Diplomatic Communication Feb 2026

This course considers the relationship between force and grace: how to be authoritative while remaining attentive, how to disagree without being disagreeable, and how to stay cool, calm, and collected under attack, while still defending and promoting your own position.

Since the most persuasive opinion shapers are usually those who optimally combine force with grace, we identify those linguistic techniques which lend force to our own arguments, those which express consideration for the views of others, and those which expand the circle of inclusion to accommodate different perspectives.