Power Diplomacy

GREAT POWER DIPLOMACY

• A Great Power is generally described as a state that has influence in
international relations. This influence mostly derives from state
capabilities such as territory, strategic position and geographical
extent, population, resources, military strength, political stability and
strong economy. To these must also be added the elements of soft
power, which is described as “the ability to get what you want
through attraction rather than coercion or payments.”
• There should also be a consensus about which state is a great power.
Congress of Vienna and the Holy and Quadruple Alliances are the first
significant appearances of great power diplomacy. Both the Congress
and the series of congresses that followed were dominated by the
Great Powers. They did not meet in a single assembly which would
have allowed the smaller powers a larger voice in proceedings.
Although the congresses ended shortly after the Congress of Vienna,
the rest of the period till the First World War was shaped by the
domination of Great Powers and the alliances, which brought a
relative period of peace known as the Concert of Europe.
• Since then post-war settlements and peace processes have been
major objectives for great power diplomacy. With the failure of these
attempts with the Second World War, great power diplomacy was
institutionalized with the permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council. The main shape great power diplomacy took in the
Cold War Period was superpower diplomacy in a bipolar international
system.
• End of the Cold War brought along a new type of great power
diplomacy, which can be described as hegemonic diplomacy.
Represented by USA in the post-Cold War era, hegemonic diplomacy
included not only bilateral and multilateral diplomacy but also
unilateral diplomacy in inter-state relations. Still major powers in the
international system carry out the old way of great power diplomacy
through summits that they are represented by the head of states.
MIDDLE POWER DIPLOMACY
• The term middle power refers to the states which have neither the
capacity nor the claim to be great power but have more strength and
influence than the small states. These states are usually accepted to
be established democracies, industrialized and affluent economies,
managed by efficient public bureaucracies with a low incidence of
corruption and adopt functional rather than dominant behaviors
towards their geographical neighborhoods.
• Middle power diplomacy is usually a multilateral diplomacy. This is
because they lack the sources to be influential in unilateral and
bilateral actions. Thus they prefer to establish alliances and coalitions
with like-minded states, which would provide them a chance of
leadership and influence. Middle powers perceive international
institutions as the ideal framework for governing international affairs
and strive to provide multilateral solutions to global problems and
they also engage in multilateral activism to overcome a lack of
bargaining power at the unilateral and bilateral level, and gain legality,
legitimacy and moral authority for their assertive diplomatic
initiatives.
• Because they lack the sources hard power they focus on developing
their soft power. The common national attributes of middle powers –
domestic orderliness and adherence to human rights, democracy and
good governance – also make them international role models for
many other states in the diplomatic arena. Their approach to the
international system is also in terms of peace, order and the rule of
law. They make useful intermediaries during international crises and
conflicts.
• Their foreign policy goals are formulated in the same respect. They
aim to reduce conflicts in the international system thorough
multilateralism, negotiation and compromise and are willing to take
the lead in such attempts. In order to reach this, they also give
financial support or official development assistance to countries that
are struggling economically.
Small State Diplomacy
• Being a small state means to have relatively less power in the
international system. They usually have small territory and population,
low sources and income, weak economy and military, and high
vulnerability. As a consensus is deemed necessary for a state to be
considered a great power, considering itself a small state is criteria for
describing small states, as this a factor that shapes their behaviors. For
this reason, diplomacy becomes more important for these states than is
for any other state as a tool of overcoming their vulnerability and
weakness. Small power diplomacy became a part of modern diplomacy
early in the twentieth century following the end of the First World War,
when a number of new independent states appeared with the collapse
of empires.
• Another important development in this sense was decolonization and the
emergence of new independent states in the international system. A common
feature of the diplomacy of small states as new states, is the importance that
they attach to diplomatic representation. As it is a sign of recognition and
sovereignty, having representatives in other states and international
organizations has been and is still an important part of diplomatic relations for
the newly independent and small states. This is especially true for establishing
embassies in the capitals of major powers even though they do not always
respond by establishing one in the small state. Therefore, diplomatic
representatives are still important actors for these states in terms of their
diplomacies. Still due to insufficiency in economic resources, some of them
cannot afford to establish embassies in many countries and have to keep this
attempt limited.
• The only way that these states gain influence is to act together. While
some of the new states of the post Second World War era sided with
one of the superpowers of the Cold War, others chose not to be a part
of it and started the Non-Aligned Movement, bringing a new dynamic
to the international system. Forming a block that brings them
together and acting under the roof of this block provided states a
cumulative power that each single of them lack. In the same sense
they also prefer multilateral diplomacy to bilateral one.
• Therefore, United Nations presents them an important opportunity
where they can both act as a group that holds a significant number of
votes, and carry out bilateral relations by coming together with the
representatives of other countries. This is especially important for
those countries that do not have wide network of embassies. The
collective power of the small state diplomacy has also contributed the
development of international law.
Diplomacy of Non-State Actors
• The proliferation of non-state actors in diplomacy has become
necessary due the fact that states are no longer capable of
responding to all the issues that has entered the agenda of
international diplomacy, as mentioned before. Non-state actors of
diplomacy include non-governmental organizations, corporations, as
well as the intergovernmental organizations. The oldest group of
actors in this category are the intergovernmental organizations, which
still is a form of state representation.
• International organizations usually come in the form of regional
organizations or regardless of region maybe established on other
grounds such as common resources, the level of the economy,
proximity on important issues or historical legacy. Regional
organizations serve as a tool that states of a region may act as a block
that could make them more powerful and influential. It is also an
instrument in establishing regional peace and stability, which would
again contribute to the power components of the states. In the same
context, states also can form regional organizations that are based on
economic cooperation that would provide them certain advantages
over the non-member states.
• Free trade is the most prominent of these advantages. Economic
cooperation also serves as a platform for deeper political, security
collaboration. The same factors apply to non-regional organizations as
well. Having established a cooperation based on commonalities gives
states an opportunity to enhance their power in international
relations.
• In the face of global economic, social, humanitarian and
environmental crises as states proved to be insufficient of answering
all these problems and non-state actors such as nongovernmental
organizations, social movements, businesses, and corporations
offered more efficient solutions to these problems, either by
themselves or in cooperation with state actors. This has made them
indispensable actors for diplomacy. The diplomatic relations of these
actors with state actors is defined by the term polylateralism, which
brings a third dimension in diplomacy, in addition to bilateralism and
multilateralism.