Russia in Global Affairs

For citation, please use:
Sushentsov, A.A., Neklyudov, N.N., Mishra, R., and Pavlov, V.V., 2025. Academic and Professional Diplomatic Training in a Complex World. Russia in Global Affairs, 23(3), pp. 163–178. DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2025-23-3-163-178

Hans Morgenthau, the founder of classical realism, regarded diplomacy as a crucial component of national power (Morgenthau, 1973), an art that uses skillful negotiation, pragmatic judgement, and keen understanding of power dynamics to reconcile competing interests and prevent war. His analysis of Cold War diplomacy highlighted its role in managing ideological and power-based rivalries (Cesa, 2009; Molloy, 2004).

The existing literature offers diverse (historical, practical, and theoretical) approaches to analyzing diplomatic training. Kissinger (1994) emphasizes the importance of understanding historical and cultural contexts, while Rana (2011, 2013) explores practical challenges in diplomatic training. Contemporary studies highlight the evolution of diplomatic training, shaped by historical, political, and technological changes, with comparisons across different regions and programs tailored to national contexts (Gabrielyan et al., 2016; Baylon, 2016; Duke, 2015; Bicchi and Bremberg 2016; McConnell et al., 2024). Some researchers stress the importance of developing resilience at both individual and community levels in diplomatic training (Leki, 2019; Mustafayeva, 2016). Today, diplomats must complement personal traits with multidisciplinary training, including language learning and practical skills (Kappeler, 2002). In the digital age, acquiring analytical skills is crucial (Trigona, 2002; Archetti, 2012). Professional diplomats must be prepared to act in emergencies (Cornut, 2015). Russian memoirs and academic literature address the quality of diplomatic training (Dobrynin, 2016; Dubinin, 2007; Torkunov, 2013; Baykov, 2016).

This article examines the diplomatic schools of Russia, China, Brazil, the U.S., Germany, and India—countries varying in region, power, resources, and foreign policy culture. We distinguish between two broad approaches to diplomatic training: academic, which focuses on international relations (IR) theory, foreign languages, and regional studies, and professional, which emphasizes skills such as negotiation and crisis-management.

We expected that great and emerging powers would prioritize academic training to “advance national interests over legalistic, moralistic, and sentimental considerations” (Morgenthau, 1949). Instead, countries like the U.S., India, and Germany are increasingly favoring professional training over academic, risking the loss of diplomatic expertise.

China

China offers a paradigmatic example of an academic training model embedded within a tightly controlled bureaucratic system. The China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and serving as a primary school for prospective diplomats, delivers a curriculum centered on IR theory, diplomatic history, and area studies. All undergraduate students complete a mandatory four-semester block on regional specialization, including country-specific modules, while postgraduate cohorts undertake thesis-based research aligned with geographic desks. Language immersion is compulsory and often continues throughout the full course of study. While some elite linguistic universities, e.g., Beijing Foreign Studies University, provide separate diplomatic language streams with partial regional content, these institutions are structurally distinct from CFAU and do not directly channel graduates into the diplomatic corps.

Since 1955, the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry of Education, has been the leading institution for training diplomatic personnel and specialists in IR and international law (CFAU, 2024). Of its 20,000 graduates, over 30 have held ministerial posts, around 500 have served as ambassadors, and more than 1,000 have worked as counselors in Chinese embassies or as directors of government agencies. CFAU was the first to offer diplomacy as a bachelor’s degree. An analysis of senior MFA officials shows that CFAU affiliation, regardless of study field, significantly influences recruitment likelihood. MFA employment is based on competitive selection, a standardized exam, and a one-year internship. Party membership is required for all MFA employees, who undergo six months of training at the CPC Central Committee’s Advanced Party School.

The development of area studies in China dates back to the 1960s, when institutions like Peking University and Fudan University began to establish separate area studies departments (Fan and Li 2022).

These now ensure that many Chinese diplomats are proficient in the language of their host countries.

For instance, the current Chinese ambassadors to Russia, Japan, and France specialized in the respective languages during their higher education.

The CFAU curriculum is structured to provide students with a solid foundation in key academic disciplines pertinent to IR. The university offers undergraduate and graduate programs in areas such as Diplomacy, IR, and International Law. It offers many specific, diplomacy-oriented disciplines, such as “An introduction to Diplomatic Studies,” “Contemporary International Politics,” “The Diplomatic History of Modern China.” While the core curriculum leans heavily towards academic training, it also includes topics such as “Media Studies,” “Negotiations and Crisis Management,” and “Translation and Interpreting” (CFAU, 2023).

China’s study of IR combines Western literature with Marxism-Maoism, traditional Chinese philosophy (Confucianism and Daoism), and the country’s cultural and historical experience (Grachikov, 2019; Lu, 2024; Hwang, 2021), reflecting the formula: “use Chinese knowledge as the foundation and Western knowledge for practical application.” Notably, China annually sends 140 specially-selected diplomats to top foreign universities for year-long professional development programs.

CFAU’s curriculum focuses less on area studies and more on global order, international security, international integration, U.S. foreign policy, Sino-American relations, the history of China’s diplomatic service and foreign relations, major powers, and China’s neighbors.

Russia

Russia has developed extensive expertise in training diplomats, largely due to a specialized institution, MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations). This school serves the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), like China’s CFAU. The establishment of a specialized diplomatic school was driven by the USSR’s need, after World War II, for a steady influx of diplomats capable of defending the country’s interests in a growing number of independent countries and new international organizations. While various other institutions also train IR specialists, MGIMO supplies 60% of the MFA’s employees. Russia’s diplomatic training system also includes the Diplomatic Academy of the MFA, responsible for continuing education, and capable of rapidly integrating the MFA’s needs into the specialized and language training of young professionals.

MGIMO’s bachelor’s programs include at least two-year-long courses on the history of IR in chronological order (not case studies) (MGIMO, 2024), helping to ensure that events are historically contextualized. IR students’ use of multiple domestically-authored textbooks on IR history also indicates a certain degree of strategic autonomy and an intention to form foreign policy identity and strategy on the basis of national experience (MGIMO, 2024). In addition to historical disciplines, students study international law, the history of philosophy, international political economy, the history and foreign policy of specific countries, foundational IR theory (including Western, non-Western, and domestic theorists), and applied analysis of international situations.

IR students also study the language of their country of specialization for the four years of the bachelor’s program and through subsequent master’s studies. Leading Russian universities offer the opportunity to study a second foreign language, often regionally paired with the first one, and studying a third one is also possible. Quotas from the MFA occasionally allow MGIMO to offer high-demand, often rare, languages.

In total, more than 53 languages are taught at MGIMO.

Brazil

Brazil’s diplomatic training system is centered on the Instituto Rio Branco, a specialized academy under the Ministry of External Relations, originally established in 1945 as a research center.

The institute conducts the Admission Exam for the Diplomatic Career (Diário Oficial Da União, 2022), which selects for those with a comprehensive understanding of IR: history, politics, law, economics, and culture (Bodine, 2022).

The diplomatic curriculum is divided into two cycles: the first consists of two semesters of mandatory subjects like international politics, law, economics, world history, and Brazilian history. The second cycle involves one or two semesters focused on professional disciplines. Students also undergo professional training at the Ministry of External Relations and its embassies abroad. Completion of the Rio Branco program is mandatory for joining the diplomatic service, regardless of age.

Most high-ranking Brazilian diplomats hold multiple degrees, at least one from the Rio Branco Institute.

After several decades of this centralized recruitment system, the Rio Branco Institute has turned into a rather closed system. It is separated from public and private universities that teach IR. The Rio Branco Institute’s admission criteria and curricula are tightly regulated by the government (Portaria No 344, 2021), while federal (public) universities have been significantly influenced by the Bologna System and American approaches to developing curricula. The Ministry of External Relations is going through a prolonged process of reformation in response to public demands for equality and transparency in public administration: new employees are selected not only on merit but also based on their region of birth.

The United States

The U.S. diplomatic service is one of the world’s largest, yet at its upper levels it is formed not by a comprehensive, multi-year academic track but to a large extent through political appointment by the President. As a result, many U.S. diplomats mainly receive brief professional training (Washington International Academy, n.d.).

Since 1975, there has been a steady decline in career diplomats’ appointments as Deputy Secretaries, Under Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries (American Foreign Service Association, 2012). By the end of the 2010s, more than a third of ambassadors were political appointees. Moreover, such appointments were not accompanied by additional specialized training. Since 1980, only 48% of political appointees have had professional experience in foreign policy institutions. While 61% of ambassadors have had ‘competencies’ related to the region of their destination country, only 17% have had knowledge of the country of assignment, having previously lived or worked there (Scoville, 2019).

Training programs of the Washington International Diplomatic Academy tend to focus on case studies illustrating grand strategy, great power politics, and globalization but also include experiential learning of negotiation techniques, crisis management, and diplomatic protocol. The Foreign Service Institute provides brief intensive language instruction, simulations, case studies, and theoretical foundations with a focus on developing communication skills and crisis-management (Foreign Service Institute, 2025).

The prevalence of Ivy League graduates in the State Department has led to recurring but unsuccessful reform attempts (Sushentsov and Pavlov, 2021). An Ivy League diploma often outweighs specialized diplomatic education. (On the relevance of ‘Diploma Democracy’ and ‘political meritocracy’ see Bovens and Wille, 2017; Markovits, 2019). State Department employees seeking promotion are 22.5% more likely to get it if they have an Ivy League degree (Toosi, 2020).

The State Department’s focus on “diversity” is unlikely to enhance its effectiveness (RIAC, 2023) and was one of the first issues addressed by the Trump administration in January 2025.

The significant decline in quality among U.S. diplomats has led to foreign policy errors (Burns, 2019a, 2019b; Suri, 2019), such as a reconstruction effort in Iraq (2003–2006) that was exacerbated by personnel’s ignorance of the region (SIGIR, 2009), and a failure to anticipate developments in the 2020 U.S.-Taliban negotiations in Doha, caused by an absence of area knowledge and the brevity of diplomats’ rotations (Cordesman, 2021).

India

India’s diplomatic training system represents a clear case of the professional training model, prioritizing administrative adaptability, protocol familiarity, and communicative competence over academic or research-intensive preparation. The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was established by a Cabinet decision on 9 October 1946 to serve an independent India (unlike the Indian Administrative Service, which evolved from the Indian Civil Service). Today, selection to the IFS is through the Civil Services Examination, involving a preliminary exam, main exam, and interview. Candidates must be physically-fit Indian citizens, aged 21 to 32, with a bachelor’s degree.

Upon selection, Indian Foreign Service Officer trainees undergo highly structured compact training. The initial phase—a 15-week Foundation Course—is conducted at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. It includes general modules on governance, ethics, and public administration, and serves primarily as a mechanism of socialization into India’s civil service ethos.

Subsequently, probationers transfer to the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (SSIFS), the Ministry’s in-house training body. The SSIFS curriculum, lasting no longer that a year, focuses heavily on professional competences: diplomatic etiquette, negotiation simulation, economic and legal briefings. In recent years, the training has widened to offer cyber security, border customs, science and technology diplomacy, space diplomacy, crisis management, sports diplomacy, culinary diplomacy, art appreciation, and protocol deployment (Committee On External Affairs, 2024).

The Ministry of External Affairs is working towards the goal of preparing an ambassador for each country. However, successful applicants usually represent Jawaharlal Nehru University, whose curriculum features weak regional studies and foreign languages training, due to a lack of tradition and funding (Markey, 2009).

Moreover, India’s civil service in general and diplomatic service in particular are characterized by a closed, elitist, and exclusive nature inherited from the colonial administration.

Germany

Germany represents another professional model. A diplomatic career requires training at the Diplomatic Service Academy (Akademie Auswärtiger Dienst) created in 1950. Yet while the Academy delivers primarily professional training—focused on European law, negotiations practice, and bureaucratic procedure—the entrance exam requires a comprehensive understanding of IR, including detailed knowledge of geographical and economic aspects. In this sense, the German system assumes, but does not provide, academic IR training: it relies on higher education to supply theoretical grounding, which it then complements with professional instruction.

This structural separation allows the state to focus on functional preparation while ensuring a minimum of academic literacy.

The Diplomatic Service Academy employs a distinct training approach for each of Germany’s three civil service levels. The lowest (technical staff and low-level employees) requires a high school education. The next level (lawyers, administrators, and functionaries) also requires a high-school education. Officials in this category do consular work and promote German businesses. Their training lasts for three years, of which four months are a probationary period at the Federal Foreign Office and seven months are spent at missions abroad. The highest level (career diplomats devoting their entire life to diplomatic service) requires a master’s degree (Auswärtiges Amt, 2024), but preparation lasts only one year, focusing on IR, personnel management, crisis management, rhetoric, event organization, and public relations. Each academy student studies three foreign languages.

In Germany, there are few bachelor’s and master’s degrees in IR. Hochschule Rhein-Waal and Technische Universität Dresden provide BAs in IR, covering international politics, economy, and law (Hochschule, 2025; Technische Universität Dresden, 2025). Universität Erfurt runs an interdisciplinary bachelor’s program in IR, integrating legal, social, and economic courses (Universität Erfurt, 2025). Most commonly, IR training is restricted to issues of security, ecology, finance, humanitarian diplomacy, and international law. Several leading universities offer courses in regional studies (Regionalstudien), which typically do not focus on foreign policy. For example, the Free University of Berlin (a leading German university specializing in IR and diplomacy) offers a program in Italian Studies, focusing on Italian history, sociology, and culture, but without courses on Italy’s foreign policy (Freie Univerität, 2025).

Germany thus cannot be considered as integrating an academic approach into its diplomatic training system.

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Some countries, such as the U.S., India, and Germany, eschew academic training of their diplomats, confining training to a more limited set of professional skills such as crisis management and digital engagement. This trend can be attributed to the increasing velocity and complexity of the international system: cyber threats, economic shocks and more. Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of multilateral platforms and non-state actors has increased the value of certain professional skills, casting doubt on the necessity of comprehensive academic training. Hans Morgenthau would see as paradoxical such skepticism at a time when the international system is witnessing a retour aux armes. But domestic political imperatives also reinforce the professional orientation of diplomatic training. The professionalization of foreign services, along with budgetary limits in Western governments, favor short professional training modules. In the West this professional focus was further fortified by the waning of geopolitical thinking in postwar Europe under U.S. hegemony.

Brazil is influenced by Western approaches but also distinguished by comprehensive courses on IR history and theory.

In contrast, Russia’s training features native curricula aimed at developing comprehensive and substantive (Baykov 2016) diplomatic skills grounded in national perspectives on IR.

China’s training also emphasizes academic knowledge, including historical and ideological disciplines. In this sense, the Chinese approach is perhaps the most self-sufficient among those of non-Western states.

The study was supported by MGIMO University grant #2025-04-05. This paper is part of broader research into national approaches to diplomatic training, made possible by the research team: Ilya Dyachkov, Anna Ionova, Anastasya Gladysheva, Artem Sokolov, Egor Spirin, Ninel Gulam, Sergey Davydov, Alexey Danilenko, Elizaveta Rudenko, Ivan Khludov, Vladimir Shcherbunov, Margarita Kuzmina, Elena Burdina, Polina Kalugina, Irina Kiseleva, Mark Makarov, Valery Perunov, and Olga Rebro.

Key ideas of this paper were initially presented in the report written for the Valdai Discussion Club:  https://valdaiclub.com/a/reports/crafting-national-interests-diplomatic-training/