Old Diplomacy to New Diplomacy

By: Faiz Hendra K/I92218076

Introduction

As the times evolve, various events in the world are increasingly diverse and
complex. Likewise with diplomacy as a practice in international relations. Increasing
international issues make diplomacy also experience changes both in practice or its purpose.
World war is the trigger of various changes in the practice of diplomacy. Like agreements,
increasing allies and or motives of the diplomacy. So that the national interests of each
country also increase.

Old Diplomacy or Secret Diplomacy

The Whestpalia Agreement until the first world war was a period which was later
called the "Old Diplomacy". In this period, diplomats have begun to calculate the strength of
other countries. Determine the difference so that it still has a match in it. The state uses direct
power to conduct diplomacy. Until finally a congress called the Congress of Vienna was
created in 1815. The Congress was represented by several countries including Austria,
Russia, Prussia, England, and France. During this time many European countries managed to
find their national identity. Finally, the concept of a sovereign state has an impact on
reducing the level of violence directly to countries in Europe.

During the old diplomacy the debate that occurred was between liberals who wanted
to get rid of the influence of power-politics in international relations. In practice secret
diplomacy then has various kinds of impacts on the country. The positive, the first is the
concept of the Great Power state in addition to having control on international relations, it
also becomes a protective state for Small Power countries. Second is the establishment of a
professional diplomatic service. Whatever the national interest of their country, they
generally believe that the main purpose of a diplomacy is to maintain peace. Third, a good
diplomacy process is carried out patiently and carefully by diplomacy practitioners. The
policies issued are not spontaneous but through a process of gathering documents and definite
considerations in order to obtain mutual agreement.

New Diplomacy or Open Diplomacy

 During the new diplomacy, the principles and objectives of diplomacy remained the
same. The thing that seems very clear to change is the method and technique. Open
diplomacy will help maintain international peace and harmony. Nicholson, a diplomat and
author of diplomacy books, argues that there are 3 important ideas in open diplomacy. First,
there must be no secret agreement. Second, negotiations must be conducted openly. Third, if
an agreement has been reached, no attempt should be made behind the scenes to change the
agreement. The emergence of the United Nations (UN), and various other international
organizations have advanced multilateral negotiation techniques. If in the old diplomacy
negotiations were carried out directly by the two countries, then in the new diplomacy an
international organization was made which became a diplomatic forum for the member
countries. Negotiations can also be carried out directly by many countries through
congresses. This type of diplomacy is called parliamentary diplomacy. The art of compromise
is needed to get the most votes at a congress. Each country has one vote to decide on a policy.
Therefore the relationship between countries becomes very important when there are
differences of opinion on several policies.

After the Second World War a total change took place in the power structure. Europe,
which was originally the center of world politics, was renamed by the United States and the
Soviet Union as two new Superpower countries. The presence of the two countries with
opposing ideologies then created two blocs consisting of countries that shared the same
thoughts as the United States or the Soviet Union. The differences in ideology that were
thoroughly transformed by the two countries then changed the practice of diplomacy so as to
reduce the actors due to partiality in one of the blocks. Seeing the ideological differences for
new countries, because they still want to organize their countries, a non-aligned movement
emerged that did not favor the United States or the Soviet Union.

Conclusion

The existence of Old and New Diplomacy provides understanding that diplomacy has
an important role in the development of international relations. Diplomacy continues to
develop along with changing world conditions. However, the main interests of a diplomacy
are still the same, namely, to maintain peace by trying to achieve the interests of each country
agreed in a negotiation with the state involved.

Reference
Roy, S.L. 1991. Diplomasi. Jakarta: Rajawali Pers