Traditional diplomacy in today's world

Do you think the ‘old’ diplomacy has any contemporary relevance?

Diplomacy, nowadays, is a mixture of old and new diplomacy if we consider the characteristics of each one. Making any distinction between "old" and "new" diplomacy does not mean that diplomats must choose between one of them. We can consider that traditional diplomacy is still relevant in the sense that all diplomatic negotiations take some pieces from the old and the new diplomacy. For example, bilateralism is a key feature in the old diplomacy and multilateralism in the new diplomacy. However, bilateral and multilateral negotiations are interconnected one another. Many times, multilateral negotiations success because there have been bilateral negotiations between the different parties before all parties start to negotiate in common.

If we think in the relevance of the "old" diplomacy nowadays, there are at least two highly important things:

1) The strong power of the protocol. Protocol does not only mean the way in which diplomats and heads of state interact, but also the use of structures to have high level relations, such as the embassies. Embassies are a key point in the traditional diplomacy. They are used to interact with other states, to negotiate treaties and to provide assistance to the fellow citizens. Nevertheless, even thought nowadays, technology could substitute embassies, it is not happening since embassies are not only used to negotiate or to provide assistance to citizens or to interact. They are a strong symbol of power.

2) The strong power of the face-to-face. Technology can be used in negotiations and it can save millions of pounds every year to governments. However, the use of technology such as video-conference in diplomatic negotiations could have unexpected consequences in the developing of the negotiations. It does not create the same impact in a negotiation if a head of state stands up and goes, rather than if a head of state switches off the video-conferences. Switching off the video-conference could be seen by the other parties as a failure in the software or in the internet or many other things. Standing up and going, however, has only one meaning. Thus, face-to-face relations become even more important in the contemporary world.