My understanding of diplomacy today: Have your opinions about the role of diplomacy in world politics changed since the start of the module? Looking b

I can’t really say that my view and opinions have changed that much during the module, but I have definitely much more in-depth knowledge of how it all works. Before this module I had some fuzzy ideas about embassies and ambassadors that somehow maintained relations between countries and provided consular services to citizens abroad. Other than that I mainly associated diplomacy with the type of negotiation and mediation that people like Martti Ahtisaari often engage in in conflict situations.
Now I appreciate what a complex and important business diplomacy is, and how it differs depending on the questions that re being dealt with. State security still is a bit of a secret business that are dealt with according to the principles of the Old Diplomacy, which in a way makes sense as it often concerns very sensitive issues and states don’t always want other states to know what they are doing. Other, new types of issues (such as the problems with drug and people trafficking, organized crime and environmental issues, brought on by globalization), together with the realization that openness is crucial both from a democracy point of view and for the collective security of all states, have given rise to the so-called New Diplomacy, which is not really that new, but rather an extended and developed version of the Old Diplomacy. Together the two different categories of diplomacy form an excellent tool for states to use in their dealings with other states, and they complement rather than replace each other. I have also realized that states use diplomacy in widely different ways depending on the issue, their standing in international politics, who they are dealing with, their history and culture, and what their geopolitical situation looks like. It is therefore difficult to generalize how states use diplomacy; one always has to be clear about the context of the relations and what issues are at stake.
Finally, I have learned a lot about back channel diplomacy, which I thought was a very interesting area, and one that I did not know very much about from the start of the module.