Between the national and the personal: The interactional production of agency in diplomacy

Abstract This study examines the extent to which personal agency is manifest in diplomacy. While current research in IR tends to adopt the representative framework when studying the power of individuals in advancing state goals, our study highlights moments at which personal agency and diplomatic agency part ways. Based on ethnographic observations at the State of Israel’s presidential residence – we recorded and transcribed 27 conversations between the president and designated ambassadors to Israel during credential ceremonies – we seek to uncover manifestations of personal agency. This is achieved by adopting the most sensitive framework for studying social interactions, conversation analysis, applying the concept of footing (first coined by Goffman) to identify how diplomats shift agencies and how they perform personal agency in the flow of diplomatic interactions. The application of these analytical tools to the study of diplomatic interactions enriches our understanding of how diplomacy is practised and challenges the prevailing notion that personal agency is negligible in the face of overwhelming structural forces. This shift in perspective suggests that scholars need to re-evaluate the place of agency in diplomacy, highlighting the critical role of individual actors in international politics.