TRIANGULAR DIPLOMACY RECONSIDERED- 1997 (MEDAC) (original) (raw)

Abstract

This Master's thesis deals with the main achievement of U.S.' diplomacy during the presidency of Richard Nixon, the establishment of triangular network of relations between the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, and the United States itself. Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's national security adviser and later the State Secretary of the United States, was the chief co-conceptualizer of triangular diplomacy, and that is why I backed up my research by his writings and reflections on international relations, diplomacy, and the history of triangular diplomacy itself. The questions I asked myself throughout the work on "Triangular diplomacy reconsidered" are: "What lessons can I, as a diplomat, draw from triangular diplomacy for my own diplomatic career? Can triangular diplomacy teach me anything about the norms which should guide the conduct of diplomats and politicians in general, and which should guide my own diplomatic conduct in particular?" The answers to the above questions, which I provided for myself, and which could be beneficial for any other diplomat as well, are presented in the four parts of my research paper: Realist interpretation of triangular diplomacy, Liberalist interpretation of triangular diplomacy, the 'Conflict Resolution' approach to triangular diplomacy, and the 'Creativity' narrative of triangular diplomacy. Speaking briefly, the first two parts center around the idea that diplomats should be guided by both the norms of realism (power, national interest, national security) and the norms of liberalism (justice, cooperation, adherence to the standards of democracy). Triangular diplomacy was used as a test-case to confirm the idea of a necessity of combining considerations of power with considerations of morality in diplomatic theory and practice. The second two parts of my research deal with an additional set of norms that a diplomat should attempt at materializing. The set includes the norm of an effective communication aiming at reduction and transformation of the potential for conflict, as well as the norm of skilful and creative individual needed in management of diplomatic relations, and in actual implementation of the norms to which diplomacy should give its voice, as referred to above. I also described at some length Kissinger's views on diplomacy, foreign policy making, and international relations, to which I wholeheartedly subscribe. Finally, in my conclusion I proposed a few ideas on the ways in which my analysis could be extended and applied to a number of practical and theoretical issues that diplomats as well as theoreticians of diplomacy must address.

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