Ten principles of operational diplomacy: a proposed framework.

• Author: Kreutzer, Paul
• Position: Report

Introduction

The operational level of foreign policy is the essential crucible for the formulation of diplomatic approaches to international challenges. This article identifies ten principles for conducting operational level diplomacy to help practitioners frame the development and implementation of successful foreign policies. Diplomacy--the use of negotiations to advance the international interests of a state--continues to play an important role in the adjustment of state interests and societies to contemporary challenges. The principles proposed below to strengthen operational diplomacy are: national interest, credibility, clarity, comprehensiveness, understanding, perceptiveness, circumspection, confidence-building, decisiveness, and perseverance.

Diplomacy is defined by the U.S. Department of State as "the art and practice of conducting negotiations and maintaining relations between nations; skill in handling affairs without arousing animosity." (1) Another recent definition from Indian General KA Muthanna described diplomacy as "the conduct of international relations by negotiation and engendering goodwill and mutual trust rather than by force, propaganda, or recourse to law." (11) Among these and other classic definitions of diplomacy are a common theme: the essence of diplomacy is communication between different parties with the goal of reaching agreement on an issue or on a basis for state interaction. The proposed ten principles are intended to contribute to diplomatic practice and to the development of effective diplomatic approaches to achieving foreign policy objectives.

The operational level of diplomacy

This examination of diplomatic principles focuses at the operational level, that is, the level in foreign policy communities where practitioners plan, design, and conduct diplomacy to achieve objectives in the strategic national interest. In military affairs, the operational level is crucial in the execution of military tasks, and is the focus of significant doctrine and education. According the U.S. Department of Defense, the operational level "links the tactical employment of forces to national and military strategic objectives." (111) The operational level in foreign policy melds strategic objectives with diplomatic means and resources. Operational level diplomacy may be described as deliberate activities that link the employment of diplomatic assets to national foreign policy objectives. This level, just under that of strategic decision making and closely connected to the tactics and techniques of negotiation, is sufficiently distinct that introducing some consistent principles may be useful to operational diplomatic practitioners. The 10 principles for operational diplomacy serve as a framework for foreign policy implementation at the level where diplomatic practitioners work toward the accomplishment of specific national goals by negotiated means.

Recent approaches to framing principles in foreign policy

The complex arenas of American diplomatic engagement since 2001--often in unstable, nontraditional environments--resulted in several new efforts to describe principles for specialized civil-military interaction. Principles have been developed for counterinsurgency and post-conflict stabilization, but relatively few proposals addresses the challenges of traditional diplomatic operations. The defense field, with a well-institutionalized system of doctrine and training, recognizes nine core Principles of War, and an expanded list of 12 principles of joint operations, to aid U.S. military planners conceptualize full-spectrum military operations. In the course of the U.S.-led counterinsurgency in Iraq, Australian military officer and analyst David Kilcullen's "Twenty-eight Articles" proposed...