{"id":13800,"date":"2022-12-14T12:28:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T10:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/?p=13800"},"modified":"2023-03-24T13:44:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T11:44:37","slug":"benevolence-and-international-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/benevolence-and-international-relations\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Benevolence and International Relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In his book, La bienveillance dans les relations internationales. Un essai politique<\/i><\/a> (CNRS Editions, January 2022), Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Ramel<\/a> sets out to examine and analyse international relations through the lens of benevolence. A professor of political science and researcher at the Centre for International Studies, Ramel opposes the cynical commentators who consider the notion of benevolence naive, and provides an alternative and more sensitive perspective on past and present international relations and could inspire those of tomorrow. Interview.<\/p>\n

You write, \u2018Whether as a disposition or as behaviour, benevolence emphasises relationships based on a kind of solidarity that is particular in that it expresses human sociability.\u2019 What is it exactly?<\/h5>\n

Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Ramel: it\u2019s important to make a distinction between benevolence as a disposition and benevolence as an action. All human beings can recognise behaviour based on benevolence\u2009\u2013\u2009not causing harm to others (negative benevolence), helping those who are vulnerable, and\/or taking reasonable steps to promote the good (positive benevolence). As spectators, we can all evaluate and admire the actions of someone like Denis Mukwege, the gynaecologist who \u2018repairs\u2019 women who are victims of rape in conflicts in Africa, or someone like Leymah Gbowee, the Christian leader who promotes non-violence and advocates for the inclusion of women in the peace process is in Liberia. However, taking action (either planned or spontaneous) is not automatic.<\/p>\n

Who demonstrates this benevolence in the context of international relations? Diplomats? Senior civil servants in international organisations? Members of a globalised civil society?<\/h5>\n

F.R.: Benevolence is not the prerogative of a select few. The first actors who come to mind are diplomats, who take into account this disposition or even trigger it in immediate response to suffering endured by their counterparts and fellow citizens following terrorist attacks or natural disasters. I also refer to the resonance these diplomats may experience in their practices by cultivating calm and silence, which might be described as an acoustic reading\u00a0 (1)<\/sup><\/a>An acoustic reading refers to the role of listening, silence, and resonance in the everyday work of diplomats who produce sound, modulate their voices, organise concerts as instruments of representation and mediation.\u00a0 See Damien Mahiet, Rebekah Ahrendt, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Ramel. \u201cDiplomacy: Audible and Resonant<\/a>,\u201d Diplomatica. A Journal of Diplomacy and Society<\/i>, Dec. 2021<\/span><\/span>