ABSTRACT
The vast bulk of diplomatic activity goes unpublicised and largely unnoticed, but secret diplomacy is something different. This chapter presents a brief overview of secrecy and diplomacy, noting that the very nature of the world in which diplomacy emerged meant that most activities associated with diplomacy remained hidden from most people. It looks at a range of arguments advanced to defend secret diplomacy and sets out some of the critical challenges to secret diplomacy in the context of the distinctive environment of the 21st century. One of the more curious features of arguments in favour of quiet and secret diplomacy is that rather similar arguments have been put forward by writers from radically different traditions of international relations scholarship. From within the Realist tradition, the diplomatist Sir Harold Nicolson was a fierce critic of the idea of open diplomacy, although he was strongly opposed to secret treaties and commitments.
