Modern Diplomacy in Southeastern Europe

summary of lecture given at Universitas Danubiana (April 15, 1998)

Modern diplomacy in Europe takes in an enlarged diplomatic arena with an increased number of highly diverse actors who all wish to take part in a common cooperative effort, yet it deals with more regional conflicts than ever in the history of the Cold War. Diplomatic pleasantries are exchanged at the same time as tough negotiation efforts take place. The frameworks of loyalties are no longer clear, because they shift from case to case.

Traditional loyalties are often in collision with current circumstances and national interests, and new cooperation drives are frequently soured by resentment of a party's role in regional conflicts. The pressure that is placed on diplomacy is increasing. The ability of diplomatic negotiators, backed but not always totally covered by strategic advantages of their national assets, or those of the alliances on whose behalf they act, has become the deciding factor of successful conflict prevention, management and, eventually, resolution.

In this context, issues of sovereignty, domestic versus global interests, cooperative versus antagonistic interventionism, and pragmatism versus the principles of international law become particularly pressing.

The cultivation of local partners, successful identification of the critical, and especially newly emerging, elites, with their own sets of interests, and a more active engagement of diplomats in cooperation with local NGOs are some of the crucial principles for successful Balkan diplomacy today.

[1] Research Fellow at the Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade, SCG
Adjunct Senior Lecturer in International Relations, School of International Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of South Australia
Address: Makedonska 25, 11000 Beograd, SCG
e-mail: afatic@beotel.yu

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