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Third World diplomacy

Barrister Harun Ur Rashid
THE name “Third World” was coined during the Cold War to refer to nations that did not belong to the First and Second Worlds - First World being the Western countries, while the Second World was the Soviet Union and its allies.
While there were debates on the appropriateness of the term, it got stuck and was embraced by the member-states of the Non Aligned Movement In academic circles, the countries of the Third Worid are known as the "Global South".
Diplomacy without military power is like music without instruments, according to King Frederick the Great of
Prussia (1712-1786). Former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan said, while he was leading a peace mission to President Saddam Hussein in 1998, that diplomacy was good in resolving disputes, but diplomacy backed by military powerwouldbe better.
Third World diplomacy operates with serious limitations because developing countries are not economically and militarily powerful. It docs not operate on a level playing field. There lies the weakness ofThird World diplomacy.
Although Third World countries recognise that power dominates relationship between states, they tend to think that use of force is a blunt and destructive tool to resolve inter-state disputes.
Objectives ofThird World diplomacy
The objectives of Third World diplomacy are variable depending on situations and circumstances. However, there are some overriding objectives that are pursued.
First is die preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation. Second, the region must remain peaceful and inter-state disputes within the region must be resolved through peaceful means (Article 33 of the UN Charter). Third, the security of the state is to be ensured and the term “security" used in a wider sense of the term. It includes not only state security from divisive forces within the nation but also social secu-
rity, economic security, energy security, water security, food security and environmental security. Fourth, interactions within the regional countries must be smooth to enhance economic gains through collective bargain! n g
Most of the above objectives may come under two main heads: security and development These two major goals constitute the ingredients of ThirdWorld diplomacy.
Public and traditional
diplomacy
These goals are carried out by public and standard diplomacy. Public diplomacy is open and transparent In international relations, the term public diplomacy was coined in the 1960s to describe aspects of international
diplomacy other than the interactions betweennational governments.
Public diplomacy focuses on the ways in which a country (or multilateral organization such as the United Nations) communicates with citizens in other societies. Film, television, music, sports, video games and other social/cultural activities are seen by public diplomacy advocates as enormously important avenues to understand each other and integral to the international cultural understanding, which is a key goal of modem public diplomacy strategy.
TYaditional diplomacy is a refined art of negotiation, representation and analysis. The core function of diplomacy is the ability to understand and
analyse the cultures, societies and institutions through and in which a state seeks to advance its values in the world, 'ffaditional diplomacy may be described as the ways in which diplomats communicate with each other to resolve bilateral issues. Shuttle diplomacy has, however, reduced the role of traditional diplomacy in many ways and is likely to do so more in the future.
One of the other distinguishing features of this new world of international relationships is the multilateral diplomacy. It is evident that most of the trans-national issues, which have come onto our foreign policy radarscope, can neither be solved on a bilateral state-to-state basis nor by a single state, however powerful i t may be.
Global warming, refugee flow,
terrorism, international drug trafficking, AIDS and other infectious diseases involve an elaborate network of foreign governments and domestic agencies. All must be involved if effective results are to be achieved. In some circumstances it may be possible to aggregate bilateral agreements to achieve policy goals, but in many other situations, for example in the evolving world of electronic commerce, multilateral or multinational agreements are going to be necessary.
Third World diplomacy works best if like-minded countries or regional group air their view on a subject that affect them and lobby with the great powers to achieve the desired result. For example, issues such as easy mobil-
ity of labour to industrialized countries and free access of goods to their markets are of direct interest to Third World countries.
Success ofThird World diplomacy
The formation of Non-Aligned Movement is considered one of the successes of the Third World diplomacy. During the Cold War, Third World countries wanted to keep away •from the rivalry and camp of two super powers and the result was the Non-Aligned Movement The members of the Non-Aligned Movement would look at an issue on its merit raised by either of the super powers and support accordingly. The Non-Aligned Movement was hugely successful and
played an indispensable role in the process of decolonisation of Third World countries across the world, mostly in Africa. It also provided a major thrust in the efforts for disarma -ment and was directly responsible for convening the 10th historic special session of the UN General Assembly in 1978 on disarmament
Another success is the diplomacy of ASEAN countries. Steadily and gradually it became a force in the South East Asian region and the great powers and Australia have to work with ASEAN for stability, economic security and peace.
Another success is the introduction of Free Trade Agreemen ts (FLA). The Tliird Wbrid countries have forced the industri -alized countries to enter FLA for mutual benefits when they fail to achieve their goals underWTO trade talks.
Failures
The major failure ofThird Worid diplomacy is the inability to reform and democratise the organs of the UN. The current structure does not reflect the realities of global powers. The call for reforming the Security Council is justified by the need of greater credibility, legitimacy, representation, effectiveness, and enhanced capacity and willingness to actin defence ofpeace.
The most important organ of the UN, The Security Council, suffers from representational grounds. For example, the second and third largest economies of the worid (Japan and Germany) are not represented in the Council neither are the larger regional countries, such as Brazil, India and Nigeria or South Africa Some say that the failure to reform the Council has been due to position taken by regional rivals.
Another failure is their efforts to stop the raging civil wars in the Third World countries, mostly in Africa. Somalia, Congo, Zimbabwe and Western Sahara remain the challenge forThirdWorld diplomacy.
It is reported that 5.4 million died in armed conflicts between 1955 -2003 in 13 nations. Since 1945, there had been more than 120 conflicts in 71 countries of the Third World, of which 36 were civil wars.
Conclusion
Third World diplomacy, like bilateral diplomacy, is the first line of defence. It must be reinvented, reinvigorated, reequipped and not be allowed to die. We will all be losers if it does.
The author Is former Bangladesh Ambass < lor to the UN, Geneva.