ABSTRACT:
During most of the twentieth century, two world wars, the cold war, the rivalry of two super powers, the ideologization of international affairs and military confrontation, made diplomacy a subsidiary instrument of power politics and ideology. The end of the cold war radically changed the international political scene and today we are facing the shift of the ‘civilizational’ paradigm, which affects not only the major units of world polities – the States – but which also brings new actors into the forefront of international relations. The process of globalization, which strengthens the ”oneness” of the world is, at the same time, accompanied by the fragmentation and localization by the growing gap between rich and poor nations. All these transformations bring new challenges for diplomacy on a global level. Thus while there are many facets of globalization, the economic aspects of it have been critical in the quest for the achievement of national development, and also the preservation of individual nation’s sovereignty.
