Need to restructure Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Yuba Nath Lamsal

In the present interconnected and interdependent world due mainly to the revolution in the field of information and communication technology, diplomacy plays greater role in fostering greater cooperation among the nations and peace and just order in the world.  No single country in the world is fully self-reliant on all aspects and the countries are, in one way or the other, dependent on others for various reasons. This situation is more prevalent in the present world known as a technology- driven small global village than ever before.  A country cannot survive and prosper in isolation irrespective of how powerful and developed it might be. International links, relations and cooperation are necessary not only for one’s own survival and security but for a global peace and interest of the humanity at large.

The necessity of mutual cooperation gave rise to the evolution of foreign policy and diplomacy in the world. Foreign policy is a strategy whereas diplomacy serves a tool to achieve the goal and strategy envisaged for the best national interest of a country and its people. The policy that a country devises to deal with other countries or international institutions, whether it is general or country specific, taking broader national interest as its supreme priority is called foreign policy. Diplomacy is the tactics, approach and methods to achieve this goal. Country’s national interests are permanent whereas the methods and approaches to achieve and protect the national interest abroad may change depending upon the national, regional and international situations. Thus overall principles and bases of foreign policy remain unchanged as they are guided by the national interests but diplomatic tactics and tricks vary on different occasions. This is the reason why diplomacy is a dynamic subject that always requires dynamism, relentless research, meticulous analyses, monitoring events and developments, and quick and appropriate decisions and response on every developments and incidents that take place in the international arena. In this lies the role of a diplomat, who has to be dynamic, sharp, analytical and far-sighted to immediately grasp the gravity of the issues on a given situation and take quick decision and appropriate measures to deal with the issue and situation. This is the art of diplomacy to pursue and protect the national interest with other country and countries.

The traditional concept of foreign policy and diplomacy was defined and interpreted in a narrow perspective, which we often tend to follow. With the advancement of science and technology, the world has seen a sea of change in all spheres of life. This change has brought about changes into the life of an individual, social system, cultural sphere and human thinking and perception. Given the changed context both at home and abroad, Nepal also needs to reshape and diversify the conduct of its foreign policy and diplomacy to cope with the newer developments, trends and challenges in the world. The traditional concept and factors that our foreign policy framers, interlocutors and diplomats often tend to follow are not sufficient in the present complicated and globalized world. Extra-territorial, regional and international dynamics have also to be taken into serious account in the formulation of foreign policy and the conduct of diplomacy. This involves psychological perception and outlook of different stakeholders and countries in the neighborhood as well as in the international arena. This is determined by existing geo-political reality, economic strength and potentials, trade links and its volume, natural resources and, to some extent, cultural historical and political considerations of a particular country or countries.

In the present world, economic benefits and economic interests are definitely important. But they are not the sole factors and considerations. There are quite many other equally important considerations that shape foreign policy and international relations. Economic interests and security concerns are more dominant factors than other traditional components. The security concepts have also changed in the present world. The traditional concept of security used to lay focus on military security. But the modern concept of security focuses on two key aspects that seek to ensure the people with‘freedom from fear and freedom from wants’. Freedom from fear is related to hardcore security that seeks to defend a country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity for which military, para-military and other security organs are used and mobilized. More important is the human security or soft security that is related to freedom from want, which seeks to ensure better quality of people’s life or guarantee people’s basic necessities like food, housing, employment and access to education and health care as well as access to adequate food. The art of diplomacy comes handier and plays key role in the later aspect of security. It is said that generals win war with guns and weapons whereas diplomats become victories without fatal weapons, which speak of the value of diplomacy.

Based on the aforementioned factors, a country has to formulate and adopt country specific policy. The United States or India or China, for instance, have country specific policy of different countries including in Nepal. The United States’ Nepal policy may not be strictly in conformity with Washington’s India or China policy. So different countries have different priorities with different countries in the conduct of foreign policy and diplomacy. So far Nepal seems to be glaringly lacking on this aspect. . Nepal’s foreign policy is generalized with all countries in the world.

Nepal does not have country specific policy based on our overall and broad foreign policy priority and national interest, which is unfortunate. Now is the time that Nepal starts to frame country specific policy of at least major and important countries. Several factors have to be taken into account to frame country specific foreign policy and accordingly conduct diplomacy. Geography, history, culture, trade, economic dynamics and value system are some of the key components that play important role in shaping country-specific policy.

Similarly other countries create experts on different countries and seek their opinion in shaping policy and dealing with them. However, Nepal has never made any efforts to create country-specific experts. This is a fundamental weakness in our foreign policy, which must be reversed and corrected. In the absence of country-specific policy and expert knowledge of different aspects of different countries, we have often been failure in diplomatic dealings with other countries. Its glaring example is the failure in dealing with even a small neighbor Bhutan on the issues of repatriation of refugees, who have been living in different camps in eastern Nepal. As regard other countries, too, Nepal has not been able to pursue effectively to convince other countries on diverse issues. Our dealings with neighbors and other countries depend on the good will and generosity of our friends but not because of our homework, diplomatic prudence and persuasive power. Given this situation that has existed for over a century since Nepal established and established diplomatic contact and relations with other countries and, it seems that we have still not produced diplomats but bureaucrats to obediently follow orders from their masters rather than to professionally conduct diplomacy and give feedback to the government back home. Even the officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who call themselves as career diplomats, are often trained to be more bureaucrats than diplomats. Politicians treat them accordingly and want them to quietly obey their instruction and orders rather than seek their suggestion and utilize their professional acumen as diplomats. Although some tend to be bureaucratic rather than diplomatic, many officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are highly qualified and competent with potentials of becoming finest diplomats but their potentials are rarely realized and their suggestions and advice hardly utilized. It does not necessarily mean that there are no qualified people having potential of becoming good diplomats. There are many dynamic people, who could be a great asset in formulating and implementing foreign policy and conducting diplomacy, outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their talents and experiences could be highly valuable and useful for the country in building Nepal’s image abroad and making Nepal’s diplomacy more effective. However, we have developed a tendency that diplomatic postings are awarded on the basis of closeness to power center instead of merits, which has weakened our diplomatic performance abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which should have been the hot bed of diplomatic activities, is functioning in a lukewarm and lackluster manner. Unlike other countries, politicians dictate professionals and experts in all spheres and sectors in Nepal and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, too, is not an exception. It should have been otherwise as politicians should act as per the advice of experts and professionals.

It is always better late than never. Thus, it would do well if the Foreign Ministry begins work in drafting country-specific policy and creating country-specific experts. This requires a lot of homework and thorough study on different aspects. The new Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Prasad Pandey, based on his public speeches and remarks, appears enthusiastic in bringing the old aberrations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in our overall foreign policy and the conduct of diplomacy to an end and introducing a new system and practice in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also handling foreign policy and diplomacy to be able to strictly protect and persuade our national interest abroad. Let us hope, Minister Pandey succeeds in this noble task. In this, the first step should be to restructure the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.