I recall the very first day of The New Diplomacy lecture i personally had limited knowledge of what diplomacy meant. My knowledge at the time was it had to do with legitimate representative of state overseas negotiating on behalf of his/her state and it involved a process of bilateral negotiations and mediations between two states (state-to-state) contact and also a process of multilateral negotiations of many states in international conferences such as the European Union (E.U) and the United Nations (U.N). After reading voraciously in the ensuing months i came across with various aspect of diplomacy such as the 'new' and the 'old'. I then realized the intensity of negotiation within diplomatic post in Brussels and New York required the use of 'old' diplomacy (some may disagree with me) but My view about 'new' and 'old' diplomacy is that old is still significantly important as secrecy enables the smooth running of an agreement leading to set a consensus whereas new diplomacy allows the flow of informations to divulge and this can undermine the 'actual' process of negotiations.
Following our trips at the Danish Embassy and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in this semester i realized that staff at embassies take a crucial role in following negotiation instructions from the sending state in contrast, the Foreign Office policy desk officer in Burma Karen Maddocks pointed out that the British embassy in Burma thats assist their colleagues based in Brussels when they deal with a policy which has some links with Burma.
Nevertheless, i believe that since the major tragedies that the world had seen prior the 21st century such as World War Two diplomacy has taken a different form as i had explained above. However even do there are new approaches the practice of 'old' diplomacy will be used until the forseeable future.
Finally, Diplomacy thats not represents the state solely; officials represents their state as they are formally accredited and they engage in the art of 'high-level' negotiations. I do emphasize that diplomacy enables to appease some situations of conlfict by the use of soft power. Unfortunately following the strategic blunder by former U.S President George W Bush, the military invasion of Iraq has allowed Iran to get greater influence in the Middle East but this remains to be seen.
My understanding and opinions about diplomacy today in world politics has changed after been thought the module new diplomacy, basically before i thought Diplomacy was only about an act or skill of negotiating, or negotiations at domestic or international level, also on international scene, Thought diplomacy was used only to describe the act of conducting negotitions between states ie when state come together to find mutual solutions or reach mutual agreementsto a common issue that concerns them.
ReplyDeleteAnd thought aswell is achieved by states appointing diplomats whose duties are to represent the views and interests of the state at the international scene.
But now my views are really wide and broad about diplomacy today, have now understood that there is new and old diplomacy and my own view about this old and new diplomacy still remains, that there is no much new thing about new diplomacy, and again now learnt that ther e is also trade and environmental diplomacy, and also multilateral diplomacy and bilateral aswell.
It has really helped me to undestood the rules and procedures that are established to regulate the international system, and also given me the opportunity to know how countries conduct negotiations and interpret policies that promote commerce and trade relationships amongst themselves.
Above all it also gave me a first hand clue on the study of foreign policies and its procedures, and
How the world has gone global, and the way states relate with each other and how they are been represented all over the world.