The arrival of the new diplomacy, ostensibly at the conclusion of the First World War with the creation of the League of Nations, has supposedly, moved the art of diplomacy from behind closed, (mahogany) doors and into the light of day. Certainly it is far more inclusive and open than it used to be. It is far more difficult to suppress the out come of talks attended by 192 nations at the UN or even more difficult to be secretive at the G20 rather than the G8. This also empowers the weaker states, as they can pool their meagre influence to stand up to the intimidation of the stronger nations, as demonstrated by the walkouts at the WTO talks at Cancun in 2003 and the 2009 Copenhagen Climate talks.
Undoubtedly, backroom deals are done within these forums, and as this recent article in the Guardian illustrates, clandestine deals are still very much the order of the day in international diplomacy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/17/iraq-government-iran-tehran-deal
The rise of NGO’s and their apparent ability to circumvent official government policy on international relations is an interesting development. An individual, or small group of individuals with a vision, can now engage in international relations to a great extent. Being non-governmental, they can often overcome suspicions inherent in inter-governmental interactions. In “Devolving Responsibilities: A Framework for analysing NGO’s and Services”. (Gordenker, L. & Weiss, G. 1997. p453) the authors go as far as to suggest, “In the process, NGO’s might pioneer the formation of a new kind of transnational society in which individuals and their voluntary associations replace IGO’s and governments as the immediate sources of various social services now usually associated with the territorially based state.”
The internet offers enormous scope for the democratisation of diplomacy. The online pressure group avaaz.org is a good example. It allows millions of individuals the opportunity to bypass the political expediency inherent in traditional diplomacy and influence governments around the world. This recent press release illustrates the enormity of their recent achievements:
• Canada (420,000 Avaaz members), we just took on an alliance of a media empire and a prime minister to subvert the independence of the country's media in their favour, and won.
• Brazil (730,000 members) we took a civil society movement online and drove an anti-corruption law through congress that is putting large numbers of corrupt politicians out of a job - widely hailed as a political revolution.
• Italy (240,000) we rallied opposition to the Prime Minister's bill to tie the hands of Italy's corruption investigators - commentators hailed the victory as the first time in Italian history online mobilization had shifted the parliamentary agenda.
• Argentina (60,000) we surged to protect crucial glaciers from what looked like certain destruction by mining companies, and won.
• South Africa (70,000) we built a massive public outcry against sweeping new censorship powers over the press, forcing the government to alter its media regulation law.
• Germany (480,000) thousands of last-minute phone calls from our members helped stop the government from drastically cutting its aid budget.
The rise of the individual in global diplomacy is a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps by extension, the future role of the state diplomat will be to influence the individual.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_victory_report/?cl=785524115&v=7357
Gordenker, L. &
Weiss, T. G. Devolving Responsibilities: a Framework for Analysing NGO’s and Services. Third World Quarterly, vol. 18. no. 3 (1997)
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