DIPLOMACY
HISTORY OF DIPLOMACY: BEFORE THE MODERN ERA
DEFINITION
The institutions and processes by which actors on the international scene represent themselves and
their interests to one another.
10 POINTS ON THE HISTORY OF DIPLOMACY
1. Not just a History of International Relations: history of mechanisms, representations, mediums
2. Broader than a History of Foreign Policy: how diplomats behave within, outside of the analytical
scope
3. Diplomacy as Regulating Mechanism of the Society of States: evolving over time.
4. A Social Institution Reflecting the World in Which it Operates: religion was very important, today
its still very important but not in diplomacy.
5. Different “Diplomatic Worlds” in One World?: difference in the way they see the world., ex.
China.
6. No Linear History Towards a Particular Outcome.
7. Diplomacy as a Cumulative Learning Process (Trial and Error)
8. Diplomacy as The Most Complex Institution (Wight)
9. How do Notions About Diplomacy Travel Geographically?
10. Can Awareness of Diplomacy be Taken for Granted?
NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR DIPLOMACY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
1. Rise of Urban Culture
2. Spread of Literacy
3. The Development of Administrative Capacity
4. Telecommunication
EXAMPLE: LETTER FROM EBLA (SYRIA) TO HAMAZI (IRAN)
o One of the earliest known examples of international diplomacy
o Highlights the complex trade and diplomatic networks connecting Syria with regions to the east
o The letter is structured to include a formal greeting, mention of gifts, and a request for, or
exchange of, goods (such as equids/donkeys) Diplomatic Protocol
HEYDAY OF ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN DIPLOMACY – COHEN
1. Use of envoys (what were their main functions?)
2. Working relationship between kingdoms (interdependence)
3. Recognition of equal status (polycultural)
4. Lingua franca (what are other options in diplomacy?)
5. Embryonic foreign policy bureaucracy
6. Archiving diplomatic documents, incl agreements/treaties
7. Protocol (what purposes does it serve?)
8. Exchange of gifts
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN DIPLOMACY: SO, WHAT?
1. Diplomacy is not a Western invention.
2. Diplomatic practice thrives in a polycultural environment.
3. In the beginning, trade was already at the heart of diplomacy.
, KEY POINTS: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN DIPLOMACY – COHEN
o Diplomatic messages and treaties have been found by archaeologists in the Middle East dating
back to around 2500 BC (period when urban civilization emerged)
o Diplomacy took the form of the exchange of letters and gifts carried by royal envoys; a body of
customary law and protocol governed it.
o Kings used diplomacy to promote their personal relations and the interests of the city-states
over which they ruled.
DIPLOMACY IN ANCIENT GREECE
1. Diplomacy in a single cultural context.
2. Rivalry among city-states (emphasis on strategy, no trust).
3. Separate units do not see themselves as entities in a larger international structure, system, or
society.
4. Endemic instability instead of durable relationships.
5. Imperial pattern of relations: dominance of the powerful states, punishment of the weak or
disobedient.
AS DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENT
1. Negotiations were not secret (ex. Woodrow Wilson’s New Diplomacy with ‘open covenants,
openly arrived at’).
2. No resident ambassadors but ad-hoc special envoys.
3. Ambassadors did not have a mandate for negotiation.
4. Envoys represented different domestic political factions at home.
5. Diplomatic envoys were mistrusted at home and abroad.
6. Rhetorical skills seemed to matter more than anything else.
7. Special envoys accountable to the people (risked punishment).
8. No clear conceptual distinction between domestic and foreign relations.
9. Public diplomacy avant la lettre
10. Democratic decision-making was found to interfere with the effectiveness of diplomacy.
DEMOSTHENES (384-322 BCE) ON DIPLOMATIC METHODS IN ANCIENT GREECE
o Ambassadors have no battleships at their disposal, or heavy infantry, or fortresses; their
weapons are words and opportunities.
o In important transactions opportunities are fleeting once they are missed they cannot be
recovered.
o It is a greater offence to deprive a democracy of an opportunity than it would be thus to deprive
an oligarchy or autocracy
o You do not seem conscious of the elaborate methods by which your country is slowly being
undermined
DIPLOMATIC EXPERIMENTATION IN GREECE: ‘PROXENOI’
o Influential citizens in ancient Greece who served as diplomatic representatives for another city-
state (polis) within their own city.
They functioned as honorary consuls, fostering good relations, offering protection to
foreigners, and facilitating trade, often rewarded with privileges such as tax exemptions.
Native citizens of the host state representing the ‘sending state.’
Peacetime task: trade promotion
The proxenos as diplomat: involved in pre-negotiation.
A very limited mandate
A degree of diplomatic immunity
Consul-like representatives
,ANCIENT ROMAN DIPLOMACY
1. No reciprocity in relations with ‘inferior’ polities.
2. Good faith: ‘fides Romana’
3. No lingua franca, but interpreters.
4. Safe conduct, but little respect for envoys.
5. Importance of protocol in Rome’s imperial context.
6. Centralization of power in diplomacy.
THOUSAND YEARS OF “BYZANTINE METHODS” IN DIPLOMACY (5-1500 BCE)
1. Diplomacy was secondary to Warfare.
2. Diplomacy of central importance to keeping a large empire and expensive.
3. The ‘idea of Empire’ was not universally shared and did not generate the required cohesion and
loyalty.
4. Imperial ceremonial was important, e.g. on occasion of visits to the emperor.
5. The complexity of foreign political operations required a bureaucracy for foreign affairs.
6. ‘Byzantine methods’ as psychological mechanism (an intelligence-driven system focusing on
the survival and dominance of the empire through non-military means, including bribery,
strategic marriage alliances, and playing enemies against each other)
KEY POINTS: CLASSICAL DIPLOMACY – COHEN
o Ancient Greek diplomatic practice influenced later European thought via the classics but was
crude compared with Persian diplomacy, mostly serving parochial needs.
o Roman diplomacy at the height of empire was not concerned with negotiating agreements on an
equal basis but with imposing its will and managing client states.
o As their empire declined, the Romans increasingly resorted to negotiation and conciliation. This
more flexible tradition served the successor Byzantine Empire well for a thousand years,
contributing to its survival.
THE DIPLOMACY OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC: COSMOPOLITAN, PRAGMATIC
1. Trade as the principal driving force of diplomacy
2. Interests of the state as guiding principle of diplomacy (no ideology).
3. Relations across cultures, based on different norms. (“capitulations”)
4. Diplomacy represented the interests of different factions within Venice (no consensus on the
‘national interest’).
5. No perception of an international system or society of states.
ORGANIZATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH: A VENETIAN NATIONAL DIPLOMATIC SYSTEM
1. First diplomatic service professionalization
2. First diplomatic state archive systematic information storage
3. Ongoing information gathering continuous activity.
4. Detailed reporting whole-of-government interest
5. Measures against ‘going native’ or ‘localities’ rotational posting.
RENAISSANCE DIPLOMACY: MAKING A COMPLEX INSTITUTION
1. Diplomacy as Necessity: the management of change
2. Experience of Balance of Power: international politics on a peninsula
3. Perception of Interdependence: diplomacy as nucleus of collective system
4. Systemization of Thought: logic and grammar of politics and diplomacy (Machiavelli, Il Principe
and Guicciardini, Ricordi)
5. Diplomacy as Representation: the rise of the resident Ambassador (mid-15th)
, 6. A Crowded and Complex Diplomatic Field with Overlapping Authorities: Permanent and
Occasional Diplomats
7. Diplomacy as a Permanent Activity: continuous negotiation
8. Multiple Functions: awareness of diplomacy’s multidimensionality
9. The Nursery of Early Modern European Diplomacy?
THE RENAISSANCE AMBASSADOR - FLETCHER
o The Renaissance resident ambassador was not a passive news hunter, but an active, versatile
political actor operating in a gray area between official representation and personal
maneuvering.
His effectiveness depended on networking, prudence, dissimulation, and performativity,
and on his ability to strategically combine both personas.
o The Renaissance marked a shift from ad hoc missions to permanent residences.
o Ambassadors acquired a dual persona: they embodied their sovereign, but also acted "as if they
were their own."
THE TREATIES ABOUT THE OFFICE OF THE AMBASSADOR
o Barbaro (1490s): first explicit theorist of the resident ambassador; defines them as someone
mandated by a monarch or republic.
o Dolet (1541): emphasizes instructions, duty, and peace, but recognizes that ambassadors also
negotiate wars, alliances, and marriages.
o Machiavelli (1522): focuses on reputation, reporting, and the importance of making an
impression.
o Grassi: ceremonial manual of the papal curia; distinguishes between types of ambassadors and
recognizes the existence of residents.
o Important process: stricter definition of who may send an ambassador only sovereign states,
with exceptions (Bologna, Knights Hospitaller).
THE ROLE OF THE RESIDENT
o The Resident as 'Fixer'
The resident is a key figure: arranging accommodation, writing introductions, safe
conducts, maintaining social networks.
Local knowledge is crucial: "Many others who know the customs and style of the court..."
Language skills (Latin + Italian) became increasingly important; language use could be
politically charged.
o Newsgathering and Negotiation
Traditional image: resident news, special ambassadors negotiating.
Nuances by Flechter:
In Rome, residents had substantial negotiating power, especially in ecclesiastical
matters (benefits, dispensations).
Henry VIII's instruction to his resident, John Clerk, demonstrates active
responsibility: "Not only to petition and execute but also to be vigilant and see that
nothing is implied that is prejudicial to us."
Residents were essential in complex negotiations such as marriage dispensations (e.g.,
Henry VIII, Margaret Tudor).
o Consistories, Councils, and Conclaves
Residents played a role in:
Consistories: limited role, but crucial for information and lobbying.
Church councils: representatives of many states; potentially considerable
influence.
Conclaves: ambassadors nearby and in their homes, influenced cardinals through
networks, and used informal channels (e.g., messages scrawled on silver plates).
Boundaries were porous: functional and informal personas intermingled.
THE AUTONOMY OF THE RESIDENT
o Due to slow communication, residents had to make their own decisions.
HISTORY OF DIPLOMACY: BEFORE THE MODERN ERA
DEFINITION
The institutions and processes by which actors on the international scene represent themselves and
their interests to one another.
10 POINTS ON THE HISTORY OF DIPLOMACY
1. Not just a History of International Relations: history of mechanisms, representations, mediums
2. Broader than a History of Foreign Policy: how diplomats behave within, outside of the analytical
scope
3. Diplomacy as Regulating Mechanism of the Society of States: evolving over time.
4. A Social Institution Reflecting the World in Which it Operates: religion was very important, today
its still very important but not in diplomacy.
5. Different “Diplomatic Worlds” in One World?: difference in the way they see the world., ex.
China.
6. No Linear History Towards a Particular Outcome.
7. Diplomacy as a Cumulative Learning Process (Trial and Error)
8. Diplomacy as The Most Complex Institution (Wight)
9. How do Notions About Diplomacy Travel Geographically?
10. Can Awareness of Diplomacy be Taken for Granted?
NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR DIPLOMACY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
1. Rise of Urban Culture
2. Spread of Literacy
3. The Development of Administrative Capacity
4. Telecommunication
EXAMPLE: LETTER FROM EBLA (SYRIA) TO HAMAZI (IRAN)
o One of the earliest known examples of international diplomacy
o Highlights the complex trade and diplomatic networks connecting Syria with regions to the east
o The letter is structured to include a formal greeting, mention of gifts, and a request for, or
exchange of, goods (such as equids/donkeys) Diplomatic Protocol
HEYDAY OF ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN DIPLOMACY – COHEN
1. Use of envoys (what were their main functions?)
2. Working relationship between kingdoms (interdependence)
3. Recognition of equal status (polycultural)
4. Lingua franca (what are other options in diplomacy?)
5. Embryonic foreign policy bureaucracy
6. Archiving diplomatic documents, incl agreements/treaties
7. Protocol (what purposes does it serve?)
8. Exchange of gifts
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN DIPLOMACY: SO, WHAT?
1. Diplomacy is not a Western invention.
2. Diplomatic practice thrives in a polycultural environment.
3. In the beginning, trade was already at the heart of diplomacy.
, KEY POINTS: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN DIPLOMACY – COHEN
o Diplomatic messages and treaties have been found by archaeologists in the Middle East dating
back to around 2500 BC (period when urban civilization emerged)
o Diplomacy took the form of the exchange of letters and gifts carried by royal envoys; a body of
customary law and protocol governed it.
o Kings used diplomacy to promote their personal relations and the interests of the city-states
over which they ruled.
DIPLOMACY IN ANCIENT GREECE
1. Diplomacy in a single cultural context.
2. Rivalry among city-states (emphasis on strategy, no trust).
3. Separate units do not see themselves as entities in a larger international structure, system, or
society.
4. Endemic instability instead of durable relationships.
5. Imperial pattern of relations: dominance of the powerful states, punishment of the weak or
disobedient.
AS DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENT
1. Negotiations were not secret (ex. Woodrow Wilson’s New Diplomacy with ‘open covenants,
openly arrived at’).
2. No resident ambassadors but ad-hoc special envoys.
3. Ambassadors did not have a mandate for negotiation.
4. Envoys represented different domestic political factions at home.
5. Diplomatic envoys were mistrusted at home and abroad.
6. Rhetorical skills seemed to matter more than anything else.
7. Special envoys accountable to the people (risked punishment).
8. No clear conceptual distinction between domestic and foreign relations.
9. Public diplomacy avant la lettre
10. Democratic decision-making was found to interfere with the effectiveness of diplomacy.
DEMOSTHENES (384-322 BCE) ON DIPLOMATIC METHODS IN ANCIENT GREECE
o Ambassadors have no battleships at their disposal, or heavy infantry, or fortresses; their
weapons are words and opportunities.
o In important transactions opportunities are fleeting once they are missed they cannot be
recovered.
o It is a greater offence to deprive a democracy of an opportunity than it would be thus to deprive
an oligarchy or autocracy
o You do not seem conscious of the elaborate methods by which your country is slowly being
undermined
DIPLOMATIC EXPERIMENTATION IN GREECE: ‘PROXENOI’
o Influential citizens in ancient Greece who served as diplomatic representatives for another city-
state (polis) within their own city.
They functioned as honorary consuls, fostering good relations, offering protection to
foreigners, and facilitating trade, often rewarded with privileges such as tax exemptions.
Native citizens of the host state representing the ‘sending state.’
Peacetime task: trade promotion
The proxenos as diplomat: involved in pre-negotiation.
A very limited mandate
A degree of diplomatic immunity
Consul-like representatives
,ANCIENT ROMAN DIPLOMACY
1. No reciprocity in relations with ‘inferior’ polities.
2. Good faith: ‘fides Romana’
3. No lingua franca, but interpreters.
4. Safe conduct, but little respect for envoys.
5. Importance of protocol in Rome’s imperial context.
6. Centralization of power in diplomacy.
THOUSAND YEARS OF “BYZANTINE METHODS” IN DIPLOMACY (5-1500 BCE)
1. Diplomacy was secondary to Warfare.
2. Diplomacy of central importance to keeping a large empire and expensive.
3. The ‘idea of Empire’ was not universally shared and did not generate the required cohesion and
loyalty.
4. Imperial ceremonial was important, e.g. on occasion of visits to the emperor.
5. The complexity of foreign political operations required a bureaucracy for foreign affairs.
6. ‘Byzantine methods’ as psychological mechanism (an intelligence-driven system focusing on
the survival and dominance of the empire through non-military means, including bribery,
strategic marriage alliances, and playing enemies against each other)
KEY POINTS: CLASSICAL DIPLOMACY – COHEN
o Ancient Greek diplomatic practice influenced later European thought via the classics but was
crude compared with Persian diplomacy, mostly serving parochial needs.
o Roman diplomacy at the height of empire was not concerned with negotiating agreements on an
equal basis but with imposing its will and managing client states.
o As their empire declined, the Romans increasingly resorted to negotiation and conciliation. This
more flexible tradition served the successor Byzantine Empire well for a thousand years,
contributing to its survival.
THE DIPLOMACY OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC: COSMOPOLITAN, PRAGMATIC
1. Trade as the principal driving force of diplomacy
2. Interests of the state as guiding principle of diplomacy (no ideology).
3. Relations across cultures, based on different norms. (“capitulations”)
4. Diplomacy represented the interests of different factions within Venice (no consensus on the
‘national interest’).
5. No perception of an international system or society of states.
ORGANIZATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH: A VENETIAN NATIONAL DIPLOMATIC SYSTEM
1. First diplomatic service professionalization
2. First diplomatic state archive systematic information storage
3. Ongoing information gathering continuous activity.
4. Detailed reporting whole-of-government interest
5. Measures against ‘going native’ or ‘localities’ rotational posting.
RENAISSANCE DIPLOMACY: MAKING A COMPLEX INSTITUTION
1. Diplomacy as Necessity: the management of change
2. Experience of Balance of Power: international politics on a peninsula
3. Perception of Interdependence: diplomacy as nucleus of collective system
4. Systemization of Thought: logic and grammar of politics and diplomacy (Machiavelli, Il Principe
and Guicciardini, Ricordi)
5. Diplomacy as Representation: the rise of the resident Ambassador (mid-15th)
, 6. A Crowded and Complex Diplomatic Field with Overlapping Authorities: Permanent and
Occasional Diplomats
7. Diplomacy as a Permanent Activity: continuous negotiation
8. Multiple Functions: awareness of diplomacy’s multidimensionality
9. The Nursery of Early Modern European Diplomacy?
THE RENAISSANCE AMBASSADOR - FLETCHER
o The Renaissance resident ambassador was not a passive news hunter, but an active, versatile
political actor operating in a gray area between official representation and personal
maneuvering.
His effectiveness depended on networking, prudence, dissimulation, and performativity,
and on his ability to strategically combine both personas.
o The Renaissance marked a shift from ad hoc missions to permanent residences.
o Ambassadors acquired a dual persona: they embodied their sovereign, but also acted "as if they
were their own."
THE TREATIES ABOUT THE OFFICE OF THE AMBASSADOR
o Barbaro (1490s): first explicit theorist of the resident ambassador; defines them as someone
mandated by a monarch or republic.
o Dolet (1541): emphasizes instructions, duty, and peace, but recognizes that ambassadors also
negotiate wars, alliances, and marriages.
o Machiavelli (1522): focuses on reputation, reporting, and the importance of making an
impression.
o Grassi: ceremonial manual of the papal curia; distinguishes between types of ambassadors and
recognizes the existence of residents.
o Important process: stricter definition of who may send an ambassador only sovereign states,
with exceptions (Bologna, Knights Hospitaller).
THE ROLE OF THE RESIDENT
o The Resident as 'Fixer'
The resident is a key figure: arranging accommodation, writing introductions, safe
conducts, maintaining social networks.
Local knowledge is crucial: "Many others who know the customs and style of the court..."
Language skills (Latin + Italian) became increasingly important; language use could be
politically charged.
o Newsgathering and Negotiation
Traditional image: resident news, special ambassadors negotiating.
Nuances by Flechter:
In Rome, residents had substantial negotiating power, especially in ecclesiastical
matters (benefits, dispensations).
Henry VIII's instruction to his resident, John Clerk, demonstrates active
responsibility: "Not only to petition and execute but also to be vigilant and see that
nothing is implied that is prejudicial to us."
Residents were essential in complex negotiations such as marriage dispensations (e.g.,
Henry VIII, Margaret Tudor).
o Consistories, Councils, and Conclaves
Residents played a role in:
Consistories: limited role, but crucial for information and lobbying.
Church councils: representatives of many states; potentially considerable
influence.
Conclaves: ambassadors nearby and in their homes, influenced cardinals through
networks, and used informal channels (e.g., messages scrawled on silver plates).
Boundaries were porous: functional and informal personas intermingled.
THE AUTONOMY OF THE RESIDENT
o Due to slow communication, residents had to make their own decisions.
