Storia della diplomazia e International Relations Studies: categorie e modelli di interazione fra pre- e post- moderno

Diplomatic history and International Relations Studies are increasingly crossing their paths: the transformation of contemporary diplomacy in a globalised world has pushed the IR towards a re-reading of Middle Ages practices and models that could provide them with examples and case-studies, while historians, in revising the traditional grand narrative on the birth of modern diplomacy, could derive from the IR useful categories and concepts. The results of such a various crossings deserve a survey: on the one hand, the need for defining a ‘New Diplomacy’ has surfaced in the studies of the historians and in the workings of contemporary professionals and theorists; on the other, a deeper analysis of both the late medieval and early modern diplomacies, and the modern multiple diplomacy shows interesting similarities while suggesting new theoretical approaches. The paper deals with such a conceptual framework: by presenting the latest results of research on diplomacy in both the late medieval and the modern ages, it compares methods of analysis and interpretations while putting in a critical perspective the need and usefulness of models.