By Barend ter Haar.
Back to Diplomacy is the title of the report of a Panel of Eminent Persons that was presented to the Ministerial Council of the OSCE in December 2015. Because of the climate conference that simultaneously took place in Paris, the report received little attention. However, it should not only be read by diplomats but also, and in particular, by their political masters, because implicitly the report addresses their role in promoting and subsequently neglecting peace and security in Europe and in the wider world.
The main task of the Panel was to consider how the idea of co-operative security could be re-launched. This question goes not only to the heart of the future of the OSCE, but also the heart of the future of the European Union and the United Nations. These three organisations differ in several respects, but they have a lot in common. They were all founded by politicians that dared to look beyond the short-term national interests of their countries and dared to express their vision of security as a common project. In other words: they recognised that lasting security cannot be attained at the expense of the security of other states, but only by building common security.
That requires a common view on what the threats are. The panel noted that since a number of years this common view is missing. There is in particular “no agreed view, no common analysis” of the issues that keep Russia and the West apart.
What makes things worse is that many of the current generation of politicians pride themselves on having no vision and no willingness to look beyond short national interests. For them diplomacy is a superfluous luxury. Why should you listen to others if you are not interested in their point of view? Why should you look for common ground if you are only interested in promoting your own interests?
Off course, there are very strong arguments for doing just that: listening to others and looking for common ground, in short: for diplomacy. But many politicians seem to think that their voters only want direct action, such as building new iron curtains and bombing enemy positions, and seem to fear that their voters will run away if they use their common sense.
Diplomacy alone will not suffice to address the current crises, but it is essential. It is therefore to be hoped that in 2016 more politicians will have the courage to go back to diplomacy.
