Reflections on understanding diplomacy

The most important thing that this module has taught me, and that i maintain throughout my blog posts, is the importance of situation and circumstance when it comes to using diplomatic tools. I was not aware, when I started studying this module, of all the tools available to diplomats and diplomacy in general (soft power, para-diplomacy etc...) It was only after the first couple of lectures that it became clear to me that diplomacy has progressed in such a way, thanks in large part to technological advances that it has allowed us to do the unthinkable - think a thought and communicate it over large distances within seconds/minutes. The diplomatic tools we have been introduced to, including different methods and mechanisms of interaction, have demonstrated to us the numerous possibilities of resolving conflicts or disagreements, but they all rest largely on the ability of the person to using these tools to be able to commuunicate effectively.
I was not initially aware of the difference between the old and the new diplomacy, but it has been made increasingly clear that the new diplomacy is simply a highly useful and advanced evolution of the old diplomacy. I think that the increased use of soft power in implementing foreign policy through diplomats is one of the aspects that interest me the most, along with the role of the EU as a global diplomatic actor.