The Nature and Dimensions of Diplomacy

Abstract

Diplomacy is the art and science of international politics. It has also acquired a domestic political thrust. Possessing in modern times the dimension of organization, it faces the serious problem of how personal and creative political skills in foreign affairs can be married to bureaucratic procedures. If diplomacy is to be dynamic, capable of providing an effective alternative to war, organization must become its servant rather than its master. While generally viewed as the means of carrying out foreign policies, diplomacy generates resources needed for the formulation of sound policy, and its practitioners should therefore be fully utilized in the policy-forming process. At the same time, the resources of diplomacy must be considerably amplified in all its dimensions: intellectual and cultural, political, research and analysis, planning, education and training, and others which space limitations deny treatment here. We should develop and use the total human resources of our diplomatic establishment, including those of consular and junior personnel, in the pursuit of our international objectives, providing officers with an education and training commensurate to the demands placed upon them by modern diplomacy. For this purpose, the possibilities of a Foreign Service (Foreign Affairs) Academy deserve further consideration.