Diplomacy is the art of navigating international relations and relationships with tact. It involves communication, negotiation, and mediation and helps nations develop a more peaceful world.
It is a broad term that includes many activities and skills, including public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy. In more limited terms, it refers to the activities of agents and representatives from states, international organizations, and businesses. These activities are structured within an institutional framework that includes bodies like foreign affairs ministries, embassies, and consulates.
In the past, diplomacy often involved a complex set of rules regarding the rank and precedence of emissaries sent to and received from other nations. Normally, envoys from the largest kingdoms were given top priority, followed by those from smaller kingdoms and duchies. Representatives from republics were ranked lower, which often angered leaders of those countries. Moreover, many diplomats were essentially openly acknowledged spies who gathered intelligence on the military capabilities of their host nations.
Today, diplomatic practice has evolved and expanded beyond traditional governmental ties to encompass non-governmental entities and private businesses. Its function is to build trust and foster cooperation between nations in the areas of security, trade, culture, and science.
Diplomacy also plays a vital role in international conflicts, as it encourages discussion and debate on global issues, promotes negotiation, facilitates consensus through dialogue, and helps find productive solutions to problems that threaten peace. In this article, Jovan Kurbalija, the founding director of DiploFoundation, offers three-layered definitions of diplomacy that provide an understanding of the complexity of this important skill.
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