BOOK OF THE DAY: A History of DiplomacyBy Jeremy Black, Reaktion Books, pp 312 £ 19.99.
DIPLOMACY IS one of those professions and ways of life that has changed greatly in recent times, to such an extent that its very relevance is often under threat – at least in its traditional form. In a globalised world of e-mail, mobile phones, and an all-pervasive 24-hour news cycle, not to mention, crucially, an increasingly open political culture of alliances and multilateral forums, it’s hard to see the continuing relevance of having a man or woman at the other end of the world interpreting a foreign political atmosphere for their masters at home. The future of conventional diplomacy is surely also eroded by the ubiquity of foreign travel and the increasingly direct contacts between international politicians.
However, in this spirited defence of traditional diplomacy, Jeremy Black argues for the very opposite: that such is the chaos and cacophony of the information age, and the often volatile nature of political tensions, (think of al- Qaeda and the so-called “war on terror”) that more than ever we need experts and negotiators, dispassionately disassociated from overt political agendas. “There remains a need for privileged information-gathering in the midst of the mass of material available,” writes Black. “Moreover, accumulated wisdom and experience, not least an understanding of relevant languages, makes it easier to appreciate the world views and negotiating codes of others, and thus to facilitate information acquisition and negotiations.”
To see how things have changed while curiously remaining the same, one has only to look at Noel Dorr's fine memoir Ireland at the UN: Memories of the Early Years– recently reviewed in this space – and its focus on the achievements of Irish and European officials in the 1950s and 1960s. Albeit set in a different era, it still reflects the virtues of patient negotiation and proper multilateralism, as the author himself made clear during debates on the invasion of Iraq.
Besides, diplomacy takes many forms and Black argues that to discuss it in terms of resident officials “administered through a foreign ministry is necessarily limited”. These are the main conclusions of a book, which is actually, as its title suggests, more a history of the profession, but with an alternative focus, looking at modern diplomacy’s non-Western traditions and its roots in the medieval West. It provides fascinating details along the way about the development of embassies, envoys, and give-and- take or 19th century statesmanship. It almost made me want to rejoin the trade – except in a time capsule.
Black also addresses the new emphasis on international aid – and “soft power”– and looks at the evolution of international-style diplomacy in the shape of peace envoys, multilateralism and NGOs especially after the Cold War.
Disappointingly Black doesn’t address one of the great failures of modern diplomacy, especially in Europe, which was the Yugoslav wars and the Bosnia crisis. Incredibly, the only reference to Bosnia in the book is to the “Bosnian crisis of 1908-09”. The tragedy of Bosnia was that it was possibly a situation made worse by diplomacy and dithering, when a more robust Western intervention might have stopped Serb aggression and saved thousands of lives. Leading this fudge was the then British government (unfortunately followed by Ireland) and personified by the platitudinous do-nothing policy of Douglas Hurd, himself – all too tellingly – a former diplomat.
Eamon Delaney is a writer and a former Irish diplomat