ABSTRACT
Multilateral diplomacy in the form of "summit meetings" between and among heads of state is still employed although on a more infrequent basis than during the Cold War. Shelton L. Williams, in "Citizen Diplomacy," notes that "unless the Bush administration does a radical about-face on its approach to multilateral arms control," the prospects for a successful 2005 multinational review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are "unlikely." Jacques Fomerand writes, "Like the General Assembly, which can make only recommendations, UN global conferences are not instruments of authoritative decisionmaking. At best, they are incubators of ideas and approximate a global version of the general will of the international community." Shelton Williams explicitly acknowledges the hegemonic influence of the United States in multilateral diplomacy and conferences. The United States has won a war, but it has alienated its allies, it has diminished the effectiveness of post-World War II institutions it was instrumental in creating, and it has not won the peace.
