"Because they matter": recognise diversity - globalise research

Abstract

The policy implications of this approach are threefold. First, engagement by practitioners with scholars specialising in the regions is necessary to understand what other key players want. Second, a global approach does not mean idealisation of "the other". Hand in hand with such a study may sometimes come a recognition of the red lines, and an admission of irreconciliable differences for policy. Finally, grand polarised representations may not have helped policy-makers in the past. Detailed context-sensitive understanding, accompanied by an attention to how concepts travel and change across cultures, may generate some pleasant surprises on expanding negotiating space and the identification of like-minded allies. (author's abstract)