Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Diponegoro–Semarang. Last week, the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Diponegoro held a Historical Methodology Workshop. The discourse presented on this occasion is the History of Diplomacy. Dr. Dhanang Respati Puguh, M. Hum., as the Head of the History Department, opened the workshop with the hope that this workshop can open up the horizons of inspiration for history students who are struggling with the preparation of thesis proposals, theses, or dissertations.
Rabith Jihan Amaruli, S. S., M. Hum., as the moderator, opened with a critical introduction to diplomacy’s history, a study currently finding its momentum. “Since the war broke out in Ukraine in March 2022, people have started to think, discuss, and present arguments about the background of the current war between Russia and Ukraine,” explained the moderator, who is now pursuing a doctoral education.
“If we look on television and social media, several International Relations (IR) academics, historians, or historical accounts on Twitter, for example, have begun to reopen historical sources regarding bilateral relations between Indonesia and Russia or between Indonesia and Russia. Indonesia with Ukraine. Some of the debates that arise are whether Indonesia should support Russia, or Indonesia should support Ukraine, or Indonesia should stay in a neutral position.” he continued.
Dr. Linda Sunarti, M. Hum. is a lecturer at the History Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, the University of Indonesia, concerned about Southeast Asia’s history, especially in the diplomatic aspect. The results of his thoughts have been published publicly, either in the form of books, articles, or proceedings, for example, a book entitled Brotherhood for a lifetime?: looking for a way to peacefully resolve the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, 1963-1966, published by Serat Alam Media in 2014, the article entitled, “Preserving Javanese identity and cultural heritage in Malaysia,” published in Cogent Arts & Humanities in 2021, and many other valuable works.
Dr. Linda provides valuable historical insight into diplomacy in ancient Hinduism. For example, in the Mahabharata epic, Krishna acts as a special representative of the Pandavas to negotiate and resolve problems peacefully with the Kauravas before the war broke out.
Furthermore, Dr. Linda also explained the form of diplomacy that does not only revolve around the soft diplomacy arena but also complex diplomacy and even aggressive diplomacy in the form of threats is also part of a country’s diplomatic strategy.
Often, diplomacy is equal to foreign policy (LN). Even though they both have slices, they don’t mean the same thing. According to Roy (1991), foreign policy is the overall foreign relations of a country and the form of goals, as well as the latest interests in formulating a decision based on adjustments between national interests and the international situation surrounding it. Meanwhile, diplomacy is part of the strategy to realize foreign policy, providing mechanisms and personnel for implementing a country’s foreign policy.
Dr. Linda also provides alternative topics that can be further explored, including Traditional Diplomacy (Inter-Kingdom), Revolutionary Period (Linggarjati, Renville, and KMB), Free-Active Diplomacy (KAA and NAM), Confrontation Diplomacy (Trikora), Diplomacy New Order Economics, Bilateral Relations, and Maritime Diplomacy (Djuanda Declaration, UNCLOS, etc.
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