During our last AUK Talks, we had the distinct honor of welcoming the former Vice President of the European Commission and former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy - Baroness Catherine Ashton. She presented her recently published book “And Then What?: Inside Stories of 21st-Century Diplomacy” and gave a thorough overview of today’s diplomatic world, sharing her insights into how modern diplomacy works.
Lady Ashton compared the actors of international diplomacy to tankers and yachts, whereby the tankers are represented by organizations such as the UN, NATO, and the EU. They are tankers because the symbolic cargo they carry is, in fact, the shared values and ideals that they hold.
"Being created with a purpose that is deeper and longer that is meant to last for decades, if not centuries. It is meant to take the group of nations or the world to a better place that is about justice and freedom and democracy and human rights. These are really important vessels, but they move slow, they are difficult to manage, and they rust. You need to keep them clean.
And then you have yachts that move faster than water. They can get from one place to another much more quickly than a tanker. But they don't stay at sea that long. And if the wind stops, they can't go anywhere. And these are the things that we bring together with a common purpose to try and resolve maybe one or two problems. It's coalitions of countries, the groups brought together who don't necessarily have anything else in common, except that they want to tackle a particular problem. And they're very valuable, and they are to be thought well off, but they're not the same as the tankers."
“For me, the U.N. is never a particularly efficient organization. But institutionally, I would keep it. I would take a rust out off it and give it a new cold paint, I try and keep it at sea, and then somehow keep it moving. It still has value, even if at times now we find that difficult. In this context, there are still things that we're going to need the United Nations for in the future. And I think it's important to have as many different models, as you possibly can."
We are extremely grateful to Baroness Ashton for sharing with us her valuable insights and providing these unique guidelines into the world of global diplomacy. We are also thankful to Mark Voyger, the Director of the MSc in Global Management program, for inviting Lady Ashton and moderating the AUK Talks.
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