Kishan Rana is one of the few people in the world with an extensive and varied experience of diplomacy, having served as India’s ambassador to Germany before retiring and becoming a globe-trotting trainer of junior diplomats on behalf of DiploFoundation. His book is a practitioners’ guide to the art of diplomacy and covers all the key aspects of the role, including communication and negotiation, intelligence gathering, image management and policy implementation.
The term diplomacy has a long history, starting with scribbling on the walls of Mesopotamian cities as early as 2850 B.C.E. Embassies first began to be established in northern Italy around the 14th century and were often limited to bilateral relations between two states. During this period diplomacy was mostly concerned with trade and border agreements.
Modern diplomatic exchanges are more likely to involve multilateral negotiations between different states. They can also be informal, as is the case when a government sends an envoy to talk with the leader of another country in order to try and resolve a dispute. Diplomacy can also be formally organised and supervised by international bodies such as the UN or international mediation courts and arbitrations.
Diplomacy isn’t just about negotiating between governments, it can also take place between other sites of power and influence such as huge corporations, religious organisations or even terrorist groups. Sometimes, this requires the use of ‘big stick diplomacy’ – such as when President Obama sent an aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea after North Korea’s attack on South Korean ships in 2010 – but it is always done with the aim of trying to avoid war.