My understanding of diplomacy today

Looking back at what I had written at the beginning of this module regarding what I considered that diplomacy was, I have now discovered that I had a very narrow-minded view of the subject. For me it was about the relationships and communications between states, and how to improve these by having embassies. My understanding was also that it was mainly bilateral and concerning high politics, and that secrecy was more common than not. I did not realize the amount of issues that diplomacy actually covers; not only security and crisis management, but also the environment, trade, development, etc. I have learned more about the history of diplomacy and the evolution towards new ways of conducting it, as well as about the importance of public diplomacy in today’s international arena. Globalization, new technologies and more media coverage have all contributed to this change in how diplomacy is practiced. I still believe that there is some “old” diplomacy being used in certain situations; however it would be difficult to solve today’s main issues without the multilateral communications and negotiations. The participation of the NGOs in diplomatic processes has also made me realize that it is not only government officials that can be involved in diplomatic negotiations nowadays, which is a positive thing as it enables important subjects to be put high on the agenda, which they otherwise probably wouldn’t have been. My knowledge of this subject has certainly improved as I know understand how broad it actually is.