Diplomacy In The Nepali Context

Madhavji Shrestha

The common concern of diplomats and diplomatic performance is seen and interpreted by various governments according to their set standard and values. However, in Nepal, forgetting the essential of what must be done in representing the country and its interests abroad, each aspirant for the position of ambassador or envoy runs after the authority in power to fulfill his desire.

Criteria for appointment

Undeniably, the person in question may have been lured by the glamour and comfort of life once appointed as the highest diplomatic agent abroad. In our context, the aspirant never thinks of his capability and suitability. The decision-makers, too, never imagine if they have been doing the right thing in sending someone who is linked with a political party or familial and other unspecified ties.

This mode of appointing ambassadors and envoys had developed in the past, and a similar trend is happening at present. This has happened because no criteria have been set as of now, nor have rulebooks been made to develop the much-needed diplomatic service. Under no circumstance will this evolution be restrained unless some great disaster of far-fetched impact takes place.Evidently, it has been more than five decades that Nepal started getting exposed to the external world. Despite such a long span of time, no convincing step has been taken to develop the Foreign Service. The conscious people have greatly felt the void, but no real progress seems on the way to organise the service. Mere passing of the Foreign Service Act is not sufficient to make it effective and responsive unless it is supported and strengthened by regular and timebound practices and orientations to present a good image of Nepal abroad. The conspicuous absence of an appropriate training and research institute in Nepal is also taking a toll in ensuring a constant supply of good personnel required for the country to promote its national interest abroad. Nor do we have any good faculty under any recognised university in Nepal to impart a fair knowledge of international affairs to those who desire to join the Foreign Service and work as competent diplomats. Still bewailing is the fact that the national political parties, which are either set or prepared to take over state power, do not have any mechanism of their own to conduct diplomacy, thus, depriving themselves of diplomatic capabilities and skills.

Meanwhile, one very important point to note is that the diplomatic domain, which was until a few decades ago confined to the government circle alone, is now visibly being pushed to the people and people-oriented arena. Previously, a diplomat was considered to represent his government in the country where he is accredited. This concept and consideration have now undergone changes, and as a result, the scope and activities of a diplomat have gone far and wide to reach and cover the spheres of people and people-concerned interests in the highly interdependent world today. Government-concerned diplomacy alone is no solution now. Some broader approach and style of working are unmistakably on the card now. If one is just concerned with the government-to-government diplomacy, one can hardly become a successful diplomat in the newly emerging situation. The diplomat in question needs to embrace the stream of public diplomacy to reach out to the people and the related organisations to win their opinion and affection for the country he represents abroad. If done sensitively and assiduously, this modern practice and behavior would do greater service to the country. To materialise the success of public diplomacy, both extensive ability and knowledge are highly required. These qualities are immensely important to mingle and get entrenched in the society of the country of his residence and other places.

The changes in the international scenario and the ever-expanding facilities to get information have now led to the evolution of the diplomatic concept toward the newer field. If diplomacy was formerly considered an art, it has now become an accepted craft. Everyone knows that art is a concern of taking up a theme of one's own selection, but a craft is a subject to work with the material available, with the correct application of one's own method and style of actions and dealings. In a modern sense, diplomatic craftsmanship has appeared more significant in view of the existing linkages and issues between and among nations of the concerned relationship, which can be taken as given materials to make diplomatic venture an object of craftsmanship. Hence, for this craftsmanship to flourish in a more satisfactory way, deeper knowledge of and closer intimacy with materials of relationship remain as overriding concern for any improvement. The method of bettering diplomatic performance, if well versed with this craftsmanship, could be safely ensured to get along with the recent trend. Efficacy and unbounded choice come up as heightened concerns in the performance of his duties.

Construing a reliable trajectory for public diplomacy to reinforce official diplomacy and embracing modern diplomacy more as a craft than as an art would pave the way towards the success of diplomatic activities and moves because these basic things remain at the root of success. But these important things are not easy to master. Intelligence and devotion remain in great demand.However, in Nepal, those indispensable elements are yet to be taken up with seriousness and gravity. Diplomatic activities attached with assignments are not carried in a way befitting the position and responsibility. The culture of appointments for important diplomatic places has not yet changed for the better. Unquestionably, its style and substance that have come down from the time of the Rana autocracy even to a now transformed Nepal, are, regrettably, not changed. Only the hands have changed, and the core contents have not because political patronage and political linkage remain at the same obsolete fashioned strata. Decision-makers need to go a long way to get well acquainted with their intent and practice.

National interest

Undoubtedly, ambassadors and envoys are sent abroad not for any particular party interest but to promote national interest. Modern diplomats are also not meant for the limited government duties alone. They serve as representatives of the entire country and as official agents of the entire population. Representation of any political party at any place, whether important or non-important, cannot be considered as national representation. This concern is indeed vital to national interest.Finally, what is most needed is that ambassadors and envoys must be adept at handling public diplomacy along with the dexterity to use diplomacy as a craft to ensure success. Will the decision-makers have the time and mind to heed this concern of national importance?

Source: The Rising Nepal, April 27, 2007