Diplomacy
Diplomacy, the practice of conducting relations between states by nonviolent although sometimes coercive means, seeks to protect and advance national interests. We have sketchy records of disputes settled diplomatically from ancient Sumer (Chapter 14) and records of diplomatic correspondence in the Amarna Letters from fourteenth century BC Egypt and from every subsequent period.
While usually thought of as the antithesis of war, diplomacy also is part of it in issuing ultimatums, seeking allies, and negotiating truces and treaties. Incidentally, this rebuts Einstein’s naïve but often heard statement that “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” A country prepared for war is safer than one that is not. It is possible and common to do both.The wide array of tools of diplomacy include arbitration, confidence building measures, good offices, mediation, multi-national conferences, negotiation, reconciliation, summits, threats, and ultimatums (Reynolds 2007). Diplomacy is conducted by exchange of gifts (and sometimes bribes), at social functions, in informal consultations, and through press releases, public statements by officials, and widely understood diplomatic “signals” such as recall of an ambassador (Cohen 1987). United Nations’ agencies and commissions provide additional forums for the conduct of diplomacy. Other methods include athletic, cultural, and educational exchanges, election and human rights monitoring, establishment of protectorates, and UN Resolutions.
Ultimately, diplomacy is backed by military and economic power through methods such as arms sales, development assistance, sanctions, tariffs, and training of armed forces and police, known as “hard power” ever since Joseph Nye (2004) contrasted it with what he termed “soft power,” the extent to which a state’s values, cultures, policies, and institutions attract or repel other states.
A reputation for reliability in carrying out agreements and threats is an important element of soft power. Outstanding examples of its use are Radio Free Europe during the Cold War and Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland in support of the Solidarity Movement, both factors in creating the conditions that brought down the Soviet Union. Today, the United States is making halfhearted efforts along the same line with the Alhurra satellite TV channel and Radio Sawa directed at the Arab world, and Radio Farda directed at Iran. Track II diplomacy (see below) is a form of soft power.The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States became operative in 1934. It specified the criteria for statehood as (1) a defined territory, (2) a permanent population, (3) a government, and (4) the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Article Three states that "The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states." Despite this, diplomatic recognition is an important factor in determining status. Today a number of entities claim statehood whose status is ambiguous at best (Chapter 12).
Diplomats usually enjoy immunity, a practical measure guaranteeing safe passage that in its current form dates from the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The concept is found as early as 500 BC in the Ramayana. Violation of safe conduct for diplomats was a direct cause of the Kandalur War (tenth century AD) and the Mongol invasion and destruction of the Khwarezmid Empire (thirteenth century AD). Immunity still is imperfect, the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979–1980, the bombing of US embassies in Sudan and Kenya, and the killing since 1950 of eight US ambassadors being clear violations (Washington Post 12 Sep 2012).
India produced the first book on statecraft, the Arthashastra by Kautilya (1992), probably the principal advisor to Chandragupta, founder in the third century BC of the Maurya dynasty. A complete work on the art of kingship, it incorporates a theory of diplomacy, of how among mutually contesting kingdoms, the wise king can build alliances to checkmate his adversaries. Nizam al-Mulk,1 vizier to Seljuq sultans Alp Arslan and Malik Shah and founder of schools that became the model for universities, wrote the Siyasatnameh (1978) as a guide on all aspects of government including diplomacy. The competing city-states of the Italian Renaissance led in 1532 to the most famous and controversial of all early books on diplomacy, Machiavelli’s The Prince. In 1716, de Callières followed with On the Manner of Negotiating with Princes, much of it focusing on the personal qualities required of the successful diplomat. Modern treatises abound but Eban (1983), Kissinger (1994), Morgenthau (2005), and Nicholson (1988) are among the best.