Diplomacy Evolves

We have to look at the meaning of diplomacy before surmising that is has two variables i.e. Old Diplomacy and New Diplomacy. We also have to distinguyish between foreign policy and diplomacy. Diplomacy is the means to carry out a country's foreign policy while such foreign policy comprises of the general goals such country seeks to achieve in its relations with other countries.

Diplomacy is an on-going process compressed by time, meaning each generation or era undergoes complicted combination of different interrelated factors. Hillary Clinton recently said she intends to revitalize the mission of diplomacy in American foreign policy, calling for a "smart power" strategy in the Middle East. She said, "America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America." Secretary Cordell Hull is also known to have said, "Twenty critical years have changed this traditional pattern dramatically. As our responsibilities in world affairs grew, the task of our diplomacy became more complex and its instruments multiplied correspondingly."

Dipl;omacy has evolved meeting head-on new demands. One of them is the decline of the role of national governments. Other actors such as pressure groups, religious groups, the media, private sector, have emerged on the political as well as economic scene to challenge governments in having a say in making and implementing foreign policy. The rise of NGOs has challenged national government monopoly on diplomatic issues as they often participate in diplomatic processes, particularly those decisions involved with human right concerns and environmental issues.

Technology has also been an instrument which has shaped the nature of diplomacy, whether Old or New. The rise of the telex, phone and more recently, satellite broadcasting and digital networks, including the internet are among new innovations that have allowed diplomacy to evolve. Presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, ambassadors, multicorporation CEOs as well as NGO directors are now able to hold direct face to face communication via video conferencing instantaneously.

Some political negotiations between states could be secret in order not to incite public unrest, however, in an ever changing world, where the dynamics of politics is never stagnant, such bodies like the EU, UN, have become active players in solving conflict as in the case of Israel and Palestine, a conflict which has undergone varying diplomatic approaches- the old and the new diplomacy, given the this comflict has spanned over 50 years.