TEXT 1: Defining diplomacy

1. Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture. International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians.

The word stems from the Greek word "diploma", which literally means 'folded in two'. In ancient Greece, a diploma was a certificate certifying completion of a course of study, typically folded in two. In the days of the Roman Empire, the word "diploma" was used to describe official travel documents, such as passports and passes for imperial roads, that were stamped on double metal plates. Later, the meaning was extended to cover other official documents such as treaties with foreign tribes. In the 1700s the French called their body of officials attached to foreign legations the corps "diplomatique". The word "diplomacy" was first introduced into the English language by Edmund Burke in 1796, based on the French word "diplomatie".

2. In an informal or social sense, diplomacy is the employment of tact to gain strategic advantage or to find mutually acceptable solutions to a common challenge, one set of tools being the phrasing of statements in a non-confrontational, or polite manner. There are two major forms of diplomacy, The simplest and the oldest is bilateral diplomacy between two states.

3. Bilateral diplomacy is still common with many treaties between two states (e.g. the. Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement), and it is the main concern of embassies and state visits. The other form of diplomacy is multilateral diplomacy involving many states. Formal multilateral diplomacy is normally dated to the Congress of Vienna in the nineteenth century. Since then, multilateralism has grown in importance Today most trade treaties, such as the WTO and FTAA, arms control agreements, such as the Partial Test Ban Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and environmental agreements, such as the Kyoto Accord, are multilateral. The United Nations is the most important institution of multilateral diplomacy.

4. There is a third form of diplomacy, in fact a variant of multilateral diplomacy, i.e. regional diplomacy, that is multilateral diplomacy that is practiced withina closed circle of geographic neighbors. We might call it 'multilateral diplomacy among intimates'. Since neighborhood is a fact of life, regional diplomacy involves a close blend of the bilateral and the limited group multilateral methods in pursuit of mutual interests.

5. A diplomat is someone involved in diplomacy; the collective term for a group of diplomats from a single country who are resident in another country is a diplomatic mission. Ambassador is the most senior diplomatic rank; a diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador is known as an embassy, with the exception of permanent missions at the United Nations which are also headed by ambassadors. The collective body of all diplomats of particular country is called that country's diplomatic service. The collective body of all diplomats assigned to a particular country is the diplomatic corps.

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