Critical Analysis Of Diplomacy

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Nowadays, in the era of the globalization process and the revolution in information and communication technologies, diplomacy has different types, approaches and practices. This paper aims to introduce the various practices of diplomacy by critical analysis of three articles, which are “Diplomacy as Negotiation and Mediation” by William Zartman, “Diplomacy and Intelligence” by Jennifer E. Sims and “The Study of International Mediation: Theoretical Issues and Empirical Evidence” by Jacob Bercovitch. Initially, I would like to start with the article composed by Zartman and his approach to diplomacy through the lens of negotiation. The author argues that diplomacy is generally negotiation and that the modern world requires diplomatic negotiation…show more content…
According to the author, mediation is an ‘extension of the negotiation process whereby an acceptable third party intervenes to change the course or outcome of a particular conflict’. (Bercovitch, 2012). The article is well-organized and gives a broad understanding of the process and the factors that might affect the outcomes of mediation. Bercovitch concludes that the effectiveness of this process depends on the parties, their political system and previous relations, the character of their conflict in terms of timing and intensity and the mediator himself. Hence, every conflict that requires mediation has to be taken as a specific case. Moreover, in order to determine the success of mediation, all the details have to be taken into account. The author argues that normative or prescriptive approaches lead to mediation success, however, these approaches do not provide with the evidence when mediation succeeds and what are the reasons. Nevertheless, this concept does not always lead to an agreement meaning that mediation attempts are not always successful and the findings of this research prove this argument. In addition, one more interesting point in this article is the idea that in terms of the mediator, regional organizations are more likely to offer successful outcomes, rather than international organizations. Overall, this article illustrates not only described, but also…show more content…
The author calls these concepts ‘dark arts’ and argues that in the case of security threat, even friendly states may use these techniques. Nonetheless, in comparison to others, intelligence is ethically neutral. Indeed, in the era of globalization, the importance of intelligence is very high and its intention is to enhance knowledge of the capabilities and the motivations of others. Moreover, intelligence services, likewise mediators, must be trusted in order to be effective. The author presents very good examples of deception, such as British deception or Operation Mincemeat, that allow the reader to fully understand this concept. In contrast to deception, covert action is based not only on information superiority, but also masked control. I would agree with the author’s argument that covert action is very risky and even has to be restricted to be used

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