Cross-training for diplomats

Diplomats, the combatants who “conduct war by other means” – von Clausewitz’s famous dictum logically cuts both ways – need physical as well as mental discipline

The exercise of diplomacy is a very old one; as old as war, an activity that it both precedes and, in the aftermath, follows. While there is a rich literature on the physical preparation and the lifestyles appropriate to soldiers, those employed in managing the relations between nations are apparently presumed to need no special training in these themes. Since the diplomat’s trade is arguably as critical an activity as soldiering, this lack is hard to account for, especially as diplomacy does have its own particular requirements in terms of conditioning.