My Personal Understanding of Diplomacy Today; a summary

During the last three months, I was developing my understanding of the "New Diplomacy". Here is a summary of what I consider to be the most important points in diplomacy today.

As demonstrated by Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux, diplomacy has constantly evolved, since the times of ancient civilization, towards more collaboration between international actors, mirroring Human development (Jean-Robert Leguey-Feuilleux, 2009, Chap 2). Agreeing with J.R. L. Feilleux’s idea, Ivor Roberts notes that diplomacy nowadays is not relevant anymore with what happened on the ancient Greek island of Milos. Instead, he says that diplomacy is “the conduct of business between states by peaceful means” (Ivor Robert, 2009, 3).

Nonetheless, nowadays, diplomacy is not only about the relationship between governments (G2G), like “old diplomacy”, back in the time of Richelieu. For Brian Hocking, it has evolved from the Keohane & Nye’s “Club Model” (G2G) to the “Multistakeholder” Model, which includes the consultation of Civil Society, and the people, in the policy-making process (Brian Hocking, 1999, 269-72). Nonetheless, for Paul Wapner, Civil Society wants more than just consensus in this process. For him, Civil Society (or activist organizations) has the power to influence and bend public policy in one direction or another, being a “political actors in their own right” (Paul Wapner, 1995, 312).

However, the crux of the matter nowadays is the conduct of the collaboration between those different actors. For E. Susskind, there are conflictual relationships between international actors, affecting, for instance, environmental diplomacy (E. Susskind, 1994, 18). Moreover, the flaws in the Vienna Convention on the Law of treaties, concerning with the treaty-making procedures, add to the difficulty of working together when the different parties have dissimilar, or sometimes antagonistic, interests (E. Susskind, 1994, 24-25).

With regard to the conduct of this “new” public diplomacy, Berridge talks about the “white propaganda” which aims to influence democratic regimes through their people, reflecting this conflictual situation (G. R. Berridge, 2010, 179). However, for Joseph Nye, it is becoming more difficult for some international actors to achieve such goals, because we are undergoing what he calls the “paradox of plenty” in the new age of communication (Joseph S. Nye, 2004, 106). Indeed, the activity of the media, nowadays, is so intense that it is becoming harder for some international actors to be heard by the public to defend their interests. Batora and Hocking take the example of the European Union (EU) to show that the intensive activity of the media plays a major role in refocusing the function of the embassies towards Civil Society and businesses (Jozef Bátora & Brian Hocking, 2009, 170). In such circumstances, it is not surprising that most of the academic world, nowadays, reckon that governments are only left with one possibility: to coordinate monitor and influence, rather than control, the international activities.

Somehow, I think that International institutions are indispensable to regulating those activities. For Barston, the structure of such institutions is important (R. P. Barston, 2006, 142). He made a comparison between the UNCLOs and the WTO, noting that the UNCLO’s structure had the ability to disperse political power, while the WTO remained bloated with discrimination issues, dominated by the “Quad”. Therefore, equality between actors, as within the EU, with its system of presidency for instance (A. Blair, 2001, 155), should be maintained to ensure an effective cooperation on the international stage.

To conclude, I believe that the conduct of diplomacy on the international stage nowadays can only be possible if it is outlined by clear and well defined international law, recognising all international actors as equals, ultimately leading to a more efficient system of collaboration and a common decision-making process. In my personal understanding of diplomacy today, I am glad to have accumulate more knowledge about diplomacy, somehow I have the feeling that there is still much more to explore ahead, like the issue of terrorism for instance.