1. The art and practice of conducting negotiations between national governments.
open diplomacy. Diplomacy carried on with free access to interested observers and members of the press.
parliamentary diplomacy. The negotiations and discussions carried out in international organizations according to their rules of procedure.
secret diplomacy. Diplomacy carried on behind closed doors.
— Also termed quiet diplomacy.
shuttle diplomacy. Diplomatic negotiations assisted by emissaries, who travel back and forth between negotiating countries. • In legal contexts, the term usu. refers to a similar approach used by a mediator in negotiating the settlement of a lawsuit. The mediator travels back and forth between different rooms, one of which is assigned to each side’s decision-makers and counsel. The mediator relays offers and demands between the rooms and, by conferring with the parties about their positions and about the uncertainty of litigation, seeks to reach an agreed resolution of the case. The mediator does not bring the parties together in the same room.
2. Loosely, foreign policy.
3. The collective functions performed by a diplomat. — diplomatic, adj. — diplomat, n.
