The Force of Face-to-Face Diplomacy: Mirror Neurons and the Problem of Intentions

TLDR

Face‑to‑face diplomacy is central to international politics yet often dismissed as cheap talk, despite diplomats asserting its necessity for agreements, and the human brain possesses specialized systems for parsing others' intentions during such interactions. The article argues that face‑to‑face diplomacy serves as a signaling mechanism that boosts cooperation. Face‑to‑face meetings transmit information and foster empathy, reducing uncertainty even amid distrust. These neural processes allow actors to access others' intentions more accurately than predicted by economic and game‑theoretic bargaining models.

Abstract

Abstract Face-to-face diplomacy has long been the lynchpin of international politics, yet it has largely been dismissed as irrelevant in theories of cooperation and conflict—as “cheap talk” because leaders have incentives to dissemble. However, diplomats and leaders have argued for years that there is often no substitute for personally meeting a counterpart to hash out an agreement. This article argues that face-to-face diplomacy provides a signaling mechanism that increases the likelihood of cooperation. Face-to-face meetings allow individuals to transmit information and empathize with each other, thereby reducing uncertainty, even when they have strong incentives to distrust the other. The human brain has discrete architecture and processes devoted to parsing others' intentions via cues in face-to-face interaction. These processes enable actors to directly access the intentions of others with a higher degree of certainty than economic and game-theoretic models of bargaining predict.