Barometer for judging modesty

By Prof Dr. Sohail Ansari

Conceived and worded by DR Sohail Ansari (originality of concepts and originality of words).

‘Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way. Isaac Goldberg’
        

·          Decline in modesty has occurred if books once considered pornographic appear only squishy.

Definition: Information Power is a form of power that is based on controlling the information needed by others in order to reach an important goal.

A person who has access to valuable or important information possesses informational power.

Information power

 The ability to influence others based on your control of dissemination of information and your control of dissemination of information that is important to others yet not otherwise easily obtained. 

Diplomacy (from the Greek δίπλωμα, "official document conferring a privilege") is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations^[2] through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics, culture, environment, and human rights. International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians. In an informal or social sense, diplomacy is the employment of tact to gain strategic advantage or to find mutually acceptable solutions to a common challenge, one set of tools being the phrasing of statements in a non-confrontational, or polite manner.

The scholarly discipline of diplomatics, dealing with the study of old documents, derives its name from the same source, but its modern meaning is quite distinct from the activity of diplomacy.

Informal diplomacy

 Informal diplomacy (sometimes called Track II diplomacy) has been used for centuries to communicate between powers. Most diplomats work to recruit figures in other nations who might be able to give informal access to a country's leadership. In some situations, such as between the United States and the People's Republic of China a large amount of diplomacy is done through semi-formal channels using interlocutors such as academic members of thinktanks. This occurs in situations where governments wish to express intentions or to suggest methods of resolving a diplomatic situation, but do not wish to express a formal position.

Track II diplomacy is a specific kind of informal diplomacy, in which non-officials (academic scholars, retired civil and military officials, public figures, social activists) engage in dialogue, with the aim of conflict resolution, or confidence-building. Sometimes governments may fund such Track II exchanges. Sometimes the exchanges may have no connection at all with governments, or may even act in defiance of governments; such exchanges are called Track III.

On some occasion a former holder of an official position continues to carry out an informal diplomatic activity after retirement. In some cases, governments welcome such activity, for example as a means of establishing an initial contact with a hostile state of group without being formally committed. In other cases, however, such informal diplomats seek to promote a political agenda different from that of the government currently in power. Such informal diplomacy is practiced by former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and (to a lesser extent) Bill Clinton and by the former Israeli diplomat and minister Yossi Beilin (see Geneva Initiative).

Soft power

Soft power, sometimes called hearts and minds diplomacy, as defined by Joseph Nye, is the cultivation of relationships, respect, or even admiration from others in order to gain influence, as opposed to more coercive approaches. Often and incorrectly confused with the practice of official diplomacy, soft power refers to non-state, culturally attractive factors that may predispose people to sympathize with a foreign culture based on affinity for its products, such as the American entertainment industry, schools and music.

Economic diplomacy is the use of foreign aid or other types of economic policy as a means to achieve a diplomatic agenda.

Appeasement

Appeasement is a policy of making concessions to an aggressor in order to avoid confrontation; because of its failure to prevent World War 2, appeasement is not considered a legitimate tool of modern diplomacy.

What is open diplomacy?

Open diplomacy is the conducting of diplomatic negotiations and agreements in public, releasing information to the public at various stages in the negotiations.

Backdoor diplomacy is basically conducting politics out of the public view and would be crucial in the territorial disputes between the Philippines and China, where neither nation is willing to admit fault or wants to be seen as backing down or as being inferior to the other.