Informal Disaster Diplomacy

Abstract

This paper develops a baseline and definition for informal disaster diplomacy in order to fill in an identified gap in the existing research. The process adopted is a review of the concept of informality, the application of informality to diplomacy, and the application of informality to disasters and disaster science. The two applications of informality are then combined to outline an informal disaster diplomacy as a conceptual contribution to studies where processes of conflict, peace, and disasters interact. Adding informality into disaster diplomacy provides originality and significance as it has not hitherto been fully examined in this context. This exploration results in insights into disaster, peace, and conflict research through two main contributions. First, the paper recognises that informal disaster diplomacy has frequently been present in disaster diplomacy analyses, but has rarely been explicitly presented, accepted, described, theorised, or analysed. Second, by explaining the presence of and contributions from informality, the discussion assists in re-balancing much of disaster diplomacy research with depth from conflict research, peace research, international relations, and political science.