ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book describes Paul Sharp argues that the key to understanding secret diplomacy lay in the 'classic texts', those venerable tomes written decades prior by former diplomats such as Sir Harold Nicolson and Sir Ernest Satow. It focuses why states continue to practise secrecy the observer must first steep themselves in psychology, particularly social neuroscience. The book discusses Ashley Coward and Corneliu Bjola, how the landscape of intelligence operations has changed due to revolutions in information and communications technology (ICT). It describes Sanderijn Duquet and Jan Wouters focussed on the international, national and legal frameworks pertaining to secrecy and confidentiality in state-qua-state relations. The chapter suggests that cyber-intelligence operations (CIO) are a murky dimension of secret diplomacy that blurs the distinction between what diplomacy is and what it ought to be.
