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diplomacy |
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The conduct of relations between sovereign states through the medium of officials based at home or abroad, the latter being either members of their state\'s diplomatic service or temporary diplomats. Thus diplomacy includes the stationing of representatives at international organizations. But the backbone of diplomacy has, for five centuries, been the despatch of diplomatic missions to foreign states, and it is still very much the norm. As states are notional persons, they cannot communicate in the manner of individuals, but must do so through representative human persons. In principle, this can be done by such individuals speaking to each other at a distance through electronic devices. But there are large practical objections to the use of these as the sole or even the prime method of interstate communication. Diplomacy is therefore the principal means by which states communicate with each other, enabling them to have regular and complex relations. It is the communications system of the international society. The label ‘diplomacy’ was first given to this system by Edmund Burke in 1796. See also channels of communication.
The use of tact in dealing with people. Diplomacy in this sense is a skill which is hugely important in the conduct of diplomacy. But there is a large distinction between an apt way of executing a task and its underlying function.
Any attempt to promote international negotiations (particularly in circumstances of acute crisis), whether concerning inter- or intra-state conflicts; hence ‘track two diplomacy’. (4) Foreign policy. The use of the word ‘diplomacy’ as a synonym for foreign policy, which is especially common in the United States, can obscure the important distinction between policy and the (non-violent) means by which it is executed. |
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