Diplomacy Notebook Is Now Read in Over 100 Countries
To mark this milestone and farther expand readership, I’m starting a reader referral program with rewards.
Just over a year after I started the Diplomacy Notebook, it’s now read in more than 100 countries across all of the world’s regions. To everyone who subscribes, reads my columns, follows The Diplomacy Podcast, shares my work or recommends it to others, thank you!
I’m deeply grateful for your interest in diplomacy and for your support, especially at a time when diplomacy has fallen victim to a dark and cruel worldview that champions force over dialogue, coercion over persuasion and private profit over national interest.
The past year has reinforced my conviction that professional diplomacy matters — and that when it’s ignored or practiced incompetently, we all suffer. It matters because wars are easier to start than to end, and because international crises rarely resolve themselves. Despite its imperfections, diplomacy remains humanity’s most effective tool for managing conflict and creating opportunities for peace and prosperity.
I started the Diplomacy Notebook because I learned long ago as a journalist that diplomacy is usually invisible until it fails. Media coverage of national security is overwhelmingly focused on military and intelligence matters, and it takes a war to remind us that peace is impossible without diplomacy.
The Diplomacy Notebook explores how diplomacy shapes our world. I try to offer a variety of topics and perspectives — from the fundamentals and behind-the-scenes realities of the profession to commentary on news developments to policy prescriptions. I’ve long believed that understanding diplomacy helps us better understand the world itself.
According to Substack’s metrics, of all other publications on the platform, the Diplomacy Notebook has the largest audience overlap with Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American, followed by Paul Krugman and Anne Applebaum. Not bad company at all.
I was curious which of my articles most resonated with readers, so I checked Substack’s readership statistics. Here are the most-read pieces from the past year:
Top 10 Articles
As for the podcast, below are the most popular episodes from Season 1 and their guests. Season 2 begins in July.
Top 5 Podcast Episodes
The Loss of National Security Expertise (Cindy Courville)
The Future of America’s Global Power (Chas Freeman)
The Foreign Policy of an Imperial Presidency (Elizabeth Saunders)
The Loss of International Students in the U.S. (Kate Byrnes)
From Soldier to Diplomat: Overcoming Culture Shock (Charles Ray)
To mark the 100-country milestone and expand the Diplomacy Notebook’s readership, I’m starting a reader referral program. As a token of my appreciation for helping me spread the word, I’m offering a few rewards I hope you will find worthwhile.
Refer three new subscribers: Receive a PDF of the foreword to my latest book, “Diplomatic Tradecraft.”
Refer six new subscribers: Receive a diplomatic terminology guide, including a glossary of key terms and frequently used acronyms.
Refer 12 new subscribers: Receive an invitation to a special Zoom discussion about my ongoing travels to more than 20 countries on all continents to research a new book examining the seismic shifts reshaping the international system.
When you visit the Diplomacy Notebook homepage, you will see a new tab called “Leaderboard” between “Archive” and “About.” There you will find your unique referral link and can track your progress toward unlocking new rewards. You can also just click on the button below.
The referral program is also intended to make the Diplomacy Notebook more interactive. The more than 55,000 post views are encouraging, but the publication has been largely a one-way conversation so far, with relatively few comments, likes and social-media shares.
I’d love to hear from you more often. Let me know which topics you enjoy most, which ones you find less useful, and what aspects of diplomacy you would like me to explore in the future.
Thank you again for helping build this community. I look forward to continuing the conversation in the year ahead.
Keeping The Diplomacy Notebook and The Diplomacy Podcast free for everyone isn’t easy. If you find them valuable, please consider making a donation. Thank you!
Nicholas Kralev is the founder and CEO of the Washington International Diplomatic Academy, and a former Financial Times and Washington Times correspondent. His books include “Diplomatic Tradecraft,” “America’s Other Army” and “Diplomats in the Trenches.”