Diplomacy for me Today

The first association my mind makes when it hears the word 'diplomacy' today is- the art of negotiations. The ability to achieve high-stake goals with an evidence based approach to the matter by a charismatic and confident person or group. A country is represented by multiple entities; its flag, currency, culture, sitting government, national anthem and sport etc. But individuals residing outside state boundaries carry a notion of representation- whether they want to or not. The power of the individual has been acknowledged since the beginning of civilisation and hence the state desire for diplomats.
They are individuals just like you and me but with skills of persuasion and expertise. That I believe has not and will not change. However, the way they conduct their business, the means they adopt to chief their goals has changed. This I believe is a natural transition as the state threats have changed. With the end of the Cold War the world saw a significant alteration in security threats, with phenomenas such as state-sponsored terrorism and terrorist franchise, we saw the phenomena that is globalisation introduce new depths of interdependence and the explosive emergence of the internet that made the impossible possible and that brought the far near and we saw free trade zones.
With this said the transformation of diplomatic conduct from 'old' to 'new' I believe was called for. The previously stated phenomenas has made it possible for the average Joe to stay up-to-date with the latest international/national news and this has breeded a generation of people that want to be involved, that want to be consulted and that oppose secrecy. This generation has with the help of the internet and the media turned itself into a governmental pressure group and a force to be reckoned with- the Wikileaks showed us that.

The significant increase of summits and international forums come as an answer to the publics demand to remain in the light of whats is going on politically and whether or not the real decisions are being made in the public eye or not I believe is irrelevant- the fact that they exist is the point. Heads of State and their respective governments are making huge efforts and spending a lot of resources to maintain the illusion of public involvement. This does however not change the fact that secrecy and private portals remain at the core of decision making and this I believe will not change.