ABSTRACT
Concerted international action of any kind requires rigorous organization and system. The oldest method is that of peaceful relations and diplomacy. But, like the climate and weather, this method of rational rapport is changing in structure and function in order to elevate getting-along-together to the optimum. Chapter 11 tells the full story, with its particular complexities. The traditional diplomat hardly exists any longer. Now he or (increasingly) she tends to be a multilingual engineer, scientist or other trained specialist concerned with challenges ranging from migration through commercial exchange to epidemics and food safety. As discussed in our chapter, cohesiveness of the EU, the fight against terrorism, mass migration, political stakes in the Arctic or Antarctica, nuclear disarmament, turmoil in the Middle East, and the North/South divide are among the challenges of today’s diplomatic knots to be untied.
