Peaceful contacts between independent groups have always, since the start of
human time, required the kind of representational activity which has come to
be known as diplomacy. In its modern form – that is, throughout the last halfmillennium
or so – diplomacy has retained a broadly constant character and
given rise to a burgeoning diplomatic profession. Like all professions, it has
spawned its own terminology and categories; and inasmuch as its activity concerned
relations between proud and jealous sovereigns, later replaced by no
less proud and jealous sovereign states, diplomatic language has been finely
honed and carries very precise meanings. It also bears the marks of having
found expression in the languages of civilizations beyond those of the West.
Furthermore – and again accentuated by the very sensitive nature of this particular
representational task – issues of protocol and precedence have been of
considerable significance, and have made their distinctive contribution to
diplomatic terms. Thus it occasions no surprise at all that diplomacy has, over
the centuries, developed a lexicon of specialized words and of other technical
usages which it necessarily employs. And as diplomats routinely deal not just
with matters of policy but also with the many legal issues which arise between
states, these aspects of their work have also made their marks in the diplomatic
vocabulary.
During the last half-century, however, the day-to-day language of diplomacy
has been enormously augmented as a result of the quantitative revolution
which the activity has undergone. The agenda of diplomacy has widened
hugely, as almost everything (it seems) has become a legitimate subject of
international discussion. The economic connections of states, in particular,
have become much more extensive and elaborate. The development of
common bilateral and multilateral standards in a variety of fields has meant
that the legal framework within which international relations take place has
greatly expanded; and the lengthened jurisdictional reach of states, made possible
by technological advance, has also added markedly to the growth of
international law. International organizations have multiplied, often being
the venue for the extra diplomatic business which the just-mentioned changes
have generated. And each of them, as is to be expected, has contributed its
own layer to the terminology in which diplomatic intercourse is customarily
carried on. The essence of diplomacy is unchanged: as always, it has to do
with promoting and justifying states’ interests. But in content and expression,
as in busyness and complexity, it has grown way beyond its condition earlier
in the century.