Institutionalization and Ritualization

Abstract

In the previous chapter we proposed that diplomacy be seen as an international institution, understood in terms of norms, rules and roles. Moreover, we identified coexistence as a fundamental norm of diplomacy, reciprocity as a perennial normative theme, and immunity as an important procedural rule. An institutional perspective implies stability. Yet we have also insisted on the need for a processual approach, depicting ourselves as partisans of flux and calling for dynamic verb forms to characterize diplomacy. In other words, we are interested in the dynamic processes through which actions become institutions and institutions shape actions. In this chapter we will focus on two interrelated dynamic processes, the institutionalization and ritualization of diplomacy.