Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer/Autumn 2018 | Page 64

THE BARENBOIM CASE: HOW TO LINK MUSIC AND DIPLOMACY STUDIES
On top of that, this type of diplomacy at the micro-level must be strongly articulated to
one of the main issues in the international system: Barenboim and the WEDO respond
partly to the current crisis of diplomacy that is qualified by a lack of intermediation,
perhaps disintermediation (Cooper 2017) per se. Protests and insults against accredited
diplomatic personnel within the respective host countries as well as the increasing weakness
of the implementation of diplomatic practices especially between state leaders are
the most conspicuous symptoms of this process. The actors of disintermediation call
into question the very pillars of diplomacy, i.e. to recognize an alterity and to cultivate
lasting relationships with the otherness. By focusing on mutual recognition and equality
within a cultural institution, “this most unusual of orchestras” (Cheah 2009:5) opens a
very broad range of possibilities between human beings.
Such findings refrain from the traditional conception of diplomacy as a state monopoly
(Berridge 2015; Nicolson 1939). Barenboim and the WEDO show that, although their
reluctance to be qualified as genuine diplomatic actors, their positions and actions are
contributing to the evolution of conflict representations at the grass-root level. These
phenomena highlight the extensive definition of diplomacy that several scholars aim at
promoting in the field nowadays (Hocking 2016; Langhorne 2004; Lee and Hudson
2004).
Frédéric Ramel is a full professor in Political Science and the Head of Political
Science Department at Sciences Po, Paris, France. After his Ph.D., he became
a postdoctoral fellow at the Raoul Dandurand Chair (University of Quebec
at Montréal). As tenured Professor, he taught at the Jean Monnet Faculty
of Paris Sud XI and participated in the creation of the Institute of Strategic
Research at the Military School (IRSEM), of which he had been the scientific
director between 2009 and 2013. He deals with international security, intergovernmental
organizations, and normative issues in IR. One of his current
research programs is dedicated to the relations between aesthetics and international
relations. More specifically, he analyzes the role of music in diplomacy
and armed conflicts conceptually and historically. For instance, he studied
the idea of Concert as a philosophical convention in the perpetual peace tradition
during the eighteenth century. He also focuses on current musical experiences
of reconciliation thanks to music and especially the East–West Divan
Orchestra initiated by Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim. Among his last
publications: International Relations, Music and Diplomacy (as editor with
Cecile Prévost-Thomas, Palgrave MacMillan, 2018), “Teaching IR through
Arts: some lessons learned” (International Studies Perspectives, 19 (4),
November 2018) and in Presses de Sciences Po: L’Enjeu mondial 2018.
Guerres et conflits armés au XXIème siècle (with Benoit Pélopidas), L’Attraction
mondiale (Alfred Thibaudet Award 2013).
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