New-New Diplomacy

Abstract

The latest iteration of the New Diplomacy is a work in progress. Most of its promoters overlook continuities in diplomatic theory and practice. Yet they underscore an important, timeless, point: diplomacy adapts. It must do so by mastering not only new technologies but also different “structures” of international relations, which have become, since the 1970s, less national and more “global” With no more European empires and no Cold War, today’s world appears disordered and disorderly. A perfect global community does not yet exist. Nor does global diplomacy. Someday if it means to succeed, it will need to be as sensitive, cautious and creative as its predecessors.