• 尼科松转引《牛津英语词典》的解释说：“外交就是用谈判的方式来处理国际关系；是大使和使节用来调整和处理国际关系的方法；是外交官的业务或技术。” （[英]哈罗德·尼科松著：《外交学》，第23—24页。）Sir Harold Nicolson quoted the Oxford English Dictionary as saying: “Diplomacy is the management of international relations by negotiation; the method by which these relations are adjusted by ambassadors and envoys; the business or art of the diplomatist.” (Harold Nicolson, Diplomacy, Oxford University Press, 1950, p.15.)
“外交”的定义（2）
• “外交是运用智力和机智处理各独立国家的政府之间的官方关系，有时也推广到独立国家和附庸国家之间的关系；或者更简单地说，是指以和平手段处理国与国之间的事务。” （[英]戈尔—布思主编、萨道义著：《萨道义外交实践指南》，第3页。）Sir Ernest Satow says, “Diplomacy is the application of intelligence and tact to the conduct of relations between the governments of independent states, extending sometimes also to their relations with vassal states; or, more briefly still, the conduct of busigogot Satow, A guide to Diplomatic Practice, 4th edition, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1957, p.1)
“外交”的定义（3）
• R. P. Barston, Modern Diplomacy: “Diplomacy is concerned with the management of relations between states and between states and other actors. From a state perspective diplomacy is concerned with advising, shaping and implementing foreign policy. As such it is the means by which states through their formal and other representatives, as well as other actors, articulate, coordinate and secure particular or wider interests, using correspondence, private talks, exchanges of view, lobbying, visits, threats and other related activities.”（ R. P. Barston, Modern Diplomacy, p.1. ）这段话被翻译为：“外交涉及处理国家之间和国家与其他行为者之间的关系。从一个国家的角度来看，外交的作用是提出、制定和执行外交政策。外交本身是国家通过正式和非正式的代表以及其他行为者，运用通信、个别的会谈、交换观点、说服、访问、威胁和其他相关的行动来阐明、协调和维护特殊的和更广泛的利益的手段。”（ [英]R. P. 巴斯顿著：《现代外交》，第1页。 ）
“外交”的定义（4）
G.R. Berridge says: “Diplomacy is an essentially political activity and, well resourced and skilful, a major ingredient of power. Its chief purpose is to enable states to secure the objectives of their foreign policies without resort to force, propaganda, or law. It follows that diplomacy consists of communication between officials designed to promote foreign policy either by formal agreement or tacit adjustment.” (Geoff R. Berridge, Diplomacy: theory and practice, p.1)
“外交”的定义（5）
• The term “diplomacy” should be distigogotates and other entities with standing in world politics by official agents and by peaceful means. This is the widest sense of the term and is what is meant by it here. (Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, A Study of Order in World Politics, Third Edition, New York: Palgrave, 2002, p.156.)
• First, diplomacy facilitates commugogo and other entities in world politics. Without communication there could be no international society, nor any international system at all. Thus the most elementary function of diplomatists is to be messengers.
• A second function of diplomacy is the negotiation of agreements. Without the negotiation of agreements, international relations would be possible but they would consist only of fleeting, hostile encounters between one political community and another.
• A third function of diplomacy is the gathering of intelligence or information about foreign countries. Each country’s external policies have to be based on information about developments in world outside.
• A forth function of diplomacy is minimisation of the effects of friction in international relations. This is one of the main functions of diplomacy. It is this function which prompts Satow’s definition of diplomacy in terms of ‘the application of intelligence and tact’, and which accounts for our use of the world ‘diplomatic’ to describe the handling of human situation in everyday life in a manner that is tactful or subtle.
• Finally ,diplomacy fulfils the function of symbolising the existence of the society of states. Diplomatists, even in the pristine form of messengers, are visible expressions of the existence of rules to which states and other entities in the international system pay some allegiance. (Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society, A Study of Order in World Politics, Third Edition, New York: Palgrave, 2002, pp.163-166)
In the first instance a marked feature of modern diplomacy is the enhanced role of personal diplomacy by the head of state or government. Frequently such initiatives are at the expegogoador, who might have only a limited formal involvement for example in a special summit.
• Second, the growth of post-war multilateral diplomacy has seen periodic involvement of a wider range of ministries with some involvement in external relations, such as industry, aviation, environment, shipping, customs, health, education and sport. The task for the foreign ministry is to establish in effect a lead position or otherwise co-ordinate both the formulation and implementation of international agreements.
• Third, non-state actors have proliferated in number and type, ranging from traditional economic interest groups through to resource, environmental, humanitarian, criminal and global governance interests. In some instances NGOs are closely ligogo, while others are transnationally linked. Above all, the institutionalisation of NGOs in the diplomatic process, especially in multilateral conferences, has become an important distinguishing feature of recent diplomacy. (R. P. Barston, Modern Diplomacy, London and New York: Addison Wesley Longman Limited, Second Edition, 1997, pp.4-5.)
• One of the most striking aspects of post-war diplomacy is the rapid growth in volume of diplomatic activity since the end of the 1960s. To a large extent this has come about because of the expansion of multilateral and regional diplomacy, much of it economic or resource related.
• The broadening of the international agenda especially since the 1970s into issues concerning trade, technology transfer, aviation, human rights, transnational environmental and sustainable development questions has continued with the increasing addition of novel or revived threats. (R. P. Barston, Modern Diplomacy, London and New York: Addison Wesley Longman Limited, Second Edition, 1997, p.5.)
