Old and New Diplomacy

In modern day diplomacy elements that were almost on the verge of dying out are now being acknowledged to have vital importance in diplomacy, particularly the resident embassy and the roles its resident ambassadors play in negotiations. ‘Old’ diplomacy only focussed on bilateral state-to-state negotiations and multilateral diplomacy only appeared after WWI with the creation of The League Of Nations. With the introduction of none state actors and a rise of multi state objectives i.e. global economy, multilateral negotiations have largely risen in diplomacy. Advances in travel and communications technologies as well as mass media and the incorporation of non state actors has forced modern day diplomacy to adapt and the institutions within it have to adapt too.
In ‘new’ diplomacy negotiations take place much more openly and publicly but much still depends on private negotiations behind closed doors like the old system. - Richard Nicolson distinguished the French system as being the first to recognise that deceit had no place in diplomacy and in the long run honesty was best for all parties involved (Berridge 2005, p111)

Ambassadors

“You are never off duty. Because you land, you begin to work, and you go the next place and you land and begin to work. When you come back, your inbox is a foot high.” (Hillary Clinton, 2009)

Introduced during the French System the resident ambassador replaced nuncios and procurators who came along with their envoys usually attracting unwanted attention. In recent years states have started to reverse the roles of resident ambassadors. With the advances of communications and information technologies some governments no longer saw the advantages of resident embassies where a political leader or topic specialist could easily just come from the home state. But the resident ambassador always holds advantages; they can build up relationships and gain more knowledge of a states wants and needs than someone who merely visits for a limited period of time. With increasing players (non state actors) and more diplomatic issues to contend with (environment etc) it would be almost impossible for political leaders to juggle everything if it wasn’t for the help of specialists and resident ambassadors as Hillary Clinton shows above.

The Resident Embassy

Brzezinski stated that if embassies didn’t already exist then there would be no need to introduce them now due to the revolution of information and communication technologies. Opposing this Berridge states that the embassy is not only a versatile institution but also a very adaptable one which changes quickly when need by, i.e. the rising attacks on embassies has led to security improvisations and adjustments. Sometimes the best way to represent your country is for the political leader to represent it, however they are always going to need somewhere safe to stay, and surely the safest place is your own embassy. The embassy nowadays can represent its home nation through lobbying and representation. Without resident embassies states may not be able to work so closely together so easily.

Diplomacy has been evolving for years and will continue to evolve as new issues and new actors are introduced. Political leaders will always be the sole representative of their states but they must rely on specialists and ambassadors abroad back to feed them vital information to keep diplomatic relations up to speed.