Traditional Diplomacy

The subject Old Diplomacy is a very sensitive one, as whilst some people say that it is the best way to approach diplomacy in the twenty first century, others argue that, its forms are quite vague and should no longer be applied. There is no one definition to Old Diplomacy, but I have decided to go by the definition of Duncan Etal, he defined Old Diplomacy as “the form of diplomacy that characterised the era prior to World War 1-European centred, it emphasised secrecy and was generally devoid of nationality. [Duncan D. Etal, 135, 2008].

There are different forms of Old Diplomacy, Secret, Exclusive, and High Politics. This has been practised and had proved to be working until Renaissance Italy, when Modern (New) Diplomacy was invented. Old Diplomacy indisputably is of great significance in today’s world, it is revealing to say that most diplomatic agreements reached in post war era after 1945 were arrived at in privacy and near secrecy. The negotiations leading to the North Atlantic Treaty and the arguments (lead by the United States and Britain) for the lifting of the Berlin blockade in 1949 are only two examples. [Singh N., 208, 2002]. I believe that these negotiations ended in a positive outcome because it was conducted secretly without public interference. The truth about Old Diplomacy is that, it is everything New Diplomacy can never be, according to Ammon R., were Old Diplomacy is private, autonomous, cosmopolitan, elite and more importantly unhurried, New Diplomacy is not. Adam Watson also criticised the current diplomatic surroundings as one which expects government to “react with increasing speed to events and the actions of other government, so that they are less and less able to wait for the reasoned comments distilled by their diplomatic organisation in the field and home. [Ammon. R., 46, 2001]. This gives the explanation to why Prime Minister Blair bizarrely argued that “military actions were preferable to the distress caused by sanctions on Iraq” [Ross C., 76, 2007]. They were in so much hurry to invade Iraq just for the United States Administrations to show its power to the world after 9/11.

Most people might not be familiar with the Nigeria/Biafra war, but the peace accord produced at Aburi, Ghana (the Aburi Accord) of January 1967 was arrived at through secret negotiations by the Nigerian and the Biafran sides. Although the Accord later collapsed as the war started in July same year because of the failure of Gowon and the Military Government of Nigeria to honour their agreements. None the less, during the negotiations in Aburi, Ojukwu (the Biafran General) managed to get agreement to a confederation for Nigeria, rather than a federation. However, the success of this accord at that time was due to the Secret Diplomacy applied which is a form of Old Diplomacy. [http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nigerian_Civil_War]. As soon as the agreement reached were made open, the Nigerian side refuted, which made the Nigerian side to go contrary to the Aburi Accord. Evidently, the Old Diplomacy is a more effective way to carry out Diplomacy in the 21st century, and unless Diplomats goes back to the old form, little or nothing will be achieved as can be observed in today’s world.

You can read more on the call for Old Diplomacy to be applied in today’s world by Weisbrode K, of Japan Times online: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100401a1.html.