Diplomatic training and Sovereign Foreign Policy: Experience from Asia

This article analyzes the relationship between diplomatic training and the international positioning of countries, using the example of the Asian macro-region. The paper is a case study focusing on the experiences of China, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, and India. Through detailed country analyses, the paper aims to examine how the quality of diplomatic training correlates with states’ aspirations for autonomy and sovereignty in the emerging polycentric world order. The methodological framework of the study incorporates a multi-paradigm approach, integrating a neorealist perspective of the state as the central actor in international relations and a constructivist analysis of the impact of social practices on diplomatic strategy. An examination of the diplomatic training systems of the countries reveals a complex relationship with their foreign policy and personnel policies. The study finds a non-causal correlation between the foreign policy positioning of countries and their diplomatic training models. A state’s desire to increase its autonomy depends to a greater extent on its role and position in world politics in the space-time continuum. Thus, based on historical experience, among the cases studied, the desire for autonomy is stronger in those states where the colonial trauma is more acute. “Sovereignty” can take different forms depending on the resources available to a state. At the same time, quality diplomatic training ensures the possibility of implementing the sovereign line and provides the necessary human and ideological tools for this purpose.