Astrid Schnitzer-Skjønsberg Wins the 2026 HJD Article Award
The Hague Journal of Diplomacy is delighted to announce the winner of the HJD 2026 Article Award: Astrid Schnitzer-Skjønsberg, “The Practice of Managed Visibility: Insights into China’s Frontline Diplomacy from two European Capitals.”
The jury of hand-selected scholars of diplomacy awarded “The Practice of Managed Visibility” as the best article published in the Hague Journal of Diplomacy in 2024 and 2025. The 10 jurors, comprising scholars in diplomatic studies at different career stages alongside leading theorists and scholar-practitioners, recognized this work as an outstanding contribution to the study of diplomacy, providing an innovative theoretical framework, empirically grounded case studies, and original analysis into how China operates in diplomatic contexts.
Praise from the jury included:
““ Not only does the article make an original theoretical contribution, but it is also useful for practitioners to understand how the country with the world’s largest diplomatic network, and arguably the world’s next superpower, China, navigates diplomatic contexts.”
“This study on Chinese frontline diplomacy uses an eclectic, innovative combination of theories to create the conceptual framework; and introduces the term ‘managed visibility’ as analytical lens to assess how Chinese diplomats strategically calibrate social engagement with diplomatic communities.”
“The conceptual contribution is both original and analytically precise. The article introduces the term “managed visibility” to describe how Chinese diplomats calibrate their social engagement within host-country diplomatic corps, not as a fixed national style, but as a context-sensitive practice shaped by bilateral sensitivities, host-country characteristics, and the broader securitization of diplomatic interaction”