This treaty is regarded as the beginning of modern and secular state formation in diplomatic history. Westphalia Treaty can be considered as the first international conference of the European states which ended Thirty Years War between Habsburgs and Bourbons in 1648. With this treaty, division of Holy Roman Empire into more than three hundred principalities was recognized and the position of France in the European continent strengthened. After Westphalia Treaty, formation of independent states in Europe accelerated.

The basic reason for the need to establish diplomatic relations between Italian city states was the limited amount of lands to rule. Therefore, they had to solve their problems peacefully in such an environment prone to warfare. Moreover, the lack of outside pressure on the Italian peninsula and the freedom of city states to conduct closer relations resulted in the formation of modern diplomacy with its institutions and instruments. Venice was the forerunner of this process and the main objectives of its rulers were self-preservation and development of their state.

It is a system established in Europe with the Vienna Congress on the basis of balance of power strategy to protect status quo after Napoleonic Wars between 1800 and 1815. In the early 1800s, France under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had declared his empire with the fall of Republican regime in France, was fighting with certain European states in order to expand its territories especially eastwards. With the defeat of Napoleon in Russia and Great Britain, European states decided to establish such a system in order to prevent the birth and rule of Napoleon-like figures and states. Concert of Europe system worked until the First World War (WWI) despite some regional conflicts and wars. However, with the polarization in the early 1900s, this system was replaced by alliances and divisions that paved the way for WWI.

League of Nations was the predecessor of the United Nations which was established by the victorious states of WWI on January 10, 1920. The Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States were the main actors in this system. It was established to protect world peace and solve problems among states. However, due to its internal problems like strategies and policies of its main actors towards the losers of WWI, it became futile less than two decades. With its inability to prevent Italian invasion of Abyssinia, Japanese invasion of Manchuria and Nazi invasion of Austria and Czechoslovakia, the prestige of the institution dramatically decreased and these developments resulted in the eruption of WWII.

• Bilateral diplomacy
• Multilateral diplomacy
• Summit diplomacy

Bilateral diplomacy

Because secular nation states began to form and diplomacy became the main tool in conducting inter-state relations.

After WWI, bilateral diplomacy lost its hegemony in the international relations. The severity of WWI and its effects on political, economic, social and military structures of all states in the globe required multiparty solutions to global problems. However, bilateral diplomacy is still a part of diplomatic practice despite the rise of multilateral and summit diplomacies.

Recognition means the acceptance of the existence of a state as an independent and sovereign entity in the international arena. In addition, recognition of a state does not mean the recognition of its government. Recognition of a government is the acceptance of this government’s control in the state apparatus currently and in the near future. 

Main actors in the UN are the United States, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), the Great Britain, France and China.

The basic objective of the UN is to protect sovereignty of its member states and world peace. However, when the crises and regional wars in the world since its establishment are taken into consideration, it can be securely argued that the UN has reached its aims far from ideally. This stems from its internal problems like the veto rights of the permanent members of the Security Council. Especially during the Cold War, it became a leverage between superpowers to legitimize their actions and put pressure on each other.

Multilateral diplomacy is literally defined as diplomatic relations between more than two states. It is also known as “conference diplomacy” or “parliamentary diplomacy” because multilateral diplomatic relations are mainly conducted through conferences and face-to-face interaction between leaders or missions of states.

Multilateral diplomacy became popular in the 20th century because problems between states turned into global problems such as peace and security, environment, health, migration, etc. and international actors understood that such problems had to be negotiated and solved through multilateral diplomacy. The rise of democracy and its ideals after WWII resulted in the democratization of diplomacy and diplomatic practices. More importantly, the accountability of states to their domestic public opinion as well as world public opinion necessitated the establishment of the instruments and institutions of multilateral diplomacy. As a result, multilateral conferences or organizations aim to provide the support of all parties in the solution of global problems which require support and initiative of all sides.

Due to its internal problems and changes in the global conjuncture such as the rise of fascism and Great Depression in the 1930s, LoN did not fulfill the expectations and prevent member states from fighting with each other. After brutal and bloody WWII, the Allies agreed on the establishment of a multilateral structure and UN was established with the Atlantic Charter in San Francisco Conference in 1945.

Procedures of negotiations in multilateral organizations and meetings are different from bilateral meetings in the sense that bilateral negotiations are based on rules and procedures jointly decided by the parties before or during the meeting. On the other hand, multilateral negotiations are carried out on the basis of procedures written on the charter or covenant of the organization.

Furthermore, solutions or agreements reached in multilateral negotiations may be based on “minimum common interest” of all sides. Therefore, negotiators have to consider many different positions and interests during negotiations, so participants in multilateral negotiations reach a conclusion in the medium or long term, while negotiators in bilateral meetings may reach conclusions or solutions even during their negotiations.

The beginning of the Cold War right after WWII caused summit diplomacy to become popular among great powers because of the nuclear threat and irreversible character of such a war. US and Soviet leaders occasionally met to discuss the fate of the Cold War and nuclear arms race.

These are non-profit, voluntary citizens’ organizations acting on national, regional or international levels out of the jurisdiction of states. They provide monitoring for the implementation of decisions and treaties on various issues ranging from environment to human rights.

Ministry of foreign affairs and diplomatic missions working under the control of these ministerial structures.

Until the second half of the 20th century, ministry of foreign affairs preserved its hegemony in foreign policy. However, with the acceleration of globalization in the second half of the 20th century and the diversification of issues in foreign relations heavily influenced the monopoly of ministry.

Diplomatic missions are main components of diplomacy acting on behalf of their state in the state they are accredited to.

The sending state may call the agent back or the receiving state may declare that it does not recognize the agent as a member of sending state’s mission. On the other hand, if relations between two states deteriorate, a diplomatic mission or a diplomatic agent ceases its duties.

Missions of HRW are monitoring, reporting and following up violations of human rights such as refugees, detainees, academicians and journalists.