Source: Print
How does diplomacy work in the age of social distancing and coronavirus?
In principle, diplomacy is about managing a country’s international affairs. It is also, to over-interpret the words of the Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz, an extension of politics. For historians of the 1950s, such as Humphrey Trevelyan, the success of a diplomat, and hence of diplomacy, was measured by the ability of these ‘envoys ordinary’ to ‘endure a regular diet of official parties’.