One of the oldest instruments of foreign policy, diplomacy is a tool with which the states address
the other states and communicate with them in order to explain their national goals, policies, and views on current affairs, and try to influence their interlocutors’ views and positions on issues that are important to them. Sometimes being defined as an art, diplomacy traditionally meant the way to manage one sovereign state’s relations with other mutually recognized states.

Recognition is a political act of a state to acknowledge an act or government or status of another state. Recognition could be either de jure or de facto. De jure (from Latin, meaning “of law” or “by law”) recognition is the formal way of recognizing a state or a government by fulfilling the requirements stipulated in international law.De facto (from Latin, meaning “of fact” or “in fact”) recognition refers to the recognizing a state or a government through practice rather than official statement or declaration to that effect.

Recognition can either be explicit or implicit. Explicit recognition means that a state recognizes an act or status or government of another state by releasing a public statement or a declaration. In the cases where a state implies that it recognizes a state or a government by some of its acts, such as sending a diplomatic envoy, arranging a talk or summit with a head of state, entering into an agreement, etc., instead of releasing any official statement or declaration, this constitutes implicit recognition.

“Hegemony is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others.”
“Hegemony, the dominance of one group over another, often supported by legitimating norms and ideas.” (Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/search?query=hegemony).

The concept of hegemonic power signifies a state that has capability to lead global political and economic order. Traditional use of hegemony refers to the capacity of coercion and hard politics. Throughout the history, hegemonic power has been considered as a state that has military, political and economic supremacy.

Meanwhile, the term of “ambassador” appeared at in the 12th century in Italy. Ambactiare, meaning “to go on a mission” in medieval Italian, was used for the envoys who kept the conversation running between the Italian city-states. The leading Italian city-state of the time, Venice, had close ties with the Eastern Roman Empire and, in order to conduct diplomatic relations with its bigger and more powerful neighbour, sent envoys to Rome with written instructions, which were systematically archived.

By the beginning of 15th century, these envoys started to present their relazione (final report) in written forms to their hometowns city. This Venetian diplomatic model and style, largely influenced by Byzantine system, were also adopted by other Italian city-states.

There were further improvements in diplomatic practices during the 17th century, such as diplomatic immunity and equal treatment for the ambassadors as they were representing the monarchs who were equals in theory, if not in practice. When the Thirty Years’ War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, it contained two major principles of diplomacy and the following international system that survived up until the 21st century: Sovereign equality of all states and non-interference to domestic politics of each other.

The early Ottoman diplomacy was mainly based on Islamic law and its supremacy against the Christian powers of Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Sublime Port (Bâb-ı Âli – the Ottoman Government) received its first residential ambassador (bailo) from Venice in 1454, but did not send his first permanent representative abroad until 1793. At this time, the Ottoman state preferred sending its representatives based on the necessity rather than permanent residential capacity. The main reason of this choice was the fact of Ottoman military supremacy over other states, and also due to the belief that the Ottoman Sultan was supreme to other foreign rulers. Additionally, as the state of peace with infidels could not be conceived under the Islamic Law, peace arrangements with Christian powers of Europe were seen as transitionary nature, rather than permanent agreements, and thus permanent representatives could not be sent to states with which the Ottoman Empire was in war in theory if not in reality.

In order to bilateral diplomacy to take place, recognition by states of each other as legally established states is a prerequisite. Once that happens according to each state’s practices, then
exchange of diplomats take place and diplomatic communication starts. However, in certain cases, states may decide either to withhold recognition of other states or not complete exchange of diplomatic representatives. Diplomacy can still occur in these cases between state representatives but in a nonformal way. An example for the former is nonrecognition of the “Republic of Cyprus” by Turkey as the legal representative of the island of Cyprus and both Turkish and Greek communities living on the Island. On the other hand, Turkey recognizes the Republic of Armenia as a state, but decided in 1991 not to establish bilateral diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors.

With the establishment of the United Nations (UN) after the Second World War, the multilateral diplomacy, involving more than two nations or parties to seek diplomatic solution to transnational problems, gained importance in international relations. The most important issues
in international relations today are discussed in different summits, conferences or institutions of the international organizations. In particular, the UN promotes the multilateral diplomatic talks between its members.

Summit diplomacy is a form of conference diplomacy in which the heads of state or government come together to conduct negotiations. Even though there were earlier forms of summit diplomacy, it was Winston Churchill who used the word “summit” for the first time in 1950 to describe the meeting of leaders of major powers of the time. Summits can be formed in many sizes and different ways depending on the purpose of negotiations. It should be noted that Summit Diplomacy is different from the direct or personal diplomacy among political figures through correspondence, telephone conversations or tête-à-tête (face-to-face) talks. Summits require specific time and location of a meeting. A good example involving two countries is the ReaganGorbachev Summit of 1987 in Reykjavik, Island, which was concluded with an agreement on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Ad hoc diplomacy is the oldest form of diplomacy that aims to conduct diplomatic relations by sending a special and/or temporary envoy on mission. It was the common practice of diplomacy
during the Middle Ages in Europe and during the classical age of the Ottoman Empire. Although
diplomatic relations today are mostly conducted through permanent missions, in some cases, states might still prefer sending special envoys, usually to conduct diplomatic negotiations on specific issues or create a non-permanent representation or an additional channel for diplomacy with a state or government.

Although there is no clear definition of parliamentary diplomacy, it can be considered as the sum of duties and actions of parliaments in foreign affairs. There are mainly two types of parliamentary diplomacy: Institutional and diplomatic. The first type of parliamentary diplomacy can be occurred in three particular contexts; 1) Legislative process in which ratification of international treaties and execution of laws take place; 2) Parliamentary monitoring of international affairs through committees; and 3) Political role of parliaments directly related to discussions of foreign affairs of the country and approval of budget of the ministry of foreign affairs. The second type of parliamentary diplomacy has four domains; 1) Bilateral diplomacy in
which parliaments aim to cooperate with other parliaments with a view to develop strong relations; 2) Multilateral diplomacy that takes place through parliamentary delegations, which could be in the form of parliamentary meetings of international organizations such as Council of Europe and NATO; 3) Different forms of associations of the parliamentarians around the world (e.g. InterParliamentary Union); and 4) Specific case of the European Union, where the members of the European Parliament are directly elected by the citizens of the member countries and it has specific institutionalized practices, procedures, and roles within the EU system.

Quiet diplomacy is often used by international organizations, especially the UN or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to discuss a particular situation away from international and domestic scrutiny. Within the context of quiet diplomacy, instead of publicizing the statements on the concerned topics, the involved countries and organizational
representatives keep silent ya da keep their silence until a solution is found in order to prevent fouling effects of third party, domestic, or international involvements.

Open diplomacy is a term developed by the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points, published at the end the World War I as a reaction to the secret diplomacy conducted between colonising European powers prior to the war. The main characteristic of the open diplomacy is that all the negotiations between countries should proceed openly in the public view, as secret talks and agreements reached before the First World War between the major powers were partly blamed for the start of the war. The expectation is that, should the public in general, but especially in the liberal countries, know about the details of the secret talks and/or agreements between states, they would oppose more unfair aspects of these agreements, thereby reducing the possibility of conflicts emerging over them.

Coercive diplomacy refers to the usage of threat of force by a state or group of state to achieve its/their objectives in international relations. Coercive diplomacy usually involves the military strategy to force other states or non-state actors to behave in certain manner. Difference from the use of military force is that in coercive diplomacy, it is the “threat” of using military force rather than the “actual” use of military force that is used to achieve the intended result. According to George (1974), there are different variants of coercive diplomacy including , tacit ultimatum, try-and-see, and gradual turning of the screw.

Diplomatic protocol essentially defines how diplomatic personnel and other state officials should behave towards each other in international arena under specific circumstances. In general it covers guidelines, etiquette and accepted behaviours in diplomacy. The protocol and the ceremonial activities are important ways of expression for states in international affairs. Itm establishes the framework to develop relationships between states.

Basic elements of diplomatic protocol consist of the rules regarding to ceremony, etiquette, titles,
correspondence, wardrobe, and dining. A ceremony could have various forms depending on the context such as state funerals, opening of a public building, presentation of awards, etc. For each ceremony, there are different sets of rules and procedures to follow. However, there is typically a public speech to welcome the guests and deliver the aim of the ceremony. Etiquette is a set of rules based on politeness and respectfulness including greetings, the order of greeting, the order of entering and/or leaving a room, being punctual, etc. Titles are the most important codes of diplomatic protocol, and define how a person should be addressed with a particular honorific depending on the position s/he represents (e.g. royalty, government, diplomatic, military, religious, etc.). Correspondence refers to the formal language and style while writing a message in diplomatic occasions. Finally, wardrobe or the dress code is an important part of the diplomatic protocol, and varies depending on the situation and activity. However, elegance and diligence are the constant requirements from the invitees in diplomatic invitation.

The principle idea of the diplomatic immunity is to ensure the continuation of communication and
the exchanges of information between the states even in difficult times, including armed conflict.
Together with the traditional mechanisms in the customary law, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 regulates the diplomatic immunity in Articles 29 to 36. According to
the Convention, a diplomatic agent and his/her family enjoy immunity from the criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction of the receiving state. They are also exempt from all dues and taxes. However, diplomatic immunity does not give to  diplomats and their families right to break the rules and regulations of host country at will. In cases of committing a serious crime unrelatedwith their diplomatic mission or witnessing such a crime, the immunity can be waived by the official’s home country.

A person who is not wanted or welcome in a particular country, because s/he is unacceptable to its government.One of the most famous examples of reciprocal announcement of persona non
grata took place between Russia and the UK in 2018. 

Talks and negotiations between diplomats and/or other representatives of states are the essential activities of diplomacy. Talks and negotiations can have different purposes such as providing routine communication, conflict resolution, creating or enhancing cooperation, etc. Diplomatic talks generally refer to exchange of views and/or information between states, whereas negotiations aim at reaching an agreement. From this perspective, negotiations are usually the continuation of preliminary diplomatic talks.

Alongside with the bilateral or multilateral diplomatic activities, there are also one-sided forms of diplomatic communication such as recall or expulsion of diplomats or suspension of diplomatic relations. The states can recall their diplomats in response to general circumstances or to a particular activity of the host country that dissatisfy their expectations. A head of a diplomatic or a consular mission can be called back to the country of origin for many reasons, but mainly to convey recalling state’s displeasure to the host country. The recall could be just for consultations (which imply that the diplomat might return to hosting country after relatively short period) or for an indefinite period, which could then necessitate further negotiations between the countries to resolve their dispute.The receiving country can also make a formal or informal request to the sending country to recall its diplomat/s. This act is closer to but different than the declaration of a diplomat as persona non grata, which is reserved in general to unauthorized activities of diplomats, such as espionage. More serious disputes in relations between states may result in suspension of diplomatic and/ or consular representation either unilaterally or reciprocally. Duration of the suspension may vary depending on the seriousness of the dispute and/or its resolution, and may take for months or decades. 

Propaganda could be defined as the “more or less systematic effort” to influence other people’s “beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols”, such as “words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, stamps”, etc. (https://www.britannica.com/ topic/propaganda). Although various definitions of propaganda have acquired negative connotations in the twentieth century, it had more neutral meaning during much of the history. Since propaganda was especially effective tool of foreign policy during the war and pre-war times in the 20th century (Both the First and Second World Wars as well as the Cold War), it came to be associated closely in the view of the general public with manipulating populations at home and abroad.

Psychological warfare, which is defined as the usage of propaganda tools against an enemy, usually in conjunction with military, economic and political tools to demoralize and break its’
population’s will to fight or resists Same tools could also be used to strengthen the resolve of one’s own fighters. For example, during the Second World War, fighting countries widely
used posters, leaflets, comic books, broadcasts in radio and movies to present positive message of their war effort and negative image of their enemy’s intentions.

Propaganda will obviously be more successful among groups that already share part of the ideas that are being disseminated. In other words, propaganda would be more successful in strengthening the coherence of similar thinking states or allies, rather than weakening resolve of opposite states or enemies. Propaganda would be more successful if the disseminated messages do not appear as propaganda (direct messaging) but part of the general newsor believable reality (indirect messaging). as such yerine In that case using national or domestic sources of information dissemination would be more successful than sharing information from abroad. Since the public in general would be receptive towards news sources that they already know or could affiliate with, many states use local news outlets to broadcast their points of views in
the language of targeted country.

The main aim of the propaganda is to influence thinking and behaviour of its targeted audience. As such it could target five different groups of people:
1) Citizens of the state managing the propaganda.

2) Citizens of friendly nations. 

3) Citizens of neutral or unrelated countries in order to gain their favour in the longer term or
prevent them from gravitating towards other states. 

4) Citizens of the enemy states or the state that has already initiated an unsolicited propaganda
against one’s own country. 

5) Wider general international and domestic public. 

The value of economic methods as foreign policy instrument arises from the fact that economically all states are, in varying degrees, dependent one another. There is no country in the world that has achieved 100 per cent self-sufficiency in various sectors of economy, including food and manufacturing. The states have to buy those products that they cannot produce at home adequately or economically from other states. These needs produce dependencies for states in international relations; and dependencies, in return, create vulnerabilities that other states might exploit for their political benefits.

One of the peculiarities of the economic instruments of foreign policy is that, unlike diplomacy or war, their impact would not be direct, but indirect. In most cases, the economic instruments generally target whole public in order to generate a reaction against the government or decision makers to force them to behave in a way the instrument-employing country wishes them to do. Although their impacts on the decision-makers are rather indirect, the economic instruments could easily generate widespread public reaction quite easily.

One of the most frequently used economic instruments of foreign policy is foreign aid and economic assistance in either positive (such as extending foreign aid with favourable terms) or
negative (such as refusing, withholding or ending foreign aid or economic assistance) ways. Normally both provider and receiver states expect to benefit from the economic assistance aid. While receivers expect to modernize or grow their economy, achieve economic and political stability, expand their industrial base, etc., grantees, whatever the immediate conditions of the agreement to extend economic aid, usually expect to receive economic, political, and even military benefits in the long-run from the receiving country.

While foreign aid as an economic instrument of foreign policy was traditionally used extensively
by more developed and powerful countries, using “development aid” as an instrument of foreign policy has recently grew in quantity and coverage. Many developing countries are now using development aid to enhance their standing (prestige) in the international arena, to create zones of influence, to develop benefits and connections in various sub-regions of the world, to develop friendly relations in regions where they had no presence before, and to enhance effectiveness of their foreign policies in general. While larger development aid budgets are still used by the developed countries, such as the USAID programs, developing countries also started to use their limited resources more effectively for development aid, such as Turkey’s development aid to other developing countries and its TIKA-run projects.

Using trade as a foreign policy instrument could be done at least in three ways. First, using a state’s need or dependency on for some goods, to punish or reward it; second, creating economic dependencies abroad; and third trying to limit the economic potential of the enemy and benefits it derives from the international trade.

Quota is basically creating a quantitative restriction for a state’s exports or imports. First imposition of quotas on a large scale was used during and immediately after the First World War.

Tariffs gradually replaced quotas in the 1920s. However, during the “Great Depression” of the early 1930s, implementation of quotas again became widespread.Tariff is a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports. Tariffs are generally used by governments to protect domestic industries from international competition or to create revenue. There are mainly two type of tariffs; specific tariff and ad valorem tariff. While specific tariff refers to the fixed charge for each unit, ad valorem (on the value) tariff is imposed as a proportion of the value of imported products. In some cases, there are compound tariffs that mean a mixture of specific and ad valorem tariffs.

Black list is a declaration by a country of a list of people and/or companies of other countries that trade relations would not be allowed with. Normally only the citizens of the country that declared the blacklist would not be allowed to trade with the blacklisted people and/ or companies wherever they are in the world.

Embargo traditionally and legally meant preventing ships in a certain country’s ports or territorial
waters from leaving or transporting that country’s goods. This kind of embargo could be applied both in peacetime and wartime. In practice however, the meaning of embargo has expanded in time to cover goods, and thus, came to be defined as official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.

Blockade is a trade-related economic instrument that can be used both in peacetime and wartime. In peacetime blockade (also known as pacific blockade), a state tries to block entrance and exist of ships carrying the flag of a country that it is blockading into its harbours with its navy. While peacetime blockade is in principle applies only to the ships of the blockaded country, in practice it is also applied to third countries’ ships.