The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines1
diplomacy as “(…) the management of relations between
countries (…) art of or skill in dealing with people; tact (…)”.
Indeed it is the art of convincing others to perceive things your4
way, or at least to have second thoughts about theirs. It is the
combination of logic and science on the one hand with the gift
of proper language packaging and presentation necessary to7
convince others.
The power of language rests on the fact that it
contains ideas: and ideas are, according to Plato, more10
enduring, indeed more permanent than matter. Ideas can be
suppressed, or go underground but unlike a statue or any other
material things they cannot be shattered. They can only be met13
and dealt with by other ideas. Historically it is the magic of
words that bewitched, enthralled and sometimes intoxicated
people and led them to great or mean deeds. The language of16
diplomacy, often like poetry, has the ability to move people
from mood to mood. Whether demagogy or whether giving
expression to noble ideologies, theories, or even religious19
creeds, ordinary language or that of diplomacy has a
momentum and an inner driving force that is ageless.
K.S. Abu Jaber, Language and Diplomacy. In:
J. Kurbalija; H. Slavi (Eds.) Language and
Diplomacy, p. 53. Malta: DiploProjects, 2001.