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Introduction

The Diplomatic Practise (DP) module has been one of my favourite courses due to its

practicality and focus on contemporary world issues that confront the globe. Reflecting on

my learning experience, I have constantly tried to engage in social learning through group

discussions and teams, practising the important issues that I learnt and learning from the

environment that I subject myself to. The course, I believe is tailor-made for diplomacy

students, playing a pivotal role in knowledge building in the areas of foreign policy analysis,

negotiation, diplomatic circuit training and speech training. All these facets of training have

been equally important in my learning experience, due to their ability to engage in

contemporary and topical issues. The essay will give an analysis of the benefits of the DP

course and my learning experience, how this has benefited me, my weak areas and how

they have been strengthened by this course.

Foreign policy analysis (FPA)

To start with, learning and engaging in FPA has been instrumental in my learning experience

of the DP course, due to my engagement with current foreign policies and how they affect

the world around them. This experience has given me the ability to identify and analyse the

main influences and constraints on foreign policymaking on the individual, domestic and

international levels of analysis. Engaging in foreign policies and motives of states has

developed my knowledge of the reasoning, principles, goals and instruments of foreign

policies of a variety of countries and how these policies shape state relations. This has made

my learning experience easy through my determination to understand foreign policies and

their implications Also, lectures on diplomacy held by Nick Westcott, Dr Leslie Vinjamuri and

Dr Hans Kendel were instrumental in my learning of diplomacy, introduced me to the field

and practise of diplomacy in the real world. All of these lectures critically analyzed global

issues and were beneficial to my understanding of diplomacy and global affairs.

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For example, lectures conducted during the course looked much on the Russia-Ukraine

conflict, a topical issue that made me analyse out of class and read materials on the Moodle

page, how the conflict is happening and the implications for all parties concerned. Engaging

in these ongoing and topical issues has been significant in my experience, making the

course very valuable to the understanding of FPA in the contemporary world. This constant

engagement in issues confronting foreign policy has been instrumental in my learning

experience, to relate what I was learning in lectures with what was obtaining in world affairs.

This exploration of current affairs was important as I correlated lectures with topical global

affairs issues.

In addition, FPA has also assisted me to gain knowledge concerning my country’s foreign

policies, and the benefits and implications of Zimbabwe’s foreign policies. This is because

during our tutorials, my tutor allowed students to discuss various foreign policies and this is

where I managed to bring in the knowledge of my country and its context in the global world.

Engaging with fellow students, I managed to learn how to work cooperatively with others to

analyse, understand and explain key aspects of national foreign policies and also compare

them to my case and learn how I can contribute towards my country’s future foreign policies.

This also developed my capability and capacity to engage in the comparative study of

foreign policies, critically evaluating official foreign policies and their applicability in the real

world. Enrolling on this course has boosted my confidence and belief that I have a role to

play to contribute to the development of my country. For example, the first assignment and

lectures regarding the effect of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on South Asian countries is a

manifestation of how knowledge of global incidences has affected foreign policies and

domestic policies. Due to that engagement, I have now become knowledgeable of how

global incidents affect individual countries or regions. I was also part of a study group for this

specific assignment, discussing, generating and sharing ideas regarding our assignment.

This has significantly contributed to my learning experience of FPA, gaining knowledge from

lectures, tutorials and group discussions with fellow students.

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Negotiation training

The practical negotiation training has benefited my learning experience significantly,

equipping me with hands-on skills in critical negotiating forums. In the first exercise, I

negotiated with fellow students representing Senegal, in the World Trade Organization

negotiations. Senegal was also the representative of the Least Developing Countries

(LDCs), with the primary goal to secure a rapid reduction to zero on imports by Developed

countries from LDCs. I was presented with crucial priority points which also included

lobbying and making concessions with certain countries, to gain my ultimate goal of zero

import reduction. Such forums represented what exactly happens in the negotiation world,

making compromises and ensuring that I do not cross red lines, prescribed by my country

and the constituency that I represent. These real-life negotiation forums have played a

significant role in my learning experience as I also tried to learn at an individual level how

multilateralism works. I managed to find videos on youtube, following up on the negotiation

exercise that we did, to see and learn more about real-world negotiation and bargaining.

In addition, we also engaged in the Security Council negotiations on the topical Russia-

Ukraine crisis. I represented the United Arab Emirates, a neutral partner of both the West

and Russia, which has also abstained in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

against Russia. My priority points reflected a neutral position in the crisis, at the same time

playing a critical role in initiating the de-escalation of the conflict behind the scenes.

Amalgamated with my other course, History and Future of the United Nations, I managed to

do an exploration of the theoretical aspect of UNSC negotiations that I had learnt and how it

works in the real world, through this negotiation exercise. This gave me the idea of what I

was learning in other courses, the practical side of diplomacy. In addition, the training

involved experienced diplomats and civil service workers of different organizations who were

instructing us in these negotiations and multilateral mock exercises. The experience was an

amazing learning platform as I got to learn through socializing with people who have been in
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the diplomatic field for so many years. I was, however, challenged by the new ideas, which

were a bit different from what I thought were bargaining skills, allowing me to digest and

diversify skills, knowledge and ideas and abilities acquired during the training exercises. The

Diplomatic Practice module also showed how it is directly linked to my other courses and

how it gives me the practical side of UNSC negotiations and how vetos work in real

negotiation and voting scenarios. Be that as it may, the course has been an inspiration, its

practicality is unmatched and has been pivotal in my learning experience, enabling me to

gain negotiating skills in real-life exercises. This will play a significant role in my career as a

diplomat and will use these skills to enrich my professional career.

Speech training

Before, I used to think that speech writing and public speaking are innate abilities which

cannot be learnt. However, I later discovered that speech writing and public skills can be

learnt, mastered and developed. The instructor managed to give us valuable handouts and

various speeches to learn from during our exercises. During public speaking and interview

training, we were given materials and poems to read out whilst the rhythm was playing,

allowing me to have composure and confidence to execute public speaking forums. I was

taught to control the audience through examples from Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Barrack

Obama's phenomenal speeches. These speeches taught me how to address myself when

speaking in public, engaging with the public and maintaining eye contact to gain confidence.

This learning experience proved to be an important part of reconnecting with my

organization in Zimbabwe, showing them how enrolling on this course has been fundamental

in developing my speech and public speaking skills. This worked when I was invited to an

online seminar with my work organization and I managed to present with confidence and

composure. This was possible through memorizing critical skills in public speaking and how

these are important in controlling the audience and influencing their thinking about you.

The public speaking training also enhanced my innovative and creative skills enabling me to

think and act swiftly to respond to given topics. The instructor gave me a topic of shoelaces.
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I was then instructed to make a speech regarding the shoelaces, their importance and how

people need them. This was an important exercise in my public speaking learning

experience, preparing me to act swiftly in response to various circumstances and use

speech to influence the audience on the importance of anything you would be advertising.

Reflecting on this training, I also followed the instructor’s recommendations as an individual,

to listen to speeches by great orators such as Steve Jobs and Obama. Learning on my own

and following up on what I had practically been exposed to during training significantly

buttressed my learning experience to internalise and memorise critical concepts of public

speaking. I have a great conviction that the learning methods I used are efficient to make a

significant change in my career. I place great significance on social learning through teams

and group discussions, something that helped me to reflect on the training given by

instructors in the lectures. I also constantly followed up on what we had covered in lectures

and pieces of training by researching and getting more information, augmenting my training

with further reading. This learning method has proved to be critical for my learning and

educational experience. However, the diplomatic courses training skills such as diplomatic

circuit, speech training and others should be constantly delivered during the instruction of the

course as lectures and also needs constant guidance and assistance from the lecturers to

ensure that we give feedback on our learning experience and what needs to be incorporated

in the training schemes and schedules.

Diplomatic circuit

The diplomatic circuit was also an important component of the training course part of the

diplomatic practice lecture. In the exercise, I chose objects from given tables and presented

them or advertise them to potential customers. In so doing, I would deal with criticisms from

the audience and members. The instructor, Simon, pretended to be an employee for the

daily mail and would interrupt my presentation to ask me follow-up questions or other

different questions regarding the topic. In my view, this training was useful in gaining skills of
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self-control as a diplomat and controlling the narrative that I was driving regardless of the

interruptions. This learning process kept me aware of what needs to be done in such cases

and skills regarding not allowing interruptions from the audience to influence negatively on

my presentations. Self-control as a diplomat is therefore critical, a critical component of this

training exercise. I made several connections with my previous knowledge and experience of

working in a civic society, where people have various concerns that need to be addressed,

other issues being emotional and difficult to handle. This training created a nexus with my

professional experience and was equally important in reinforcing my skills in emotional

control and confidence building. It is my greatest conviction that my learning goals have

been fulfilled through engaging in this course because it has taught me critical diplomatic

skills that I will memorise and use in my future career.

Conclusion

Overall, the route that this course was taking is the most effective route by combining

theoretical and practical components of diplomatic practice. Engaging in this DP course has

given me the confidence to engage with people of various groupings as a future diplomat.

My objectives of becoming an effective diplomat were reinforced through these training

activities as I managed to practise diplomacy in multilateral negotiations, public speaking

forums and speech training. The course was instrumental in exposing to me the knowledge

of practising diplomacy and negotiations hands-on and I will benefit immensely from the

training exercises that I was exposed to. Ultimately, this course will prepare me to be a

knowledgeable and skilled diplomat in my professional career, going back to my country and

working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to transfer the skills I learnt and make a positive

contribution to the diplomatic affairs of Zimbabwe. However, constant pieces of training

should be introduced to make sure that all the pieces of training are part of the weekly

course materials, to enable students to memorize the training exercises more effectively.