The new diplomacy

One of the important differences that the new diplomacy had from traditional diplomacy was that it became less secretive. It was decided that information about agreements reached between decision makers was to be made more available to the public. But I think the most important part, in particular for the current era, relates to the groups and people who are actually involved in the decision making process. Since 1918, due to the implementation of Wilson’s ideas, states are no longer the only contributors to decision making processes within international politics. In other words, there was a move towards multilateral and or conference diplomacy, and also that decision making processes would involve NGOs and other non-state actors (as opposed to the previous focus on bi-lateral diplomacy, only between states). These more inclusive forms of diplomacy are important in contributing to global peace and security.
From our visit to the embassy, it could be seen that although networking and interaction with foreign ministries remains an essential part to the carrying out of their tasks, they also interact with NGOs and other non-state actors, which plays an important part and helps compliment procedures.
By including a wider range of groups and people, the decision making process can have much wider democratic legitimacy and also access to expertise (some issues, for example civil aviation, require specialised information). This relates to the fact that as the agenda of diplomacy has changed to include many more highly specialized issues, for example climate issues, the inclusion of non-state-actors, such as Greenpeace, which are able to spend a lot of time and money on these issues, has enhanced this process greatly. This is also as now, the diplomatic agenda includes many more issues of so called low politics.
One important outcome from this move towards greater multilateralism and inclusion was the creation of the United Nations. Although it has been said that the UN has been little better than the League of Nations, before it, it nonetheless was created to act as ‘an international forum for the peaceful settlement of disputes and as a deterrent against another world war’ (White), and has certainly lasted a lot longer than the League did.
The importance of NGO representation can be demonstrated by the success of the Ottawa convention to ban landmines. Also CSCAB, as a non-governmental forum, has assisted in creating a new norm within multilateralism, for regional security dialogue.
As global challenges are increasing it has become more important for the world to make a global response. By including global civil society within multilateral diplomacy, the new diplomacy has made important steps forward towards this.