Informal Diplomacy in Ancient Rome: An Analysis of Negotiation in Cicero's Letters

古罗马的非正式外交：西塞罗书信中谈判的分析

• 批准号: 2726469
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2726469
• 关键词: Informal; Diplomacy; Ancient; Rome; Analysis

This multidisciplinary project analyses ancient Roman informal political negotiations, combining close reading of ancient Latin letters with modern negotiation theory. Modern political studies are increasingly focusing on informal diplomacy - non-legally binding political activity - to explain broader political trends (Christiansen and Neuhold, 2012). Roman history provides an insightful parallel: although formal political power rested primarily in elected magistrates, informal interactions among the socio-political elite heavily influenced their policies. Aspects of this informal diplomacy have been examined recently, such as social convention (Hall, 2009), mediation (Tatum, 2017), and informal conversation (Rosillo-López, 2021). This project will be the first to analyse Roman negotiation processes in the context of modern theory. Both political and classical studies stand to gain: the former by showing how modern negotiation theories are already represented in the ancient world, and the latter by reframing the relationship between informal and formal political action in Roman society.Our best insights into Roman informal negotiations are the letters of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a prominent statesman from 80-43BCE. Some 900 letters and 90 replies survive, including many to fellow politicians. Notably, these detail several "crisis points" involving negotiations with parties outside of Rome. Historical records outline the outcomes of these events, indicating a connection between informal negotiations and formal political actions.The main research question driving this project is how informal negotiations worked in ancient Rome. Drawing on close readings of Cicero's letters from 58-43BCE, I will present a novel, interdisciplinary framework which applies modern negotiation theories to Roman informal diplomacy, to answer the main research question and several secondary questions, including: How did political, diplomatic, and behavioural factors influence ancient Roman informal diplomacy?What role does power (a)symmetry occupy in Roman informal negotiation?How do letter-based negotiations fit into the framework of Roman informal politics?How effective was informal diplomacy in ancient Rome?I will utilise a qualitative case study methodology, drawing on Cicero's letters and modern negotiation theories. Following the construction of a conceptual framework highlighting the most pertinent theoretical themes, I will use process tracing methods to analyse how the style of diplomacy used by Cicero and his correspondents developed over time in response to exogenous (e.g. at the strategic level) and political (e.g. changes in the positions of Cicero and his correspondents) factors. This research will provide an original, rigorous and interdisciplinary contribution to our understanding of change and continuity in the conduct of informal diplomacy in ancient Rome through the correspondences of one of its most prolific writers and iconic statesmen.

这个多学科项目分析了古罗马非正式政治谈判，将古代拉丁字母的仔细阅读与现代谈判理论相结合。现代政治研究越来越关注非正式外交——不具有法律约束力的政治活动——以解释更广泛的政治趋势（Christiansen 和 Neuhold，2012）。罗马历史提供了一个富有洞察力的相似之处：虽然正式的政治权力主要掌握在民选的地方法官手中，但社会政治精英之间的非正式互动极大地影响了他们的政策，例如社会惯例。 （Hall，2009）、调解（Tatum，2017）和非正式对话（Rosillo-López，2021）该项目将是第一个在现代理论背景下分析罗马谈判过程的项目。 ：前者通过展示现代谈判理论如何在古代世界中得到体现，后者通过重新构建罗马社会中非正式和正式政治行动之间的关系。我们对罗马非正式谈判的最佳见解是这些字母公元前 80 至 43 年的著名政治家马库斯·图利乌斯·西塞罗 (Marcus Tullius Cicero) 留下了约 900 封信件和 90 封回复，其中包括许多写给政治家的信件，其中详细描述了与罗马以外各方进行谈判的几个“危机点”。这些事件表明非正式谈判与正式政治行动之间存在联系。推动该项目的主要研究问题是通过仔细阅读西塞罗的信件，非正式谈判在古罗马是如何运作的。公元前58-43年，我将提出一个新颖的跨学科框架，将现代谈判理论应用于罗马非正式外交，以回答主要研究问题和几个次要问题，包括：政治、外交和行为因素如何影响古罗马非正式外交？权力（a）对称在罗马非正式谈判中扮演什么角色？基于信件的谈判如何融入罗马非正式政治的框架？古罗马的非正式外交有多有效？我将利用西塞罗的定性案例研究方法在构建突出最相关理论主题的概念框架之后，我将使用过程追踪方法来分析西塞罗及其通讯员使用的外交风格如何随着时间的推移而发展以应对外生因素（例如在这项研究将为我们理解古罗马非正式外交行为的变化和连续性提供原创、严谨和跨学科的贡献。其最多产的作家和标志性政治家之一的信件。