White on diplomacy - new and old

White starts with a brief account of the history of diplomacy, which is by no means a recent concept. Some sort of diplomatic activity can be traced back to the kingdoms of the Middle East in the 25th century BC, and diplomatic relations also occurred between the city-states in ancient Greece. In the 15th century the city-states in renaissance Italy got the idea of actually leaving an envoy in the receiving country instead of having them travelling back and forth.
Later on the French developed this system further, and a certain unofficial protocol developed which included a tradition of mutual (relative) honesty and (relative) trust. During the 19th century diplomacy was relatively successful, ad peace was maintained in Europe. Then came 1914, and the disaster that was the First World War, and faith in the “Old Diplomacy” waned. In order to avoid a new Great War, a “New Diplomacy” was developed, which was not so much something completely new as a new and improved “Old Diplomacy 2.0”.
The main differences were in line with the general optimism and idealism of the period right after World War One. They included a greater openness and transparency, a tendency to negotiate on a larger scale with more countries involved, and a shift in focus; in addition to the high politics of kings mainly concerning territory, issues such as civil rights and environment were put on the agenda.
In the bipolar political climate of the Cold War, diplomacy was mainly focused on avoiding a nuclear conflict and on preventing countries from joining “the other side”. After the end of the Cold War it shifted again to become truly global, and thereby also very complex and fragmented due to the multitude and diversity of both actors and issues.
This development indicates that diplomacy, as a tool for states to conduct their foreign policy, has developed with the rest of the system, and adapted to the situation and the historical context. Some argue that it has lost its meaning today, but I disagree. In my view it still has an important role to fill as mediator between people, even if the states do not necessarily play the key role anymore.