In the midst of globalization, the United States continues to promote its interests and values in international diplomacy. Its diplomats work around the world to help keep peace, expand trade, and foster relationships with people beyond its borders. This work embodies an ancient human impulse to connect beyond immediate communities, from messengers carrying tokens of peace to tribes negotiating hunting grounds and alliances. This early desire led to formal systems of communication and negotiation, ultimately consolidated by treaties such as the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and the Congress of Vienna (1815).
This structured interaction is called diplomacy. It is the foundation for international security and economic growth. It also enables nations to address common concerns, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Diplomacy may be coercive but is overtly nonviolent, and its primary tools are international dialogue and negotiation mediated by accredited envoys (known as ambassadors) and other officials.
Academic study of diplomatic relations has expanded in recent decades to include new types of diplomacy. For example, scholars now investigate soft power, or “hearts and minds,” diplomacy — the cultivation of affection, respect, and admiration for a country’s culture and form of government. This type of diplomacy, facilitated by globalized travel and communications technology, complements official state-to-state interactions.
Understanding the dynamics of these multilateral and bilateral interactions requires drawing on an array of disciplines. Political science offers crucial context, revealing patterns of cooperation and conflict across time and space; history illuminates the evolution of diplomatic norms; and law defines the rules governing international conduct. Social sciences, such as anthropology and sociology, provide insights into the influences of cultural differences on communication and negotiation styles. Even communication studies and semiotics offer tools to decipher diplomatic language and reveal strategic signaling.
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