Diplomacy

:This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game).

Overview

There are two major forms of diplomacy. The simplest and the oldest is bilateral diplomacy between two states. 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.

Related Topics:
Bilateral diplomacy - State - Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement - Embassies - State visit - Multilateral diplomacy - Congress of Vienna - WTO - FTAA - Partial Test Ban Treaty - Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - Kyoto Accord - United Nations

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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 within a 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.

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