Realm Of Realism In Diplomacy

Yuba Nath Lamsal In the realm of foreign policy and international relations, diplomacy is an art that involves negotiation and all other forms of tactics and tools to achieve the set foreign policy goals of the concerned country without resorting to force. Scholars and statesmen, alike, may have their own but divergent views and definitions on diplomacy, its functions and apparatchiks. They, however, agree on the core premise that the objective and functions of diplomacy are to safeguard the national interest. Sun Tzu, a military general as well as philosopher in ancient China, says, in his book, ‘The Art of War’, that diplomacy is the “supreme art of war to subdue the enemy without fighting.” According to this definition, diplomacy is an alternative and the best alternative to war as it is an appropriate and morally justified approach to win over adversaries without using force and fatal weapons. Former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai said, “All diplomacy is the continuation of war by other means”, which defines diplomacy as a part of a country’s overall strategy to achieve its foreign policy goals. In this definition, all tactics and tools including the use of military force cannot be ruled out to conquer one’s enemies.

Peaceful Approach

However, diplomacy is not a war but a peaceful approach to end the war. The war begins only when diplomacy fails. It is an effective diplomacy that prevents war. Even if a war breaks out for some reasons, the hostility comes to an end through diplomatic initiatives and negotiations. War is something in which none wins but both warring parties lose. More importantly, humanity at large will be the ultimate losers when a war breaks out and escalates. But there is always a win-win situation in diplomacy, which seeks to settle disputes through negotiations based on compromise and ‘give and take’ game. Diplomacy is, therefore, a device to restore and maintain peace and a just international order through a negotiated settlement, which ensures the victory of all sides.

Diplomacy does not always carry virtue. At times, diplomacy is defined in a negative connotation as it may not always seek wise and decent behaviour and handling as at times it may require means other than peaceful negotiations and decent diplomacy, more particularly, when one has to deal with rouge countries and leaders. In such circumstances, any tactics and tools of diplomacy at one’s disposal may have to be applied to bring the unprincipled regimes and rulers to the terms of international rules and values. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had, thus, to say about diplomacy as being “the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions”, vindicating that diplomacy demands the tactics of lying and deceiving others with sugarcoated words to have an upper hand over enemies and serve the national interest of the country.

Niccolo Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ is perhaps the oldest and the most comprehensive book on statecraft, which also deals with diplomacy as an important branch of statecraft. Machiavelli  advocates realism in statecraft, international relations and diplomacy, similar to South Asia’s Kautilya’s notion on statecraft and international relations.  Machiavelli’s master pieces “The Prince” and “The Discourses” have had tremendous impact on the study and pursuit of international relations.  He is of the view that “domestic affairs dominate the priority of the state and without domestic stability the state cannot focus on international relations”. In addition, for Machiavelli, a former diplomat himself, diplomacy is essential for the state to maintain power and build a reputation at the international level. It is no surprise that he advocates diplomacy as an essential practice of the state, and in an age of intrigue that depends on skillful diplomacy for a state’s survival, he and likens the role of the diplomat to that of a fox ‘to recognise traps and a lion to protect itself from wolves”. By implication, Machiavelli meant that the role of diplomacy and a diplomat demanded the understanding of the tricks and intrigues of the enemy and also the ability to apply measures to counter such tricks and moves. In such a situation, it may sometimes necessitate the use of  the three Cs’ (convince, confuse and confront) to win in diplomacy.

 In the conduct of diplomacy, one is required to convince and bring the adversary to one’s terms. If one is not convinced, the other shrewd method is to confuse him/her. A confused person cannot harm others—a situation which may be as good as having one being convinced. This tactics of diplomacy seeks to at least neutralise the adversary or competitor if it is not possible to totally overcome. Failure in both of these techniques— method of convincing and confusing-- alone will require confrontation or the use of force. Confrontation or the use of force is the last resort in diplomacy, and use of detente and negotiation for peaceful settlement of  disputes are the preferable options in the ambit of diplomacy.

However, not all diplomats and diplomacy theorists believe in the notion of using tricks and deceit in diplomacy. Diplomacy is the domain which always should seek to build peace, ensure cooperation and good order in the neighbourhood and in the international arena. Gone are the days of secretive and traditional methods of conducting diplomacy.  In the present modern era, in which trust building and public diplomacy play an important role, open and frank diplomacy is in vogue. In this connection, American journalist Isaac Goldberg says, “Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.” This is, therefore, an art of convincing friends and adversaries alike in the international arena through good communication, body language and use of other peaceful methods to convince the other side across the negotiating table, which may create a situation wherein the use of other coercive and confrontational methods of diplomacy may not be required.

Citizen Diplomacy

Success or failure of foreign policy often depends on the way diplomacy is handled and conducted. Effective diplomacy contributes, to a large extent, to the success of foreign policy, while a government may fail in handling international relations and foreign policy in the absense of shrewd conduct of diplomacy. Diplomacy, in a way, has direct bearing on the conduct of  state policy and governance, and thus success of the foreign policy of a state largely depends on  effective diplomacy, while a clear state and foreign policy is the fundamental requisite for vibrant and successful diplomacy.

Diplomacy is a fundamental basis and approach to international peace, friendship and cooperation. But its approaches and tactics have changed with the changes that have taken place in the world, especially, due to new turns of events in the political arena. More importantly, the tremendous revolution seen in the field of information and communication that has reduced the world into a small global village has had a greater impact on every sector, including the conduct of diplomacy. With the growth of new and social media, the domain of diplomacy has also widened, marking a kind of departure from the old concept in which diplomacy used to be a domain of the privileged class or group. In the modern technologically-driven era, each individual can play a diplomatic role in a different manner, setting in motion the rise of the concept of citizen diplomacy as a key feature of public diplomacy, in which multiple forums and channels may be utilised and mobilised as unofficial and voluntary diplomats in building a better image of the country and promoting national interest. In a poor country like Nepal, which glaringly lacks hard power to protect its national interest and make its presence felt in the international arena, the use of soft power and diplomacy is the only instrument, for which public diplomacy, more particularly, citizen diplomacy will play a key role. It would therefore be more imperative for Nepal to focus on citizen diplomacy as there are Nepalese nationals of different capacities in many countries with which Nepal has vital interests.