Reflections of seminars 5-7

Whilst it is still debatable that the terms ‘new’ and ‘old’ are particularly accurate, from the recent seminars it has become clear that certain, more recent developments and tools are gaining importance within diplomacy.

Firstly multilateral and conference diplomacy has emerged as an important tool to diplomacy today. A good example of this kind of diplomacy is the general assembly within the UN. It addresses more effectively the issue of interdependence, and global issues such as the environment. Previously, bilateral diplomacy dominated and therefore issues such as these would be difficult to resolve, and there was a far more exclusive and private nature to it. Furthermore, it encourages a more open and inclusive practice of diplomacy, by often incorporating international institutions and NGOs. To add to this it can to an extent include citizens as information about negotiations, and decisions reached becomes more public – potentially empowering people to shape their governments decisions, although it can be argued that this can be used in a way for a governments to influence their citizens.

The second aspect of diplomacy that has increased in importance is the presence of non-state actors such as NGOs and MNCs, and their arguably gaining political influence. Recently, more and more non state actors have been involved in the decision making process or contracted to research in order for governments to reach more educated and well rounded decisions. However, I would argue that this new found power has certainly got its limits. The issue of these non state actors undermining state sovereignty has been raised and even epitomised in the ejection of NGOs in Sudan who are seen to have certain political affiliations within the country. This situation has underlined, for some that while non-state actors can certainly be involved within conference diplomacy, there is arguably a point in which states will use their own diplomatic power to place constraints upon them.

To conclude, I feel that diplomacy has certainly evolved over recent years to become a more open and interconnected process, which seems to reflect upon the nature of the world today. I believe that in spite of these developments bilateral diplomacy and state sovereignty should not be underestimated – as both are still present and important within the world of diplomacy.