Diplomats on the Frontlines: Knowing and Ordering in Crisis

How do diplomatic practices change under crisis conditions? To explore the possible effects of crisis on diplomatic standards of competence, the article zooms in on the modes of knowledge production of frontline diplomats in crisis. An illustrative case study of European Union (EU) diplomatic practice in Ukraine during the Euromaidan revolution reveals two different modes of knowledge production among members of the local EU diplomatic ‘community of practice’: a rule-following and reflexive mode. The article finds that the reflexive mode of knowledge production surfaces in times of crisis and reflects a heretofore under-acknowledged standard of excellence, the ‘ethics of care’ towards the host state’s citizens. Foregrounding the ‘ethics of care’ as a standard of competence sheds new light on diplomatic ethics and advances International Practice Theory’s (IPT) discussion about the normativity of practices and the contested nature of diplomatic competence.