Geopolitics of decolonization: Carnegie Endowment’s diplomatic training program 1960-73

TY - JOUR

T1 - Geopolitics of decolonization: Carnegie Endowment’s diplomatic training program 1960-73

AU - Harris, Jonathan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)

PY - 2024/6/29

Y1 - 2024/6/29

N2 - This paper considers the case of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's ‘Programs in Diplomacy’, which from 1960 to 73 provided international, bilingual training for the diplomats of ‘newer states’ – former colonies that gained independence after 1945. Drawing on archival research in three continents, we can see that the spaces and practices of diplomatic training through these programmes were inherently geopolitical: they would shape social and professional norms and networks, in turn shaping state-building and international life. As a result, the pedagogies, curricula, and spaces of these courses must be understood through the prism of contemporary (geo)political tensions: the ideological confrontations of decolonization and the Cold War. Organizers sought ‘neutral ground’ for the programmes, in terms of both their locations and their content. Beginning in Geneva and New York, the programmes shifted quickly towards universities in the Global South and articulated Third World ideals such as African unity. Despite consistent attempts to frame the programmes as technical and non-ideological, their discursive and material geographies reveal an approach to ‘learning the international’ that privileged Western liberal norms and practices, particularly through a pedagogy of socialization.

AB - This paper considers the case of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's ‘Programs in Diplomacy’, which from 1960 to 73 provided international, bilingual training for the diplomats of ‘newer states’ – former colonies that gained independence after 1945. Drawing on archival research in three continents, we can see that the spaces and practices of diplomatic training through these programmes were inherently geopolitical: they would shape social and professional norms and networks, in turn shaping state-building and international life. As a result, the pedagogies, curricula, and spaces of these courses must be understood through the prism of contemporary (geo)political tensions: the ideological confrontations of decolonization and the Cold War. Organizers sought ‘neutral ground’ for the programmes, in terms of both their locations and their content. Beginning in Geneva and New York, the programmes shifted quickly towards universities in the Global South and articulated Third World ideals such as African unity. Despite consistent attempts to frame the programmes as technical and non-ideological, their discursive and material geographies reveal an approach to ‘learning the international’ that privileged Western liberal norms and practices, particularly through a pedagogy of socialization.

KW - Diplomacy

KW - Decolonisation

KW - Cold War

KW - Training

KW - International

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85197517286&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104067

DO - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104067

M3 - Article

SN - 0016-7185

VL - 154

JO - GEOFORUM

JF - GEOFORUM

IS - 104067

M1 - 104067

ER -