My understanding of diplomacy today:

My personal opinion about the role of diplomacy has changed in that at first I did not have an idea of how and when diplomacy started and at the same time I understood its definition as peaceful mutual agreement between two or more parties rather than looking at it in a broader sense whereby it does involve states. As per now, diplomacy to me is a political process under which states are interconnected with official relations in the framework of the international system.

My opinion has also changed in that the first impression I did not know the difference between bilateral, multilateral and public diplomacy. I now find this interesting in that negotiations can be carried out collectively through conferences in the EU or the UN and at the same time bilateral when it comes to member states meeting on a one to one basis either before the conference meetings or through resident missions such as resident ambassadors or foreign secretaries.

With the public diplomacy, before I did not know much about it and its now interesting to find out that threw public especially in democratic countries have a voice when it comes to national concern such as the Vietnam War which caused an outcry by the American people to end the war.

Another important aspect is the role of NGOs and IGOs playing part in negotiation especially when it comes to trade and other related issues. They usually represent small, poor countries that have no expertise when it comes to negotiation and at the same time, consulates also play important roles in areas such as visa, tourism and promoting culture for the benefit of their national interest.

The last point I want to make is that with the introduction of technology and communication, it has helped shape the speed at which information can be received either through the media such as TV, phones or internet of which the advanced technology has also helped in cases like Obama’s new year speech to the Iranian people and also use of CNN during the Gulf war.

All in all, my knowledge about the subject has broadened in the sense that I have got to learn how negotiations take place including “secret ones”, why some member states think of reducing or cutting down their foreign missions abroad, shutter diplomats travelling from place to place, resident ambassadors and their diplomatic wives, ceremonial dinners and duties, risks of resident diplomats abroad and lastly the visit to the Ghanaian embassy to mention but a few.