Diplomatic Talks

Diplomatic talks are conversations between nation-states or international organizations aimed at resolving conflicts, reaching agreements, and establishing treaties. They may be bilateral (one side talking to one), multilateral, or back-channel. Diplomatic negotiations are conducted in a variety of ways including face-to-face, videoconferencing, phone calls, letters, emails, and meetings with delegations. They are based on the principle that states are interested in achieving political resolutions and averting full-scale war. Diplomats use a blend of statecraft and pressure tools like sanctions, cyber disruptions, and legal offensives to influence behavior and shape alliances without the risks of kinetic warfare.

Successful diplomatic negotiations typically produce a formal written instrument, often called a treaty. This may include agreements establishing new cooperative institutions, such as the 1984 Sino-British settlement that restored Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong, or transferring authority, such as the 1915 Franco-Russian peace settlement that ended the Russo-Turkish War and influenced stability in Europe. Negotiations that stall or break down can exacerbate a crisis and carry with them long-term impacts on global relations.

Great diplomats understand that effective communication requires the ability to listen as well as speak. They work all day and night, turning every meal, cocktail, sports event, sight-seeing, or official meeting into a diplomatic engagement with foreign colleagues, truly listening to what they have to say. Their deep understanding of their counterparts allows them to create trusting relationships that can be leveraged in negotiations.

Unlike business negotiations, diplomatic interactions are governed by an interrelated set of normative behaviors and rules agreed to internationally. These include the cultural construct of a state’s “self,” which includes its values, interests, and ideology; the social definition of international interactions as symmetric or asymmetric; and the institutionalization of diplomatic negotiation, in which it is embedded within bodies that can provide it with procedures and facilities.