On Diplomacy and multilateralism

A wind of change in terms of the multilateral aspect to negotiation in diplomacy signifies a major departure from the diplomacy of old. Communication and conflict negotiation in the diplomacy of old was bilateral in nature. Nations found this restrictive measure useful as negotiations were often bound by secrecy.

After the First World War the dynamics of diplomacy changed in that statesmen and diplomats had failed to halt the descent into war and more importantly, the fate of international politics and future conflict resolution could not solely be entrusted to them. The advent of the League of Nations later to be replaced by the United Nations 1945 signifies an important change in the nature of diplomacy. States and diplomats were still major actors on the international political scene as of old however they were to find themselves in an eventful market place, joined by other actors. These include intergovernmental actors consisting of government representatives as members and also non governmental actors consisting of private individuals , interest groups and international organizations .

The complexity of all these actors on the international stage signifies a major change; non governmental organizations have become key players in the game of international affairs. This can be exemplified by the role of anti globalization movements who organized riots in Seattle against the World Trade Organization (1999) to get their concerns across. As non governmental organizations are not bureaucratic in nature compared to the nature of traditional diplomacy, they are more adaptable on the political stage as they are not bound by bureaucratic rules. Non governmental organizations aim to represent interests of civil society as opposed to traditional diplomacy which is exclusive in nature to an extent. It must be remembered that the inclusivity and openness of conferences is a rather new development but the notion of conference meetings is not at all a new aspect of diplomacy, as it can be traced as far back as the Spartan Conference in 430B.C right up until today. However what has undoubtedly changed is the nature and ever increasing involvement of non governmental bodies in international political affairs.

Links
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/544447.stm
http://www.un.org/Docs/SG/agpeace.html