Polylateralism: the new music of diplomacy

Polylateralism is central to any understanding of contemporary or New Diplomacy. This is the relationship between the state and other entities. The importance of transnational organisations in the mix of modern state affairs is increasingly important. Geoffrey Wiseman mentions that the United States has, on the face of it, differing diplomatic accentuations in Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC which is due to emphasis and centres of power. New York is host to the UN and other institutions so is polylateralist, Washington DC is bilateralist by nature because many embassies are bilateral and exhibit an older diplomatic raison d'etre. Los Angeles is modern and scattered and has strong links to big transnationals so is polylateralist. However one cannot make this an easy case for explanation because as it happens the World Bank and the IMF are in Washington and a plethora of institutes, think tanks and lobbysists. On closer examination though bilateralism dominates Washington they are all examples of complex polylateral networks. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the gradual emergence of developing states as regional powers the idea of polylateralism has taken root.

Four models have grwon out of these trends:
1)Non state actors: NGO's
2)Deregulation across borders
3)Ethnic and religious tensions have emerged within states as forms of conflict
4)Information based and technological advances have accelerated

(Wiseman)

These developments have shunted bilateral and multilateral methods into the background. The lines of demarcation have become blurred as the state sovereignty has become diffuse. This posits the idea that we are now in a Post-Westphalian world of governance because of the influence of trans-national actors.

This has given rise to a multitude of new diplomatic labels and has seen like modern music a fracturing of genres of diplomacy:

1. “triangular diplomacy” (statestate,

state-firm, firm-firm relations);

2.“multilayered diplomacy” (involving

noncentral governments);

3. “second track diplomacy” (methods of diplomacy

outside the formal governmental system, often initiated by nongovernmental

actors and involving diplomats in their personal capacity);

4.“multitrack diplomacy” (an extension of the second-track concept, which

includes a wide range of societal groups engaged in peacemaking activities);

5.“niche diplomacy” (the ability of small and middle powers to provide

initiative and leadership in specific international areas);

6.“preventive diplomacy” (action designed to prevent existing disputes from escalating

into military conflicts);

7.“virtual diplomacy” (a process of direct global

and transnational communication and bargaining between non-state

groups and individuals made possible by new technologies, such as the

Internet).1.

To further stretch the music metaphor further it was appropriate that a baby boomer American president William Jefferson Clinton, who could play the saxaphone, emerged just after the Cold War ended and just as these changes were taking place to take advantage of the winds of change. Bill Clinton was also forced to change direction in his first term of office which kept him sailing into a second term. A polylateral President emerged into the polylateral age.

So where now will these powerful winds of change take diplomacy now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ

 International Affairs, vol. 68, no. 1Localizing Foreign Policy: Non-Central Governments and “Polylateralism” and New Modes of Global Dialogue 53

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Multilayered Diplomacy

, London: Macmillan, 1993; Louise Diamond and John McDonald,

Multitrack Diplomacy

(ed.),

Violent Conflicts: A Strategy for Preventive Diplomacy

Institute of Peace Press, 1996; Kevin M. Cahill (ed.),

Before They Start

Advent of Netwar

on “virtual diplomacy” in Washington DC in April 1997. The keynote speeches are

available on the Institute’s web site, www.usip.org. For a sceptical view of the impact of the

internet, see George P. Shultz, ‘Diplomacy, Wired’,

adapted from Shultz’s keynote speech delivered at the USIP conference.

, 3rd.ed., West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, 1996; Andrew F. CooperNiche Diplomacy, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997; Michael S. Lund, Preventing, Washington, DC: United StatesPreventive Diplomacy Stopping Wars, New York: Basic Books, 1996; John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, The, Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 1996. The US Institute of Peace convened a conferenceHoover Digest Selections, no. 1 (1998),(

Wiseman

 1. Susan Strange, ‘States, firms and diplomacy,’

(January 1992); Brian Hocking,