The Importance Of Diplomatic Diplomacy

The past fifty years of world history, the American people have witnessed drastic change from the fall of the Soviet Empire and the end of the Cold War, to 9/11 and the destruction of the World Trade Center. These events were driven and responded by foreign policy advisors in the U.S. who utilized a number of instruments available to them including: conventional diplomacy, economic, and military power in order to create the desired outcome. However, it takes much more to navigate and traverse the intricacies of negotiating with foreign nations, whether they be adversaries or friends. The United States has a history of foreign policy blunders, the most notable of them being its military failures such as the Bay of Pigs, and Vietnam which many

Diplomacy does not rely on demonizing the other state, and although it is easier to do so, diplomatic negotiations can be far more reliable and leaves wider possibilities for future negotiations, compared to aggression. Diplomatic negotiation can be performed in a number of different ways such as: Summit diplomacy, conference diplomacy, UN diplomacy, public diplomacy, and even digital diplomacy. The latter two of this list are perhaps the most unreliable, and tend to cause issues when done improperly. Henry Kissinger’s policy of détente, allowed for negotiations to open up between the Soviet Union and U.S. powers. Rather than denying that the Soviet Union was a legitimate power, Kissinger, the realist he was, accomplished in singing the Helsinki Accords in 1975, and later the SALT I treaties, recognizing and treating the Soviet Union as a legitimate communist government. Deterrence and détente proved to be a useful strategy in opening negotiations for a number of years before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, an action which made the Nixon administration nervous due to their assets in Iran. The Obama administration has also used diplomatic negotiations to their advantage, especially in the case of Iran and the recent nuclear deal signed in 2015. The deal prohibits Iran from using its nuclear program for the creation of weapons of mass destruction, and limits the program exclusive to nuclear power so that the country may export more oil. The deal allows for Iran to maintain its nuclear program, but also puts Washington at ease with the knowledge that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons would be unlikely if the deal is