DIPLOMACY
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INTRODUCTION
According to Kissinger, (1994), diplomacy is how international relations are conducted through art and customs. International relations can be conducted by negotiations of alliances such as treaties through bilateral negotiations, multilateral negotiations, states, and also between organizations that are internationally recognized. Therefore, many countries globally recognize the purpose of diplomacy as that of establishing procedures used to manipulate the decision-making and behavioral patterns of other countries through the application of dialogue and negotiations among other methods that do not cause war and violence. The origin of the recent time diplomatic customs is the post-Renaissance state system of Europe. In the 18th century, diplomacy was only purposed in the conduction of bilateral negotiations but in the 20th century, Europe adopted other diplomatic activities which led to the expansion of diplomacy. Since then, diplomacy has been part and parcel of summit meetings, international conferences, and other major inter-continental activities (Kissinger, 1994).
The theme of the Kissinger Book
Diplomacy is a book that was written by a renowned world-class diplomat known as Henry Kissinger. The book majorly talks about diplomacy from the historical point of view and also from the first-hand experiences and interpretations of the personal accounts that Henry Kissinger went through while negotiating with leaders across the world. In this book, diplomatic art together with the balance of power are described to be the contributing factors to todays diplomatic world that we dwell in. the size and the state of the United States of America not having diplomatic relations with other countries has historically protected its citizens. According to Kissinger, 1994), Americans have for the longest time in history also enjoyed diplomatic protection from their perfectionism and lack of trust in the way diplomacy was carried out in the old world. As a result of this, the United States of America has stood out in the way they operate foreign policies.
In my opinion, the United States of America has been ambitious in controlling the world’s economy, together with being given the core mandate to handle diplomacy across the world. Therefore, the supremacy battle between the United States of America and other foreign nations has been the main contributing factor to the unique foreign policy-making by the United States of America basing these policies according to their wishes as opposed to the reality. To illustrate my opinion, the endorsement of the two approaches on diplomacy by the unites states of America are explained. The use of isolation and missionary strategies by the United States of America appeared to contradict but also portrayed the idealism in the running of their government than other nations such as France, Great Britain, and Australia (Kissinger, 1994).
Cold war period (marshall plan, containment policies)
The cold war began immediately after the demise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when armies with a common cause deeply stood in Germany ready to fight for Okinawa. The fight for Okinawa acted as the introduction to the battle that had been planned on invading the main islands of Japan and thus the beginning of the cold war. After Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s expected death on 12th April 1945 due to pressures associated with the running of the government, Harry S. Truman took over and tried to continue with his predecessor’s legacy to hold the coalition together. However, Europe became the battlefield for the Soviet Union and the United States of America which were the two giants that faced off each other. According to Kissinger, (1994), the initial stages of the cold war were supervised by president Truman who also led to the development of the containment policy which was expected to win the war. One of the guidance in the containment policy was to replace the four policemen policy with a set of coalitions that had never been experienced before. President Truman went ahead to sponsor the Marshall Plan together with the Point Four Program to recover and develop distant societies through the devotion of American resources and technology (Kissinger, 1994).
In my opinion, the move by President Truman to replace his predecessor’s four men policy with a set of coalitions through the containment policy was of significant effect towards the solving of the cold war that was being experienced in Europe. Additionally, the sponsoring of the Marshall Plan and the Point Four Program significantly built a diplomatic relationship between Europe and the United States of America since America devoted their resources and technology to Europe to help them in the development and recovery of distant societies (Kissinger, 1994).
United States of America and China
In a study conducted by Cooper et al. (2013), the main actors involved in global diplomatic practices include states located in the Atlantic, Asia, and the pacific. These states include China Brazil and India which have already adjusted their achievements to those of present-day democracy such as summit meetings and international conferences. China is one of the states which has demonstrated significant potential in terms of economic change in areas that are directly or indirectly related to climatic changes, bilateral and multilateral trade treaties. Cooper et al. (2013) state that many people have been made less fearful of the Western world power due to the boundaries developed in Afghanistan and Iraq to the United States of America and NATO power.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, my opinion on the diplomatic relationship between China and the United States of America resonates around America’s capacity to diplomatically lead other foreign nations. I think that the Westerners and particularly the United States of America have significantly lost their once-dominant capability of coming up with rules and standards to be followed by the whole world. To illustrate this, a study conducted on the worldwide diplomatic missions suggests that China has been on the diplomatic rise since 2016 to 2017 when it was in the third and second position respectively behind the United States of America Cooper et al. (2013).
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