According to Brian White, diplomacy is a process of communication between political entities, which has existed for thousands of years. The first diplomatic document, which was discovered in the 1970’s, dates back to around 2500 BC. The antiquity attributed to this demonstrates that diplomacy is not a new discipline. However, as in every discipline, change occurs, and so diplomacy has changed.
The first significant change in the nature of diplomacy is that it is more open to public scrutiny, by provisioning information to the public. This is unlike the traditional system, in which diplomacy was usually undertaken in secrecy.
The second change is the structure of diplomacy, where states are not the only actors involved in diplomacy anymore. There are new actors on the international stage, such as international organizations. There are two types of international organizations: intergovernmental (with governments only as members) and non-governmental (with private individuals or groups as members). The increasing number of non-state actors has changed “the nature of the new diplomacy as a process of negotiations” (Baylis and Smith, 2005: 391). An example could be the establishment of an international organization like the League of Nations, which was established after the First World War to “act both as international forum for the peaceful settlement of disputes and as a deterrent against another world war…” (Baylis and Smith, 2005: 391).The new diplomacy is a much more open process than the old diplomacy.
There is a significant change of governments in terms of regulating the lives of their citizens. Governments now are providing the security of their citizens as well as their social and economic well-being.
One of the most important changes in agenda in the diplomacy was the avoidance of war, which became a priority of the new diplomacy.
Furthermore, the new diplomacy is considering the new issues in international relations: the environment, technology and arms control.
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