The Future of Diplomacy

Reflection: 

At this event, distinguished Ambassador Harry Thomas started off by elaborating on an idea prevalent to Mark Twain’s writing style, which was that there is no final draft. In the same way that writing can always be improved, so can foreign policy and politics themselves. Mr. Thomas described that diplomacy is a craft utilizing language skills, the available resources, and creating and cooperating with allies and foreign nations. Diplomats, primarily are the peacekeepers of this process, ensuring the process promotes the development and therefore betterment of international politics and the global economy. Each diplomat plays a small but vital role in maintaining global connectivity and cooperation. 

One major and mostly rhetorical question Mr. Thomas posed was, “Is the United States foreign service equipped to meet new challenges?” In short, his discussion related to this question and my own thoughts and opinions led to the overall conclusion, no. While there are many great resources, the truth is there are not enough qualified diplomats that truly create real change in global affairs and policy. This is largely because they are “small” in terms of the power they actually hold and many feel discouraged when critiqued or debated by their counterparts or fellow diplomats. I personally, understand this to be another reason very little progress can occur at the United States national level. There are so many steps to ensure that many lose motivation, but many simply can’t make it through the twists and turns of the “system”. 

In global politics, it is largely the same. Because policy must support all parties and reflect the desires of all parties, it can be difficult and draining for these diplomats to find an adequate compromise. While this can all seem quite depressing there is some hope. After attending this event I can see some major necessities that will move forward in the coming years, one of which being the necessity to diversify the supply chain, a problem exposed by the wrath of COVID. The great thing about issues like this is that it soon becomes obvious that this is a global need and will benefit all involved parties, so there is definite hope for positive change.