Additionally, I learnt about Shuttle diplomacy, which is more or less what is in vogue in the contemporary world, the most important thing I learnt about diplomacy was "Multilateral Diplomacy"; which to me was the best thing to happen to world politics if carried out without fear or favour. I however found it difficult to understand why leaders would risk the peace and security of their countries all in the name of Open negotiations. One could be right to say that a concensus could be reached between Israel and Palestine had most if not all the initial diplomatic negotiations carried out secretly.
With regards to the current happenings in Ivory Coast, is it not possible that Mr Gbagbo would have vacated his seat as President if their was a secret negotiation and not an open one as been currently applied by the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) respectively? (BBC, 2010). Is it also possible that the United States (US) "reset" strategy to improve its relations with Russia is working so far because the consultations are done secretly and not openingly? (New York Times, 2010). Is it not right to say that open diplomacy has made things worst in most cases in world politics, the wikileaks saga is still fresh in our memories and the tension it caused or the implications of the leaking of those secret documents might mean that some diplomatic relations might never be the same? The correct answer to the questions asked will be "Yes".
Having had the opportunity to go over the pros and cons of both secret and open diplomacy, I beleive that for diplomacy to work, government and their representatives should first of all, apply secret negotiations and only make things public when and if they deemed it necessary. Some critics might want to argue that it is not possible to keep anything secret in the 21st century due to technological advancement, let me remind them that even now the governments only feed us with informations which they feel will be in our interest, the rest are kept out of our reach.
Furthermore, it is evident that diplomacy is not an easy thing especially with the current happenings in the world, threats of terrorism, cyber attacks, diseases. Leaders of various countries try to meet to discuss ways of solving this problems of which they share common interests in. Whilst some people, especially isolationsist in the US or realists genereally might argue that multilateralism should not be encouraged as it makes a country weak, recent happens has shown that it is actually the way forward.
The recent Cancun agreement is an example of how multilateral diplomacy can help improve things in world politics, another recent example of its effectiveness is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START Treaty) which was recently ractified by the US and Russia, this will see both countries reduce its Nuclear weapons and Warheads to 1550 which will be a big step towards making the world a safer place (BBC, 2010). The examples of the accomplishment of multilateral cooperation is endless, but there is still need and room for improvement; which will entail ensuring that powerful states like US hegemony does not get out of hand.
In conclusion, the world is likely to be a better place if multilateral diplomacy is carried out fairly, creating a diplomatic community where developing countries has the same rights as developed countries. Diplomatic relations will improve and most negotiations will have a positive outcome if private or secret negotitions are carried out, things should only be made public if its in the interest of the public.
thanks for this entry, i would like to add to the point you made about open diplomacy and the Wiki leaks saga we witnessed recently and as you mentioned last few days we had the first victim of Wiki leaks which the Tunisian president Ben Ali, prior to the unrest that occured in Tunisia, Wilki leaks published many documents on the life style of the president and his family, and the abuse of power by his wife and her close members, the Tunisian audience new everything about what was published, however, they felt humilated after the leaks because everyone knows afterwards which led to the social movement and the collapse of Ben Ali rein.
ReplyDeleteAs much I would like to totally agree with you, the revolution in Tunisia is because they have had eneough of the leadership of one man "Ben ALLI" on this case.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons for the revolutions are because of high level of unempolyment, increasing food prices and most importantly lact of democracy.
Thanks for your comment, and I hope that soon the free press thing would be reduced, so that the damages caused by wikileaks will not repeat itself.
From my point of view, I think that it is not only time for Multilateral cooperation, but also to pay more attention to diplomatic relations between the Civil Society and the new International Actors.
ReplyDeleteIt can already be assumed that the head of states and government will always collaborate between each other to keep their "secret diary" safe from the media and the press. As you said, it is the time for Multilateral Diplomacy, but state are not any more the only actor on the international stage.
What is happening in Tunisia shows the might of these new actors, like Wikileak. I think that it is time to recognise those new actors as politics entities, or political parties (for NGOs), like Paul Wapner says in Beyond the State, and to end up the exclusion of these actors, or what is rather called Para-diplomacy.