Mental Maps in the Era of Two World Wars

The past two decades have witnessed the rise of an exciting ‘cultural turn’ in the history of international relations. Much greater attention is now focused on the beliefs and practices of actors in international politics. Diplomacy is often understood as a ‘cultural encounter’ as well as an institution for the exercise of power in the international system. This fine collection of essays on the ‘mental maps’ of key statesmen during the inter-war period makes an important contribution to this new approach. Its focus is on political élites responsible for the making of policy rather than the diplomatic or military officials who advised them. The end result is an unusually rich and varied collection that will be of interest for both students and specialists of international relations between the two world wars. The aim of this volume is by no means to resurrect the outdated fixation on what a few (usually male) policy élites thought and said—the history of ‘what one clerk said to another’. The concept of a ‘mental map’, the editors argue, is useful not only for better understanding the fundamental assumptions shaping policy decisions, but also to help ‘uncover’ the ‘underlying political and social environments in which various leaders developed and rose to influence’ (pp. xii–xiii). It therefore holds out the promise of a more sophisticated analysis of the relationship between agents and structures in the making of policy. This promise is certainly borne out in several of the essays that follow. While the quality of the chapters is a little uneven, all of the contributions are worth reading. The most effective outline the understandings, expectations and political visions of their subject systematically at the outset and then link these ‘mental maps’ to the evolution of policy-making

Diplomacy · Institution · International relations · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Law · Scottish History and National Identity

• État de littérature. L'histoire des relations internationales aujourd'hui

  Pierre Grosser•Critique internationale•2014

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