One of the chapters of my latest book “Diplomacy for Professionals and Everyone” (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022) is devoted to greetings. Chapter 9 is called: “Greeting as Micro-diplomacy or Coordinated Social Engagement”. In it, I discuss the connection between diplomacy and greeting and say that greeting has always played an important role not only in human communication in general but also in diplomatic practice. I considered greeting as an act of diplomacy and analyzed greeting interactions and symbolism in diplomatic ceremonies. Thus, different forms of the visit of heads of state or government to another country such as state, official, or working visits, involve different welcoming ceremonies for the guest. The entire state visit of the head of state to another country, which usually involves various ceremonies of greeting, can be considered as one large and extended greeting of the guest in a host country. In short, greeting occupies a vital place in international diplomatic intercourse.
In my book, a special place is given to the handshake – the most common visual symbol of diplomacy. This makes sense: a cordial handshake represents an act of goodwill and marks positive engagement and dialogical interaction. Many people judge the state of relations between countries or organizations by the peculiarities of their leaders’ handshakes. However, in a broad sense, it is not just a handshake as such, but a greeting does matter. Greeting represents a microcosm of diplomacy.
The chapter also approached greeting in the context of strategic interaction, the game of strategy, coordination game, and relationship management.
Here are the titles of the subchapters of this chapter.
Greetings, COVID-19 and Human Engagement.
Greeting as an Act of Diplomacy.
Greeting as an Interactional Instrument of Relationship Management.
Greeting as a Meaningful Social Exchange.
Greeting as a Strategic Interaction and Coordination Game.
The Relationship Payoff Matrix in a Greeting Negotiation.
Getting to Yes in Greeting, or Social Diplomacy of Greeting.
By the way, on the cover of my book, there is an image of a diplomat extending her hand to greet.
I hope readers will find this chapter of my book interesting and useful.
https://brill.com/display/title/62469
Alisher Faizullaev 