‘Old’ diplomacy? - Yes !

It would be extremely ignorant to say that when the world is changing, the technology advances and we have access to the Internet and 24/7 world news, the institution of diplomacy and the diplomatic methods remain untouched by these forces. Just, please, check out these two images. Only by looking at these diplomats’ clothes and items around them we can see that things have certainly changed :)

Indeed, the old style of diplomacy does not have much in common with the contemporary diplomatic practices just like clothes of these two fellows from the image above have nothing in common with Armani suits.

To your surprise, I will not dedicate this blog to the study of the development in diplomatic fashion trends but I will focus on the revolution in communication technology as, in my opinion, with no doubt, it redefined diplomatic practices. Here, I mean the real-time television. This development, namely, has enabled the communication to become a major player in the arena of foreign policy. Already M. Albright, while having been U.S Ambassador to the UN, claimed that ‘there is no question that television has become the sixteenth member of the (UN) Security Council (Ammon, 2001:68). Moreover, just having a look at the example of the Gulf War, the real-time television brought literally war into people’s homes. A viewer could follow events at the same time when they occurred in a real time. Have a look at these short movies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlC60Kef9Mg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJGs2BDKq5g

The real-time television has with no doubt challenged diplomats’ methods of information gathering. Moreover, during the Gulf War, the key foreign policy-makers admitted that media were, in fact, their primary source of information (Ammon, 2001). The statement of one US diplomat will be the best summary of this point: ‘There is a diminished value in classical diplomatic reporting. If you had a choice between reading the [diplomatic] cables in your box and tuning into CNN three times a day, you’d tune in to CNN’(Ammon, 2001:67).

In addition, more generally, the innovations in communication technology have enabled masses to be in constant touch with world affairs whereas earlier only elites were the best informed. Moreover, the revolution in communication technology has enabled people to participate in processes of policy making and this is probably the most important phenomenon which changed the ‘old’ diplomacy forever. Namely, under old diplomacy, global policymaking was strictly at the hands of governments whereas in the era of the Internet people have their say in politics and can influence policies which do not suit their interests.

Sources:
Global television and the shaping of world politics: CNN, Telediplomacy, and Foreign Policy, Royce J. Ammon, 2001

Grant R., ‘The Democratization of Diplomacy: Negotiating with the Internet’, Clingendael Discussion Paper in Diplomacy, No. 100, 2005, available at: www.clingendael.nl/cdsp/publications/discussion-papers/archive.html