DIPLOMACY

USA/IRAN NUCLEAL DEAL

• https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/foreign-policy/iran-dea
l
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi came to power in August 2021 with the promise of 'extending a hand of
friendship and brotherhood' to other nations in the region

• Push for regional diplomacy as

tensions with the West over its
nuclear programme continue
to build up
• Raisi has dedicated all his
foreign travels as president to
allies and potential friends in
the east – with an emphasis on
boosting economic
cooperation.
• The Iranian capital hosted
three presidents in June alone.
Content
• Definition of Diplomacy
• Foreign Affairs – Kenyan Context
• Evolution of Diplomacy
• Nature of Diplomacy
• Purpose of Diplomacy
• Diplomats
• Foreign Policy
• Instruments of Foreign Policy
• Soft Power Vs. Hard Power
Conceptualization – Foreign Policy - Diplomacy

• Foreign policy refers to the stance and strategies that a country

adopts, and the strategies used for the promotion of its national
interest in the world - sovereignty and prosperity.
 Before the Second World War, the United States adopted a more isolationist foreign
policy where it did not get involved in the issues of the international arena. After the
war, this stance changed, US began to be more involved in the world affairs - emergence of
communist ideals.

• In order to promote the national interest, a country can use a number

of strategies. Diplomacy, foreign aid, and military force are some of
these strategies.
 In the present, in the past, powerful states used their military capacities in order to promote the
national interest through conquest and exploitation of other states

• Diplomacy, refers to the manner in which a country goes about in

achieving its needs through negotiations with other countries
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations (1961)
• The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) is fundamental to the
conduct of foreign relations and it ensures that diplomats can conduct their duties
without threat of influence by the host government. In particular, the Convention
establishes the following rules for the appointment of foreign representatives;
• the inviolability of mission premises;
• protection for the diplomat and his or her family from any form of arrest or
detention;
• the protection of all forms of diplomatic communication;
• the basic principle of exemption from taxation;
• immunity from civil and administrative jurisdiction, with limited exceptions; and
• that diplomats must respect the laws of the host state.
DIPLOMACY - DEFINITION
• The established method of influencing the
decisions and behavior of
foreign governments and peoples
through dialogue, negotiation, and other
measures short of war or violence.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kenyan Foreign Policy
• Kenya's Foreign Policy is driven by a Vision of 'A peaceful,
prosperous and globally competitive Kenya’
• The Mission is “To project, promote and protect Kenya's
interests and image globally through innovative diplomacy, and
contribute towards a just, peaceful and equitable world.”
• Kenya maintains 54 embassies and high
commissions abroad as well as 31 consulates.
What is the difference between Foreign Policy and Diplomacy?

• Foreign policy refers to the stance of a country and the

strategies it uses to promote the national interest.
• Countries use a variety of strategies in the international arena.
• Diplomacy is only one such strategy.
• Diplomacy is the manner in which a state deals with other
countries to promote its national interest.
• This is usually through negotiations and discourse.
• In the modern world, it is believed to be the main substitute
for force.
Foreign Policy
• Foreign policy is the content of foreign relations, comprising the
aspirations and aims a country wants to achieve in its relations
with other states and international governmental organizations.
• A developmental foreign policy is pro-engagement; it is not
isolationist.
• Sometimes a country’s foreign policy goals are not published,
but kept under wrap for security purposes
• Diplomacy plays an important part in shaping what happens in
international relations.
• Diplomacy is used to manage the goals of foreign policy
focusing on communication
Foreign Policy Cont’d
• After World Wars, the international system has witnessed an
increasing growth in the development of nation states.
• Increased interactions
• Creation of UN
• Process of decolonization liberating states into sovereign entities
• There is unanimity among scholars on the necessity of a
“foreign policy” for each state, since no state will like to
function in complete isolation
• Even a decision to have no relations with a particular state is
also a foreign policy.
• A state without a foreign policy, has been compared to a ship
in the deep sea without any knowledge of directions.
 Evolution of Diplomacy
• Historically, diplomacy meant the conduct of official
(usually bilateral) relations between sovereign states
• By the 20th Century, diplomatic practices pioneered
in Europe had been adopted throughout the world, and
diplomacy had expanded to cover:
Summit meetings and other international conferences
Parliamentary diplomacy
The international activities of supranational and subnational
entities
Unofficial diplomacy by nongovernmental elements
The work of international civil servants.
 Origin of Diplomacy
• The term diplomacy is derived via French from the ancient Greek diplōma,
composed of diplo, meaning “folded in two,” and the suffix -ma, meaning “an
object.” The folded document conferred a privilege—often a permit to travel—on
the bearer, and the term came to denote documents through which princes
granted such favours.
• Later it applied to all solemn documents issued by chancelleries, especially those
containing agreements between sovereigns.
• Diplomacy later became identified with international relations, and the direct tie
to documents lapsed (except in diplomatics, which is the science of authenticating
old official documents).
• In the 18th Century the French term diplomate (“diplomat” or “diplomatist”) came
to refer to a person authorized to negotiate on behalf of a state.
 Nature of Diplomacy
• Diplomacy is often confused with foreign policy, but the terms
are not synonymous.
• Diplomacy is the chief, but not the only, instrument of foreign
policy, which is set by political leaders, though diplomats (in
addition to military and intelligence officers) may advise them.
• It refers to the manner in which a country goes about in
achieving its needs through negotiations with other countries
• Foreign policy establishes goals, prescribes strategies, and sets
the broad tactics to be used in their accomplishment.
• It may employ secret agents, subversion, war, or other forms of
violence as well as diplomacy to achieve its objectives.
 Nature of Diplomacy Cont’d
• Diplomacy is the principal substitute for the use of force or
underhanded means in statecraft; it is how comprehensive national
power is applied to the peaceful adjustment of differences
between states.
• It may be coercive (i.e., backed by the threat to apply punitive
measures or to use force) but is overtly nonviolent.
• Its primary tools are international dialogue and negotiation,
primarily conducted by accredited envoys (a term derived from the
French envoyé, meaning “one who is sent”) and other political
leaders.
• Unlike foreign policy, which generally is enunciated publicly, most
diplomacy is conducted in confidence, though both the fact that it is
in progress and its results are almost always made public in
contemporary international relations.
 Purpose of Diplomacy

• The purpose of foreign policy is to further a state’s

interests, which are derived
from geography, history, economics, and the
distribution of international power.
• Safeguarding national independence, security, and
integrity—territorial, political, economic, and moral—is
viewed as a country’s primary obligation, followed by
preserving a wide freedom of action for the state
 Purpose of Diplomacy Cont’d

• To strengthen the state, nation, or organization it serves in relation

to others by advancing the interests in its charge.
• Maximize a group’s advantages without the risk and expense of
using force and preferably without causing resentment.
• Strives to preserve peace; diplomacy is strongly inclined toward
negotiation to achieve agreements and resolve issues between states.
• Even in times of peace, diplomacy may involve coercive threats of
economic or other punitive measures or demonstrations of the
capability to impose unilateral solutions to disputes by the
application of military power.
• However, diplomacy normally seeks to develop goodwill toward the
state it represents, nurturing relations with foreign states and
peoples that will ensure their cooperation or—failing that—their
neutrality.
Purpose of Diplomacy Cont’d
• When diplomacy fails, war may ensue; however, diplomacy is
useful even during war.
• It conducts the passages from protest to menace, dialogue to
negotiation, ultimatum to reprisal, and war to peace and
reconciliation with other states.
• Diplomacy builds and tends the coalitions that deter or make
war. It disrupts the alliances of enemies and sustains the
passivity of potentially hostile powers.
• It contrives war’s termination, and it forms, strengthens, and
sustains the peace that follows conflict.
• Over the long term, diplomacy strives to build an international
order conducive to the nonviolent resolution of disputes and
expanded cooperation between states.
Diplomats
Diplomats
• Persons appointed by a state or an intergovernmental
institution such as the UN or the European Union (EU)
to conduct official negotiations and maintain
political, economic, and social relations with one or
more other states or international organizations
• Diplomats are the primary—but far from the only—
practitioners of diplomacy.
• They are tactful and skillful in managing delicate&
difficult situations, handling people, etc.
Diplomat Cont’d
• They are specialists in carrying messages and negotiating
adjustments in relations and the resolution of quarrels between
states and peoples.
• Their weapons are words, backed by the power of the state or
organization they represent.
• Diplomats help leaders to understand the attitudes and actions
of foreigners and to develop strategies and tactics that will shape
the behaviour of foreigners, especially foreign governments.
• The wise use of diplomats is a key to successful foreign policy.
Diplomacy Shift
• More recent and more sophisticated forms of crime in
world frames, in addition to drug trade, human
trafficking, cyber crime, trade in arms and corruption,
also trades with human organs, environmental crimes
and international terrorism.
• Characteristic feature of these types of crime, are their
massiveness, dynamism, complex organization, constant
expansion, with elements of internationalism and
adaptation to new socio-political and economic relations.
Instruments of Foreign Policy
• Economics
• Trade: Negative application of trade involves - sanctions, embargos;
positive application leads to healthy trade relations.
• Foreign aid: bilateral or multi-lateral. Aid is awarded with strings attached
whether in form of grants or loans.
• Aid is given with conditions and influences the FP of the giving and receiving
countries.
• Aid can be in form of machinery, technology, capital, etc. Foreign aid impacts on the
FP making process of states. It started with the Marshall plan. It is believed that
foreign aid will help developing countries escape underdevelopment but is this the
case?
• FDI/ Foreign Private Investment: influences FP process both in developed
and developing countries - establishment of MNCs/ Transnational
corporations in countries.
• MNCs invest capital in developing countries and by extension promote the policies
of their mother countries.
Political Instruments
• Diplomatic sanctions can be used against an aggressor state.
• Summits used when presidents meet - Subversion: favored by leaders since it offers
the state some tactical advantage over others.
• Espionage - involves intelligence gathering. Was used widely at the height of the cold
war
• Military instruments: defend the state’s interests to protect resources, citizens or in
support of the FP aims. The strength of a state depends on the military base. Military
training, Weaponry, establishing military bases
• Can be applied negatively if used to attack another country/ invasion.
• Legalism: use of the international law by international institutions as an expression of
the FP, e.g., ICC and Kenya
• Ideology: used especially during the cold war. The proxy states for each bloc used to
champion ideologies of each side hence advancing the FP of either the US or USSR.
• Political communication: through for example radio control e.g., South Africa tried it
on Namibia - Dialogue: open ended communication
Socio-Cultural Instruments
• Cultural Diplomacy
• Education (exchange programmes, scholarships)
• Establishment of cultural centers to promote host countries
’cultural ethos among other things e.g., through music, dress,
food, art, film industry, etc.
• Exchange of ideas, values information systems, traditional
beliefs to foster mutual understanding
• Arts, science, economy, music and literature – e.g., UNESCO
(The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization)
 Benefits of Social –Cultural Instruments
• Enables countries make political ideals and policies attractive in eyes
of foreign audiences.
• Governments can increase respect and understanding of themselves
amongst other countries in the world.
• Programs create forums of interactions between people of different
countries; trust and policy makers will make political, economic and
military agreements.
• Helps maintain business connections.
• Reach influential leaders in countries.
• Does it necessarily amount to cultural imperialism?