T HE B IRTH O F

D IPLOMACY
Don Stepherson V. Calda, Ph.D.
 WHAT IS DIPLOMACY?

• Diplomacy is a key concept in world politics. “a process of

communication and negotiation between states and other
international actors”. VS. Foreign Policy
• Diplomacy began in the ancient world but took on a
recognizably modern form from the fifteenth century
onwards with the establishment of the permanent
embassies.
• Greek diplōma, meaning an object folded in two—a
reference to the documents through which princes granted
permission to travel and other privileges.
 WHAT IS DIPLOMACY?

• Harold Nicholson (1969) : term used to denote quite

different things and is often used synonymous to
foreign policy.

• Diplomacy in essence is the instrument employed

to put into effect substance, aims and attitudes of
state's relations between one group alien to
themselves.
• Simply diplomacy is management of
international relations by negotiation, the
method by which these relations are adjusted
and managed by ambassadors and envoys,
the business of art pf the diplomats.
• Diplomacy is concerned with dialogue and
negotiation and in this sense is not merely an
instrument of state. It is also an instrument of
state system itself.
• Since the emergence of the state system in
Europe in the 15th century an organized and
fairly coherent system of permanent relations
has developed among the actors and even
when these relations have been the principle
means of communication.
• Although it is common to separate the
diplomatic and military means at the state’s
disposal.
• Hence the saying by Fredrick the great
‘diplomacy without arms is like music without
instrument’.
 The main function of diplomacy is negotiation which
broadly means discussion designed to identify common
interest and areas of conflict between parties.
HISTORICAL TRACE
 HISTORICAL TRACE

• The ability to practice diplomacy is one of the defining

elements of a state, and diplomacy has been practiced since
the first city-states were formed millennia ago.
• For most of human history diplomats were sent only for specific
negotiations, and would return immediately after their mission
concluded.
• Diplomats were usually relatives of the ruling family or of very
high rank in order to give them legitimacy when they sought to
negotiate with the other state
• Modern diplomacy's origins are often traced to the states of
Northern Italy in the early Renaissance, with the first embassies
being established in the thirteenth century.

• Milan played a leading role, especially under Franceso Sforza

who established permanent embassies to the other city states
of Northern Italy.

• It was in Italy that many of the traditions of modern diplomacy

began, such as the presentation of an ambassadors
credentials to the head of state.
• Changes have occurred both in the conduct of
diplomacy and in personnel associated with it
• From bilateral and multilateral
• Decline in decision making of ambassadors
• Personnel diplomacy
• Use of experts and specialists
• Increased number of treaties
• Growth of the importance of media
• The expansion of international community and non state
actors.
• The enhancement and enlargement of the scope of modern
diplomacy and the widening of its agenda has resulted in a
change of emphasis (more on economic issues than on
traditional high politics0 rather than on major change in
function.
 DIPLOMACY & WORLD POLITICS

• A ‘traditional’ diplomacy system developed

thereafter had some distinctive features which
can be summarized under the headings of
structure, process, and agenda.
TRADITIONAL DIPLOMACY
 STRUCTURE
• Traditional diplomacy can be distinguished from its
predecessors in the ancient and medieval worlds primarily
because it constituted a communications process between
recognizable modern states rather than between other forms
of political organization, for example, the Catholic Church.

• Later, diplomacy agents acting on behalf of state became

institutionalized and by the end of the nineteenth century all
states had a network of embassies abroad linked to
specialized foreign departments at home. Diplomacy had also
become established as a profession.
 PROCESS
• The traditional process of diplomacy also drew upon rules and
procedures for behavior from earlier diplomatic system.

• From the fifteen century onwards, diplomacy became not just

a regular process but also a regularized process.

• Procedural rules known as diplomatic protocol were

developed, and a series of rights, privileges, and immunities
became attached both to diplomats and diplomatic activities.
 AGENDA
•Traditional diplomacy can be characterized
also by its agenda which was narrow
certainly by comparison with later periods.

•Usually the preoccupation of diplomacy

reflected the preoccupations of political
leaders.
Traditional diplomacy reached its
most developed form and was
most effective as a system for
ordering international relations in
nineteenth century.
“NEW” DIPLOMACY
 NEW DIPLOMACY
• World War I was a ‘watershed’ in the history of
diplomacy. The perceived failure of diplomacy to
prevent this war led to a demand for a ‘new’
diplomacy that would be less secretive and more
subject of democratic control. The outbreak of
World War II revealed the limits of the ‘new’
diplomacy.
 STRUCTURE
• Two important changes:
1. State were no longer the only actors
involved.
2. Governments themselves were
beginning to change in terms of the
scope of their activities and the extend
to which they sought to regulate the lives
of their citizens.
 PROCESS
•The nature of new diplomacy as a process of
negotiation was also changed.

•State continued to negotiate bilaterally with

each other on a state-to-state basis, but
groups of states negotiated multilaterally
through the auspices of intergovernmental
organizations.
 AGENDA
• The agenda of the new diplomacy contained
a number of new issues.
• Avoidance of war became a priority.
• Diplomatic activities also began to focus more
on economic, social, and welfare issues
relating to material wellbeing.
• These became known as ‘low politics’ issues.
COLD WAR
DIPLOMACY
 COLD WAR DIPLOMACY
• the period after World War II when international relations were
dominated by a global confrontation between the
superpowers and their allies.
• The imperative need to avoid a nuclear war but also to ‘win’
the Cold War produced a very delicate and dangerous form
of diplomacy.
• The most important types of cold war diplomacy are nuclear,
crisis, and summit diplomacy.
 DIPLOMACY AFTER THE COLD WAR

• The end of the Cold War produced a new mood of

optimism that diplomacy could resolve all major
international problems.

• Such optimism quickly dissipated when a host of new

problems and old problems in a new guise emerged.

• Post-cold war diplomacy failed to resolve the breakdown of

order in the Balkans.
DIPLOMACY & FOREIGN
POLICY
 DIPLOMACY AND FOREIGN POLICY

• Diplomacy plays a key role in the foreign policies of states

and other international actors.

• A diplomatic ‘machinery’ (minimally a foreign department

and overseas representation) may be highly developed or
rudimentary depending upon the actor but it performs
important functions in the making and the implementation
of foreign policy.
 DIPLOMACY AS POLICY INSTRUMENT

• Diplomacy as a government activity refers not only to a

particular policy instrument but also to the whole process of
policy making and implementation.
• Main functions of the diplomatic machine
❖Information gathering
❖Policy advice
❖Representation
❖Negotiation
❖Consular services
Diplomacy involves persuading other
actors to do (or not to do) what you
want (don't want) them to do. To be
effective, (‘pure’) diplomacy may need
to be supplemented by other
instruments, but negotiating skills are
central to the art of diplomacy.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIPLOMACY
AND OTHER POLICY INSTRUMENTS
• Diplomacy combined with other instruments (military,
economic, subversion) is called mixed diplomacy.
• This becomes a communications channel through which the
use or threatened use of other instruments is transmitted to
other parties.
• Diplomacy usually has comparative advantages over other
instruments in terms of availability and cost.
 DIPLOMACY AND DEVELOPING STATES

• Developing states are handicapped as effective

international actors by having relatively underdeveloped
diplomatic machines and by a restricted range of policy
instruments.
• For many developing states, the use of international
organizations at both regional and global levels is crucial to
compensate for weaknesses in national capabilities.
MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY
THE MANAGEMENT OF MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY

• In complex, multilateral negotiations, diplomacy has

become less an art form and more a management process
reflecting high levels of interdependence between
societies.
• Globalization challenges traditional state-based diplomacy
but there are indications that states are adapting to those
challenges.
 The war against terrorism after September 11, 2001 has
posed a major challenge to the role of diplomacy in
global politics. This challenge has been framed within a
debate about the appropriate relationship between hard
and soft instruments of power.