Page 188 - Encyclopedia Of World History

538 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday
but never remembers her age. • Robert Frost (1874–1963)

attempted to make a secret deal with Italian dictator Ben- as it presents world leaders in a positive light. But diplo-
ito Mussolini to end the crisis. Such dealings would have macy will also increasingly function in the context of
been routine in the nineteenth century. However, details international multi-lateral organizations such as the
of the agreement, which would have given Mussolini North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the G-7 con-
most of Ethiopia, were leaked to the press, forcing the res- cert of the world’s economic powers, the European
ignations of both Hoare and Laval. Union and the United Nations.
Paul W. Doerr
Summit Diplomacy
The approach of war in 1938 saw the emergence of sum- See also Berlin Conference; Cold War; Congress of
mit diplomacy. Heads of state had been expressing frus- Vienna; Containment; Détente; Treaty of Versailles
tration with what they felt was the plodding pace of
diplomatic activity. Soon after taking power, Neville
Chamberlain (1869–1940), prime minister of Britain Further Reading
from 1937 to 1940, said that he wanted to “stir up” the Albrecht-Carrié, R. (1973). A diplomatic history of Europe since the Con-
gress of Vienna. New York: Harper and Row.
British foreign office. Modern communications and trans- Craig, G., & Gilbert, F. (1953). The diplomats. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
portation meant that leaders could conduct their own University Press.
Crankshaw, E. (1981). Bismarck. New York: Viking.
diplomacy, and no longer had to rely on professionals. In
Doerr P. (1998). British foreign policy, 1919–1939: Hope for the best,
September 1938, Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany prepare for the worst. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
three times to meet with Hitler in a bid to defuse the cri- Jonsson, C., & Langhorne, R. (Eds). (2004). Diplomacy (3 vols.). Lon-
don: Sage.
sis over Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain’s actions created a Kissinger, H. (1994). Diplomacy. New York: Simon and Schuster.
sensation at a time when air travel was still the preserve Lammers, D. (1971). Fascism, Communism and the foreign office. Jour-
nal of Contemporary History, 6(2), 66–86.
of the wealthy elite. Chamberlain’s efforts proved futile,
Lawford,V. (1963). Bound for diplomacy. London: John Murray.
but face-to-face meetings of leaders, known as summit Machiavelli, N. (1979). The Portable Machiavelli (P. Bondanella & M.
diplomacy, proved an enduring innovation. The Allied Musa, Eds. & Trans.). New York: Penguin.
Mattingly, G. (2004). Renaissance diplomacy. New York: Dover.
leaders met repeatedly during World War II to coordinate Mayer A. (1970). Political origins of the new diplomacy. New York:
their efforts. Summit meetings between presidents of the Vintage.
McKay, D., & Scott, H. (1983). The rise of the great powers 1648–1815.
United States and Soviet leaders became a regular feature
London: Longman.
of the Cold War. During the early 1970s the constant Nicolson, H. (1939). Diplomacy. London: Thornton Butterworth.
movements of United States secretary of state Henry Rich, N. (1992). Great power diplomacy, 1814–1814. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Kissinger between Middle Eastern capitals, in an attempt Sharp, A. (1976).The foreign office in eclipse. History, 61, 198–218.
to resolve the Arab–Israeli conflict, gave rise to the phrase
“shuttle diplomacy.”

Diplomacy in the
New Century Disease and
Summit diplomacy remains the preferred form of diplo-
macy for world leaders at the dawn of the twenty-first Nutrition
century. Foreign ministries continue to debate foreign pol-
icy issues and offer advice to heads of state.Ambassadors uman infectious disease depends on the interaction
are less important than in the past but still play a key role Hof humans with parasites—prions, viruses, bacte-
in the functioning of diplomacy. Summit diplomacy will ria, protozoa, macroscopic worms, and others—that
continue to dominate the future of diplomacy, especially must survive, replicate, and disseminate themselves if they