Diplomatic Interventions in Times of Unpeace

This volume is a curated collection of the diplomatic (and, frequently, plain-speaking) interventions – keynotes, essays, interviews and analyses – made in the course of the last decade by the author. The changing international political environment occasioned by Russia’s aggression on Ukraine since 2014 and the global disruptions from Afghanistan to the Middle East have brought about a veritable “Epochenwechsel”; an ending of one era of relative peace. What remains is a need to assess the uncertain future of our globe, of things to come, as long as diplomacy is still able to shape the new multipolar global order.

The texts collected in these pages review and assess the implications of this current period of unpeace in the era of big power politics. Focusing particularly, but not exclusively, on South-East Europe, Wolfgang Petritsch pulls no punches in his assessments but never loses sight of his own life experience which has shaped his worldview. This book is an essential companion for a better understanding of the ongoing fundamental global transformation – a historical state of flux – and an intellectual guide that walks the walk.