ABSTRACT
Diplomacy has many possible goals, of which peace is only one. For instance a nation may, through diplomacy, seek to improve its position in the world or attain some specific objectives. Diplomacy aimed at improving one's position or attaining specific objectives may not be benign. A nation may, for instance, try a diplomacy of intimidation. Hitler did so repeatedly, and in the main successfully, in the late 1930s. The Soviet Union's attempt to intimidate West Germany in 1983, when the Germans were considering whether to accept new land-based US missiles, was less successful. The Americans and Soviets have also worked out, by trial and error rather than by formal agreement, an approach to conflicts in the Third World that involves an element of preventive diplomacy. Theories attributing war to human nature generally posit that there is some form of aggressiveness, often thought to be innate, that erupts into war from time to time.
