The word “diplomacy” is associated with embassies, international relations and high politics. But diplomacy is more than a career; it’s a set of skills we all use. It involves understanding the many facets of human nature that undermine agreement and stoke conflict, and an ability to unpick them with grace and foresight. It involves an appreciation that small lies can serve as guardians of bigger truths, allowing us to get by in a radically imperfect world.
The term comes from the ancient Greek diplomas (a paper folded twice, a license or chart conferring privileges), but grew to refer to any solemn document in which princes granted such favours. Later, as the word came to be conflated with foreign policy, it was identified with the diplomatic channel, the system through which states negotiate and manage their interactions with one another.
Today’s diplomats are not all nobles, but a wide range of individuals, from university students to corporate executives and retirees. They operate out of headquarters called embassies, which are usually located in large cities and have a staff of specialists. Larger missions may also have other places of representation, which are known as consulates. Diplomatic relations are governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and a broader corpus of treaty and customary law.
Henry Wotton remarked around 1604 that an ambassador was “an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.” That caricature has lived on, but in our more pragmatic age we recognize that the aims of diplomacy are more complex than that: to compel, deter or shape behavior without full-scale war. Diplomats do this by using the power of conversation in ways that keep escalation under control.