “Social Bonding in Diplomacy.” International Theory 12 (1): 133–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopf, Ted. 1998. “The Promise of Constructivism in International Relations Theory.” International Security 23 (1): 171200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopf, Ted. 2010. “The Logic of Habit in International Relations.” European Journal of International Relations 16 (4): 539–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopf, Ted. 2018. “Change in International Practices.” European Journal of International Relations 24 (3): 687711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horton, Helena. 2017. “Donald Trump Mocked for ‘Awkward’ Handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.” The Telegraph, 11 February 2017.Google Scholar
Hutchison, Emma, and Bleiker, Ronald. 2014. “Theorizing Emotions in World Politics.” International Theory 6 (3): 491514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Patrick Thaddeus, and Nexon, Daniel H.. 1999. “Relations Before States: Substance, Process and the Study of World Politics.” European Journal of International Relations 5 (3): 291332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jönsson, Christer, and Hall, Martin. 2005. Essence of Diplomacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufmann, Johan. 1996. Conference Diplomacy: An Introductory Analysis. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Jacqueline. 2011. Historical Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy. New York: Hyperion.Google Scholar
Kernis, Michael H. 2005. “Measuring Self-Esteem in Context: The Importance of Stability of Self-Esteem in Psychological Functioning.” Journal of Personality 73: 1569–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, Glenn. 2007. The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy. New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Keys, Barbara. 2020. “The Diplomat's Two Minds: Deconstructing a Foreign Policy Myth.” Diplomatic History 44 (1): 121.Google Scholar
Keys, Barbara, and Yorke, Claire. 2019. “Personal and Political Emotions in the Mind of the Diplomat.” Political Psychology 40 (6): 1235–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, Terry. 2004. “Pleased to meet you: the historic handshakes that shook the world.” The Independent, 26 March 2004.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krebs, Ronald R., and Jackson, Patrick Thaddeus. 2007. “Twisting Tongues and Twisting Arms: The Power of Political Rhetoric.” European Journal of International Relations 13 (1): 3566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kustermans, Jorg. 2019. “Gift-Giving as a Source of International Authority.” Chinese Journal of International Politics 12 (3): 395426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landler, Mark. 2018. “No Handshakes as Pence Avoids Kim Jong-un's Sister at Olympics.” New York Times, 9 February 2018.Google Scholar
Lebow, Richard N. 1996. The Art of Bargaining. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Manning, Philip. 1992. Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Maseda, Ramon Vargas. 2017. Deciphering Goffman: The Structure of his Sociological Theory Revisited. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, Dan P. 2016. “The Mind of Donald Trump.” The Atlantic. June 2016.Google Scholar
Mercer, Jonathan. 2014. “Feeling Like a State: Social Emotion and Identity.” International Theory 6 (3): 535–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitzen, Jennier. 2005. “Reading Habermas in Anarchy: Multilateral Diplomacy and Global Public Spheres.” American Political Science Review 99 (3): 401–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitzen, Jennier. 2015. “From Representation to Governing: Diplomacy and the Constitution of International Public Power.” In Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics, edited by Jacob Sending, Ole, Pouliot, Vincent, and Neumann, Iver B., 111–39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, Harold. 2004. “Arguing, Bargaining and All That: Communicative Action, Rationalist Theory and the Logic of Appropriateness in International Relations.” European Journal of International Relations 10 (3): 395435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nair, Deepak. 2019. “Saving Face in Diplomacy: A Political Sociology of Face-to-Face Interactions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.” European Journal of International Relations 25 (3): 672–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, Iver B. 2002. “Returning Practice to the Linguistic Turn: The Case of Diplomacy.” Millennium 31 (3): 627–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolson, Harold. (1939) 1988. Diplomacy. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Kenneth P., and Powers, David F., with McCarthy, Joe. 1970. “Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye”: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Pacher, Andreas. 2018. “The Ritual Creation of Political Symbols: International Exchanges in Public Diplomacy.” British Journal of Politics and International Relations 20 (4): 880–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, T.V., Larson, Deborah W., and Wohlforth, William C.. 2014. Status in World Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payne, Rodger A. 2001. “Persuasion, Frames and Norm Construction.” European Journal of International Relations 7 (1): 3761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peyrefitte, Alain. 1992. The Immobile Empire. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Pinker, Steven, Nowak, Martin A., and Lee, James J.. 2008. “The Logic of Indirect Speech.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (3): 833–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pouliot, Vincent. 2008. “The Logic of Practicality: A Theory of Practice of Security Communities.” International Organization 62 (2): 5788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouliot, Vincent. 2016. International Pecking Orders: The Politics and Practice of Multilateral Diplomacy. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouliot, Vincent, and Cornut, Jérémie. 2015. “Practice Theory and the Study of Diplomacy: A Research Agenda.” Cooperation and Conflict 50 (3): 297315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratto, Felicia, Sidanius, Jim, Stallworth, Lisa M., and Malle, Bertram F.. 1994. “Social Dominance Orientation: A Personality Variable Predicting Social and Political Attitudes.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67 (4): 741–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rathbun, Brian C. 2007. “Uncertain about Uncertainty: Understanding the Multiple Meanings of a Crucial Concept in International Relations Theory.” International Studies Quarterly 51 (3): 533–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rathbun, Brian C. 2019. Reasoning of State: Realists, Romantics and Rationality in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, Richard. 1993. President Kennedy: Profile of Power. New York: Touchstone.Google Scholar
Regan, Donald T. 1988. For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.Google Scholar
Reynolds, David. 2007. Summits: Six Meetings That Shaped the Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rice, Condoleezza. 2012. No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington. New York: Broadway Paperbacks.Google Scholar
Ringmar, Erik. 2014. “The Search for Dialogue as a Hindrance to Understanding: Practices as Inter-Paradigmatic Research Program.” International Theory 6 (1): 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, Thomas. 2000. “‘Let's Argue!’: Communicative Action in World Politics.” International Organization 54 (1): 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronningstam, Elsa F. 2005. Identifying and Understanding the Narcissistic Personality. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rothwell, James, and Henderson, Barney. 2017. “Donald Trump refuses to shake Angela Merkel's hand as key meeting gets off to frosty start.” The Telegraph, 17 March.Google Scholar
Rucker, Philip. 2017. “Trump and French President Macron get to know each other with a fierce handshake.” Washington Post, 25 May 2017.Google Scholar
Rusk, Dean. 1990. As I Saw It. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Sasley, Brent. 2011. “Theorizing States’ Emotions.” International Studies Review 13 (3): 452– 76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, Thomas C. 1960. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank. 2001. “The Community Trap: Liberal Norms, Rhetorical Action, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union.” International Organization 55 (1): 4780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank. 2002. “Goffman Meets IR: Dramaturgical Action in International Community.” International Review of Sociology 12 (3): 417–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlesinger, Arthur M Jr.. 1965. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Greenwich: Fawcett.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Samantha. 2017. “Breaking down Trump's ‘shove’.” Washington Post, May 26, 2017.Google Scholar
Sending, Ole Jacob, Vincent, Pouliot, and Neumann, Iver B., eds. 2015. Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, Paul. 1999. “For Diplomacy: Representation and the Study of International Relations.” International Studies Review 1 (1): 3357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Greg. 2006. Erving Goffman. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Mark. 1974. “Self-monitoring of Expressive Behavior.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 30: 526–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, Ty, and Steele, Brent J.. 2017. “Micro-Moves in International Relations Theory.” European Journal of International Relations 23 (2): 267–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stelzl-Marx, Barbara. 2014. “Two Days of Drama.” In The Vienna Summit and Its Importance in International History, edited by Bischof, Günter, Karner, Stefan, and Stelzl-Marx, Barbara, 267–89. Plymouth: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Stephen, Matthew D. 2015. “‘Can You Pass the Salt?’ The Legitimacy of International Institutions and Indirect Speech.” European Journal of International Relations 21 (4): 768–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sukhodrev, Viktor. 2014. “The Personal Recollections of Khrushchev's Interpreter in Vienna.” In The Vienna Summit and Its Importance in International History, 355–66. edited by Bischof, Günter, Karner, Stefan, and Stelzl-Marx, Barbara. Plymouth: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Taubman, William. 2003. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Trager, Robert F. 2016. “The Diplomacy of War and Peace.” Annual Review of Political Science 19: 205–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troyanovsky, Oleg. 2000. “The Making Soviet Foreign Policy.” In Nikita Khrushchev, edited by Taubman, William, Khrushchev, Sergei, and Gleason, Abbot, 209–41. New Haven: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Jonathan H. 2002. Face to Face: Toward a Sociological Theory of Interpersonal Behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Watkins, Michael, and Rosegrant, Susan. 2001. Breakthrough International Negotiation: How Great Negotiators Transformed the World's Toughest Post-Cold War Conflicts. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Wendt, Alexander. 1999. Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, Nicholas J. 2018. Trusting Enemies: Interpersonal Relationships in International Conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilhelm, Alfred D Jr.. 1994. The Chinese at the Negotiating Table. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press.Google Scholar
Winter, David G. 1973. The Power Motive. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Womick, Jake, Rothmund, Tobias, Azevedo, Flavio, King, Laura A., and Jost, John T.. 2019. “Group-Based Dominance and Authoritarian Aggression Predict Support for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.” Social Psychological and Personality Science 10 (5): 643–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, Seanon S. 2016. “Emotions and the Communication of Intentions in Face-to-Face Diplomacy.” European Journal of International Relations 22 (1): 144–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, Seanon S. 2019a. “Stoics and Hotheads: Leaders Temperament, Anger, and the Expression of Resolve in Face-to-Face Diplomacy.” Journal of Global Security Studies 4 (2): 190208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, Seanon S. 2019b. “Who Blinked? Projecting Resolve (or Lack thereof) in Face-to-face Diplomacy.” Paper presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Wong, Seanon S. 2020. “Mapping the Repertoire of Emotions and Their Communicative Functions in Face-to-Face Diplomacy.” International Studies Review 22 (1): 7797.Google Scholar
Wohlforth, William C. 1993. The Elusive Balance: Power and Perceptions During the Cold War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, Reinhard. 2011. “Respect and Disrespect in International Politics: The Significance of Status Recognition.” International Theory 3 (1): 105–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xia, Yafeng. 2006. Negotiating with the Enemy U.S.–China Talks During the Cold War, 1949–1972. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Yarhi-Milo, Keren. 2014. Knowing the Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence, and Assessment of Intentions in International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Yarhi-Milo, Keren. 2018. Who Fights for Reputation: The Psychology of Leaders in International Conflicts. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ytreberg, Espen. 2010. “The Question of Calculation: Erving Goffman and the Pervasive Planning of Communication.” In The Contemporary Goffman, edited by Hviid Jacobsen, Michael, 293312. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar