Assistant Professor Deepak Nair from the Department of Political Science is the joint winner of the Best Article Prize in the European Journal of International Relations (EJIR) for 2020. The prize was awarded for his article “Saving Face in Diplomacy: A Political Sociology of Face-to-Face Interactions in ASEAN.”

EJIR is the flagship journal of the European International Studies Association (EISA) and the ECPR Standing Group on International Relations (SGIR).

The Prize Committee noted in its statement: "Deepak Nair’s article makes an important contribution by offering an original analysis of the genesis and effect of practices of ‘face-saving’ in diplomatic interactions within ASEAN. Rejecting an essentialist and orientalist account, Nair persuasively presents a reading of face-saving as a social code originating in the conservative stance among ASEAN’s founding members. The committee was impressed by the reflexive, skilful and rigorous research grounded in social theory, extensive ethnographic fieldwork and an interpretivist method of immersion. Nair’s attention to historical context and his systematic and nuanced observation of practices in both formal and informal settings not only allows him to present a rich empirical picture and pervasive nature of this diplomatic habitus; it also directs attention to the power of this social code within a community of practice, providing impetus for new research."

The article has been made available open-access and can be viewed here:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1354066118822117