Diplomacy beyond words (1) --- It is not easy to fight against prejudices and unfair accusations.

I believe that we should make a clearer distinction between diplomacy in the literal, concrete sense (“the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a country's representatives abroad”) and diplomacy in the figurative, more abstract sense (“the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and tactful way”).

Obviously, the misconceptions, the prejudices, the clichés come from ignorance. There are no in-built features of diplomacy or inadequacy of diplomats that make the language used in diplomacy empty. The language used in diplomacy is a tool for the diplomats, is not diplomacy per se.

Source author: Petru Dumitriu PetruD@diplomacy.edu