It is difficult to say when human beings realized that they need to communicate with other humans, but certainly it is one of very old practices that exist in our society since thousands of years. Diplomatic status is recognized since centuries and diplomatic rules used to be one of the most significant factors in assessing relations of different societies, as well as, nations. We have been hearing since time immemorial that do not shoot the messenger. If this was the rule then there must be a mechanism to ascertain legitimacy of the messenger and also there were rules that ensured safety of the messenger. It clearly means that there were rules regarding diplomatic functioning and people used to regard these rules (Hamilton & Langhorne). However the earliest diplomacy was confined to conveying communications between societies in an innocuous and unswerving modus. Communication is the backbone of diplomacy and it helps in achieving various goals.
Diplomacy evolved as a major apparatus to maintain national interests of various states. In middle ages when various imperialistic powers expanded their territories, they felt a need of forming alliances in order to keep their interests intact. They discovered new diplomatic ways to avoid unnecessary conflicts and also legitimatize their position in newly acquired states. States used to appoint ambassadors in other states in order to lessen travelling costs from one state to other states. These ambassadors were given noble positions and their embassies consisted of a large number of staff in order to make their functioning smoother. These ambassadors used to have experiences of international relations and used to represent their governments in the states where they were appointed (Rana).
Conspicuously diplomacy appears to be a tool of fulfilling growing needs of human societies, and it has evolved to fulfill reciprocal political prerequisites. Diplomacy existed in earliest times and it exists today because of its expediency for the human societies. Diplomacy has emerged as very effective contrivance of international relations. Diplomacy has gone through several changes in recent times. It has expanded its horizon and now covers various sectors that were not part of diplomacy in earlier times (Bjola & Kornprobst).
Diplomacy has played very important role in ascertaining international relations especially after the World War II. The era of cold war witnessed a new shift in the diplomacy. Emergence of two superpowers of the world gave new dimensions to the diplomacy and redesigned terms of diplomatic relations. This era of diplomacy was focused on making good relations. Both superpowers USSR and USA stretched their diplomatic perspectives and created their lobbies in order to ensure their interests. Almost whole world was divided into two lobbies. Irrespective of mutual tensed relations, clash of interests and differences in ideology, USSR and USA kept their diplomatic channels opened and avoided war due to their diplomacy (Magalhaes).
After the dissolution of USSR, United States of America emerged as the undisputed superpower of the world. Such a situation gave US an opportunity to redesign terms of international diplomatic relations and US manipulated each and every situation to fulfil its interests in different parts of the world. The new chapter of diplomacy was based on a hidden agenda of fulfilling imperialistic aspirations of the USA in a changed world. United States utilized every aspect of diplomacy to execute its agenda in different parts of the world.
Works Cited
Bjola, C., & Kornprobst, M. Understanding International Diplomacy: Theory, Practice and Ethics. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hamilton, K., & Langhorne, R. The Practice of Diplomacy: Its Evolution, Theory and Administration. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Magalhaes, Jose C.D. The Pure Concept of Diplomacy. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1988. Print.
Rana, Kishan S. Bilateral Diplomacy. New Delhi: Diplo Foundation, 2007. Print.
