The "old diplomacy" , according to G.R.Berridge , has three key features (Berridge,2005, 109-111):
- The resident embassy
- Bilateralism
- Secrecy
The aim of this blog is to show that all these features still play an important role in diplomacy today.
The technology progress created plenty of new ways in which diplomats can communicate with each other. Internet allows diplomats to act in virtual sphere. Air transport have reduced distance between states significantly, which means that diplomats can reach any place in the world in less than 12 hours. The development of summitry diplomacy also reduces the importance of the institution of the resident embassy. As a result, some scholars , such as Z.Brzezinski, argues , that "if foreign ministries (and embassies) did not already exist, they surely would not have to be invented (due to the revolution information and communications technology)". However, S.Riordan notices that old telegram/cable system still remains the channel of the most important communications between foreign offices and embassies. (Riordan,2003,15) Besides, G.R. Berridge argues that the embassy in many activities such as representation, lobbying ,negotiation , information gathering is irreplacable institution . For example , during the American- mediated negotiations between Israel and Egypt , US ambassador Herman Eilts had more than 250 meetings with Egyptian leader A.Sadat, which were reported to Carter administration(Berridge,2005,125). To sum up , live communication can not be replaced by virtual one. The value of ambassador , his personal contacts and knowledge of local culture as well as political situation can not be overestimated. That's why resident embassy remains central institution in nowadays diplomacy.
Advocates of "New diplomacy" argue that secrecy has been replaced by opennes and publicity . Bilateralism has been changed by multilateralism, which means that every state has the voice in decision making. Also, proponents of "New diplomacy" emhasize human rights and the disappering gap between states and citizens. The summits of the United Nations General Assebmly, growing influence of mass media and NGO's in policy- making partly confirm these statements. However, recent events in the world politics show that bilateralism and secrecy remain extremely relevant. The best example is USA invasion in Iraq in 2003. Basicly, the invasion can be regarded as bilateral agreement between USA and United Kingdom ( and a few other states) to go to war despite huge opposition from the majority of the international community, as well as world public. The more recent event is the scandal of secret CIA prisons in Europe. It is believed , that CIA had prisons in Eastern Europe ( Poland and Romania), where extraordinary renditions" of prisoners, some of whom allegedly faced torture, were exercised(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/dec/13/usa.politics). In this case , the USA made illegal and secret agreements with a few states. The European Union was not involved in the process, even though those states are the members of the EU. This story raises huge doubts if contemporary diblomacy is really so public ,democratic and influenced by citizens and organizations, such as EU, as often is declared.
Every state uses diplomacy to pursuit it's national interests . However, sometimes these interests may be immoral or even dangerous to another actor(s) . In such a case, the state has no choice, but to act secretly in order to avoid opposition. For example , if a state seeks to establish a prison in a member of the EU, it is clear that there will be no multilateral agreement on this issue, which would finally result in the failure of pursuing this particular state's interest.Therefore the methods ( secrecy and bilateralism) and tools (resident embassy) of "Old diplomacy" remain relevant in the contemporary world.
Europe's secret CIA prisons( BBC Our World doccumentary) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X295HEnrzmI
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