FSC 731 ASSIGNMENT (GROUP 3)

INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION

SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF DIPLOMATS.

CARRIED OUT BY

ADESUYI ADEKUNLE G. 152537

AJAYI AYOOLA OLUWASEUN 129328

AREO HENRY ABOLADE 152540

ASUBIARO VICTOR TOLUWASE 152877

FADITAN AYODELE OLANIYI 115649

OYAWALE RONKE OLUWAYEMISI 152883

SALAMI WASILAT OLAYINKA 152884

TAIWO YOMI MICHEAL 153386

COURSE LECTURER: DR. (MRS.) ADEYINKA

AFRICA REGIONAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE,

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN

MAY, 2010

ABSTRACT

This study is designed to find out the information need and information seeking behaviour of

diplomats. A pictorial model of the study was done using the Information Seeking of

Professionals model.

INTRODUCTION

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of

groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international

relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-

making, trade, war, economics, culture, environment and human rights. International treaties

are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians. In an

informal or social sense, diplomacy is the employment of tact to gain strategic advantage or

to find mutually acceptable solutions to a common challenge, one set of tools being the

phrasing of statement in non-confrontational, or polite manner. The science of diplomatics,

dealing with the study of old documents, also owes its name to the above, but its present

meaning is completely distinct from that of diplomacy.

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or

international organisation. The main function of diplomat revolves around the representation

and protection of the interest and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of

information and friendly relations.

Diplomats in posts collect and report information that could affect national interests, often

with advice about how the home country government should respond. Then, once any policy

response has been decided in the home country's capital, posts bear major responsibility for

implementing it. Diplomats have the job of conveying, in the most persuasive way possible,

the views of the home government to the governments to which they are accredited and, in

doing so, to try to convince those governments to act in ways that suit home country interests.

In this way, diplomats are part of the beginning and the end of each loop in the continuous

process through which foreign policy is made.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF DIPLOMACY.

Diplomacy can be defined as the art and practice of conducting negotiations between

nations, and as skill in handling affairs without causing hostility. Almost 5,000 years ago,

messengers traveled to and from the city-states of Mesopotamia on missions of war and

peace. Clay tablets discovered in Persia, now known as Iran, tell the story of these early

diplomatic missions.

Diplomatic tradition dates back to the cities of ancient Greece, where messengers known as

“heralds” were the first diplomats. People believed the Greek gods protected these heralds,

so no one dared to harm them as they carried messages between warring states. The Greeks

were also the first to grant immunity to diplomatic representatives and their possessions, a

practice still used throughout the world. The Romans later built on the Greek system of

diplomacy. They were the first to apply the idea of the sanctity of contracts to treaties with

foreign nations and that idea is the foundation for international law today.

Diplomat is the oldest form of any of the foreign policy institutions of the state, predating

foreign ministries, foreign ministers and ministerial office by countries.

The diplomats were trio from Washington DC, whose early origins goes back to 1958 and a

quintet named Tiny Tim and the hits. Formed by William Collier, Thomas Price, Lionel

Brown, Orlester Smith and Howard Timothy Wilson; the group had a pair of singles on

Roulette; ‘Wedding Bells’ and ‘Golden moments’.

The ability to practice diplomacy is one of the defining elements of a state. Diplomacy has

been practiced since the first city-state were formed millennia ago in ancient Greece. For

most of human history diplomat were sent only for specific negotiations, and would return

immediately after the mission has been concluded. Diplomats were usually relative of the

ruling or of very high rank to give them legitimacy when they sought to negotiate with the

other state.

The origins of diplomacy lie in the strategic and competitive exchange of impressive gifts ,

which may be traced to the bronze age and recognized as an aspect of Homeric guest-

friendship. Thus diplomacy and trade have inexorably linked from the outset.

Some of the earliest known diplomat record are the Amarna letters written between the

Pharaohs of the eighteen dynasty of Egypt and the Amurru rulers of Caanan during the

fourteen century BC. Following the battle of Kadesh in 1274BC during the 19 th dynasty, the

Pharaoh of Egypt and ruler of Hitttite empire created one of the first known international

peace treaties which survives in stone tablets fragments.

MODERN DIPLOMACY

Early modern diplomacy’s origins are often traced to the state of Northern Italy in the early

Renaissance, with the first embassies being established in the thirteen century. From Italy the

practice was spread to other part of European regions. Milan was the first to send a

representatives to the court of France in 1455.

During that period the rules of modern diplomacy were further developed. The top rank of

representatives was an ambassador. At that time an ambassador was nobleman, the rank of

the noble assigned varying with the prestige of the country he was delegated to. The elements

of modern diplomacy slowly spread to eastern Europe, Russia arriving by early 18 th century

and later to Asia, ancient India, China and finally African states.

In 1914 the countries of Europe were thrust into another violent confrontation. The carnage

of World War I brought the European system of diplomacy into disrepute. U.S. President

Woodrow Wilson was the chief critic of the European diplomatic system and the proponent

of a new type of open diplomacy and collective security. Wilson's primary targets were the

theory and practice of the balance of power, the distinction between great and small powers,

the pursuit of national interests, secret agreements and treaties, and professional diplomats.

CONDUCT OF DIPLOMACY IN NIGERIA

Until the 1960s, there was no ministry of foreign affairs, but an external affairs department,

together with units that performed routine administrative and protocol functions. The history

of the ministry started since the first republic when Alhaji Tafawa Balewa become the prime

minister and established Nigeria’s diplomatic mission abroad, balance representation between

Europe and Africa and accelerate the recruitment of external affairs. Diplomacy in Nigeria

dated back to 1960 when Nigeria got its independence. The government need to send

individuals outside their home country to be a representative of Nigeria. This makes Nigeria

to be involved in world politics and to be relevant in Africa and the world at large. The

Ministry of External Affairs is directly responsible for foreign policy formulation and

implementation. Because matters were usually left in the hands of the minister, diplomats and

his officials, foreign policy positions could change radically from one minister to another,

depending on the minister's orientation.

The early system of foreign ministry in Nigeria was laden with: the training programme

favoured generalists rather than specialists in international relations, there was lack of

effective co-ordination between the foreign affairs and other related ministries, emphasis

were on the job training; which is most inadequate means of preparing people for careers in

diplomacy and policy making and no organisational relationship for inter-ministerial, inter-

departmental, and federal regional co-ordinating programmes and overseas activities.

LITERTURE REVIEW ON DIPLOMACY

Diplomacy has generally been seen by various countries as a way of improving bilateral

relationship between two countries. This has also help countries in forming alliances with

each other to achieve a goal. The goal of foreign policy is to further our national interests,

and diplomacy is the chief instrument of foreign policy. One of the most reliable and

successful tactics of diplomacy is negotiation. And it’s a tactic with a very long history (US

Department of state).

O. B. C. Nwolise in his article stated that, diplomacy in very simple expressions is the

planning and management of relations between nations by the representatives of a country

abroad; it also means at lower level, skill or art of dealing with people or situations.

At higher level diplomacy is conceptualized by Amstutz as: the process by which states and

other international actors pursue official international relations, reconciling, competing and

conflicting interests through negotiations.

Also Hans Morgenthau’s views again is about diplomacy which he perceives as the act of

bringing the different elements of national power to bear with maximum effect upon those

points in international situation which concern the national interest most directly.

Diplomacy is a popular board game in which players assume the roles of the major

protagonists of world war one. It is a game of negotiations; alliances, promises kept and

promise broken. In order to survive a player needs help from others. Knowing whom to trust,

when to trust them, what to promise, and when to promise it is at the heart of the game. In

this, it provides an exciting and unique environment for negotiation, and one which can

generalise to an enormous number of applications (Jaspreet Shaheed).

METHODOLOGY

Indirect method was used for gathering information whereby existing documentation which

constitute secondary source of information were reviewed and analysed.

MODEL USED

The model of information seeking of professionals

The Information Seeking of Professionals model. (Source, Leckie,et al. 1996)

The information seeking of professionals model depicts information needs and information

seeking behaviour arising from tasks that are embedded in work roles. To understand a

professional's information needs, a researcher must examine in detail the work environment

and its inherent tasks. The foremost role of all professionals, according to Leckie et al.

(1996), is the provision of service to their clients. In this service-related role, professionals

may be required to carry out a number of tasks that prompt different information needs.

Variables such as context, complexity, and predictability influence the information need.

Where and when professionals seek information depends on many factors, such as

experience, personal knowledge, time constraints, trustworthiness of source, accessibility,

and cost. Finally, outcomes may be the end point, when the information need has been

satisfied. If the need is not satisfied, there is a feedback loop, indicating that information

seeking may continue until the need has been met. Given the undercover work of diplomats,

the model of information seeking of professionals may be helpful in understanding their

information needs and information seeking behaviour.

This information seeking of professionals model can be used to explain the information

seeking behaviour and need of diplomats. The diplomats should understand the detail of their

work environment so as to pin point the task that should be carried out in the work

environment. To understand the information seeking behaviour and needs of diplomats, a

researcher must examine in detail the work environment and its inherent tasks. The foremost

role of all diplomats, according to the above diagram, is the use of highly classified

information. In this service-related role, diplomats may be required to carry out a number of

tasks that prompt different information needs. Where and when diplomats seek information

depends on many factors, such as experience, personal knowledge, time constraints,

trustworthiness of source, accessibility. Finally, outcomes may be the end point, when this

has been satisfied. If the need is not satisfied, there is a feedback loop, indicating that

information seeking may continue until the need of a diplomat has been met.

EXPECTED OUTCOME OF INFORMATION USE BY DIPLOMATS

The main functions of diplomats revolve round the representation and protection of the

national interests of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and friendly

relations. These diplomats are the image of the country they are representing, they carry out

their duty by obtaining information from both countries (the sending state and the foreign

country) in order to develop stronger bilateral relationship between their home country and

the country where they work as a diplomat. They also get information about their citizens in

different countries for the diplomats to communicate with the home country on the welfare of

these citizens and ways of improving their welfare in these foreign countries.

Diplomats are the oldest form of any of the foreign policy institutions of the state, predating

foreign ministries, foreign ministers and ministerial offices by centuries. Diplomats in post

collect and report information that could affect national interests, often with advice about

how the home country government should respond. Then, once any policy has been decided

in the home country's capital, diplomats bear major responsibility for implementing it.

Diplomats perform the job of conveying, in the most persuasive way possible, the views of

the home government to the governments to which they are delegated and, in doing so, to try

to convince those governments to act in ways that suit home country interests. Diplomats act

as middle man between their home country and the country where they work. This makes

them managers and disseminators of vital information between home country and the foreign

policy. In this way, diplomats are part of the beginning and the end of each loop in the

continuous process through which foreign policy is made.

 There is one common denominator for the performance of diplomats, and that is skill in

communication. It is communication of a very special kind, which must be learned, but

without the basic aptitude for communication a diplomat cannot be successful in his manifold

tasks. Contrary to the traditional image of a diplomat as a highly polished individual who is

so circumspect in what he says that it requires a special talent (allegedly found only in other

diplomats) to figure out what he is communicating, it has been found that plain speaking is an

essential ingredient for a diplomat's success. He must of course be tactful and sometimes

artful in the way he communicates, but the message must come through clearly and precisely.

Articulateness in explaining, reporting, defending, and discussing information on his

country's position and other matters is essential. For communication among diplomats is a

two-way direction: one cannot expect to obtain much information unless one is able and

willing to convey information. 

A good diplomat must be precise. Experience teaches us that the higher the summit the

flimsier the agreements. A good diplomat also needs a sense of humour. He should always

have some remarks ready to ease tension once negotiations get near a breaking point.

INFORMATION THAT EMANATES FROM DIPLOMATS

Diplomats are professionals to the core. They deal with highly classified information. These

information might be kept at times from common people in the society. The information that

emanates from diplomats are information that has been reviewed and certified by the home

country. These information are then passed to the public for use after the home country has

certified it and also these highly classified information are well kept for future references.

The users of information that emanates from these information need are professionals

and well educated individuals who we can also refer to as innovators in the Rogers theory of

diffusion. These innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are

willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial

lucidity, very social and have closest contact to professional sources and interaction with

other innovators. Diplomats must have unusual stature in order to be successful, they must be

well-read, well-spoken, they must have a thorough knowledge of international affairs, and

they must be persons of cosmopolitan tastes and attitudes.

The best diplomats are people who, in addition to a thorough knowledge of their own country

and the country of their assignment, also have a well-rounded view of the world (Weltbild)

into which what was happening could be fitted. Without such a world picture it is virtually

impossible to reach a firm conclusion about the significance of developments. Nowadays

politics permeates every field of state activity. Any small war anywhere has the potential of

leading to a world conflagration. The growing closeness and interdependence of nations and

the interaction of their public opinions have had the result that the acid of ideological

indoctrination seeps into every cleft of international and internal differences. No wonder that

any cool assessment of the moving forces of our times requires increased knowledge, sound

judgment, and the ability to attach the proper importance to what is happening in a large

variety of fields. A good ambassador must understand the significance also of things that

happen outside the area where he is accredited.

INFORMATION GENERATION WITHIN THE SYSTEM AND DISSEMINATION

TO INTENDED USERS.

The system here is a highly structured information system. They deal with highly classified

information in the system. Diplomats get their information from the country where they work

and send information to their home country. These classified information are used by the

home country to improve their bilateral relationship with the foreign country. The diplomats

also disseminate and pass vital information to his countrymen.

Communication, includes not only collecting and conveying information to and from one's

government; it also means negotiating both in the sense of developing concrete agreements

and in the sense of adjusting differences and lining up support outside of concrete

agreements. While skillful reporting makes the reputation of the ambassador, negotiating is

the real essence of his activity. Negotiating is not just sitting at a table where two or more

countries more or less oppose one another. It begins a long time before a date is set for sitting

down at the table. The process of softening up the other side is almost as important as the

exchange of more or less brilliant arguments at the negotiating table.

The diplomat must convince the other government of the importance of the subject under

negotiation, and of a compromise useful to his own country. But he must also convince his

own government of the limits within which a compromise can be found (or even whether a

compromise is necessary). People at home are often inclined to consider the limits

recommended by an ambassador as due to excessive caution on his part, alienation from his

own country, or plain. The worst thing would be to recommend or predict an outcome of the

negotiations which turns out to be too pessimistic, for instance if the foreign ministry then

sends out someone "stronger" who finds that he could "easily" obtain more than the

ambassador had thought possible. To find the right course between these conflicting

assessments needs skill, experience, courage, and a cool head. 

Like anyone who wishes to be successful in a competitive environment, a diplomat must have

good judgment. This goes almost without saying, but good judgment today doesn't mean

what good judgment meant at the time of sailing ships and horse-drawn carriages. When

important things are happening, the ambassador's interpretation of them must be prompt if it

is going to do any good because the press will be doing its own interpreting and so will other

governments. Therefore reporting and analysis must sometimes be not only timely but almost

instantaneous. Good judgment today must come faster than it did a generation ago. And if an

ambassador has in his mind a concept of the interrelationship between events around the

world, he is more likely to be listened to and his judgments will carry greater weight. This

applies both to his written communications to his capital and his oral exchanges with officials

of the country to which he is accredited.

Global companies could learn from diplomacy and how global companies could improve

their effectiveness by setting up a company-wide Business Diplomacy Management function

and by developing and utilizing competent in-house Business Diplomacy Managers.

This will ensure successful management of two simultaneous challenges by global

companies. Global companies must succeed in the business they are in and at the same time

show competence in managing multiple stakeholders at home and abroad. While it is of key

importance to have the right products and services at the right price, global companies might

not be able to deal successfully with obstacles emanating from outside of their direct sphere

of control. Recent examples of such cases are the destruction of production equipment

(sabotage of Shell Oil’s pipelines in Eastern Nigeria by dispossessed and oppressed minority

tribes), or the persistence of non-tariff trade barriers of Japan’s telecom industry (Cable &

Wireless’s difficulties in acquiring International Digital Communications against strong

opposition by Japan’s NTT Company)

Facing such challenges, global companies require business competencies that most global

managers have no background or training in. The competencies needed to deal with foreign

country interests, multiple domestic and foreign pressures groups or international conflict

demand that global companies acquire organizational competency in Business Diplomacy

Management. This competency would help build bridges between their core business and the

complex political environments within which they conduct business. Many needed attributes

of a Business Diplomacy Manager are comparable to the competency profile of a political

diplomat.

Diplomacy is a zero-sum, completely strategic and deterministic game, in which the focus is

negotiation. Developing a Diplomat necessitates integrating the strategic and tactical with an

understanding of very human qualities. A Diplomat needs to be able to negotiate, to explain

and reason, to know if and when to lie, as well as if it is being lied to. As such, it provides a

perfect testbed for artificial intelligence and cognitive science research.

AIMS OF DIPLOMATS

The Diplomat’s aim is to play Diplomacy. To this end, it needs an appreciation of the game

on all of its levels. This task can be split into providing a treatment of: Strategy and Tactics:

The Diplomat should appreciate, or simulate, both the strategy, and tactics required for

Diplomacy. Ultimately, it should recognise

good sets of orders, and bad sets of orders. Negotiation: The Diplomat should be able to

determine which potential exchanges are desirable, and, exploit some mechanism to attain

them. The potential exchanges should be agreements similar to those made by Diplomacy

players. Deceit: The Diplomat should be able to lie when it believes it is beneficial to do so.

Additionally, it should be able to react to other Diplomats lying, using a rationale similar to

that of Diplomacy players. The Diplomat should, to a certain extent, ’learn’ as to which

Diplomat’s lie frequently or not. Note, that modelling some aspects of Diplomacy were not

attempted, for instance, natural language processing, even to the extent used in Diplomacy is

beyond the scope of this project.

COMMERCIAL DIPLOMACY & THE COMMERCIAL DIPLOMAT

Commercial diplomacy is diplomacy with a commercial twist-diplomacy designed to

influence foreign government policy that affects global trade and investment. Commercial

diplomacy encompasses the analysis, advocacy and negotiating chain leading to international

agreements on the increasingly diverse set of trade-related issues. The number of people

involved in making and influencing trade policy has grown in tandem with the number of

issues covered by trade negotiations. In today's increasingly interdependent world, trade

negotiations address a broad range of government regulations and actions that affect

international commerce. They cover, for example:

• Tariffs, quotas, and customs procedures.

• Health, safety, and consumer and environmental protection standards.

• Regulation of such service industries as banking, telecommunications and accounting.

• Laws concerning fair competition, bribery, and corruption.

• Industry specific subsidy programs such as agricultural support programs.

The most visible commercial diplomats are those who work in ministries of trade and

industry-those who negotiate international trade and investment agreements and resolve

policy conflicts that impact international commerce. Commercial diplomacy skills are also

required, however, by officials in other government departments and international

organizations that have a stake in trade policy, including those concerned with foreign affairs,

finance, agriculture, industry, labor, health, environmental protection, bank regulation,

telecommunications, air transportation, and the licensing of professionals. Finally,

commercial diplomacy skills are required by professionals and managers in the following

fields of work:

• Corporate government relations departments.

• Overseas subsidiaries that interact with host government officials on a daily basis.

• Industry associations.

• Unions.

• Non-governmental organizations.

Because these individuals have a stake in the outcome of trade policy decisions, they engage

in the domestic and global analyses, and advocacy and coalition-building processes that

precede negotiations on international trade and investment issues. In order to influence this

process, they need to be effective public speakers.

Commercial diplomacy encompasses the entire analysis, advocacy and negotiating chain

leading to international agreements on trade-related issues. Commercial diplomacy is all

about persuasion, for which presentations play a vital role. The commercial diplomat must

make effective use of such communicative advocacy tools such as public testimony,

speeches, interviews, and debates. Learning to create and present public presentations

effectively is critical to the commercial diplomat and her ability to negotiate effectively.

CONCLUSION ON CONDUCT OF DIPLOMACY

Diplomacy is not a game of one-size-fits-all and therefore should be allowed to run in the

best way it suites individual nation and in the interest of the world peace. Diplomats are

rational. By this, it is meant that Diplomats seek to win the game, and are neither altruistic

nor malicious. Diplomats only view winning the game outright as a goal. This contrasts with

other ways of scoring Diplomacy. The assumption that agents only aim for an outright win

simplifies the design and implementation of the Diplomat. Diplomats do not know other

Diplomat’s strategies, and cannot guess them. This is a very important distinction, which very

much changes the complexion of the project. It is made because of the nature of Diplomacy.

There should not be a set of finite strategies from which a Diplomat can choose at any point.

Any negotiation could have occurred at any point in the game. To know probabilities for

another Diplomat’s actions would imply that some bound as the complexity of the

negotiation exists.

REFERENCES

Allan Gyngell and Michael Wesley (2003): Making Austrialian Foreign Policy. Cambridge

University Press. Cambridge. pp 106

Eve Connell & Jill Stoffers (1998): Public Speaking for the Commercial Diplomat. The

International Commercial Diplomacy Project, Inc.

Goffman, Daniel (2004).”Negotiating with the Renaissance State: The Ottoman Empire and

The New Diplomacy.” In The Early Modern Ottomans: Remapping the Empire. Eds.

Virginia Aksan and Daniel Goffman. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. pp 61

Raymond Saner, Lichia Yiu, Mikael Sondergaard (2001). Business Diplomacy

Management:A Core Competency for Global Companies.

Stuart Seldowitz (2004): The Psychology of Diplomatic Conflict Resolution, in H. J.

Langholtz and C. E. Stout, Eds. The Psychology of Diplomacy. Westport press. Praeger.

Historical discontinuity between diplomatic practice of the ancient and medieval worlds and

modern diplomacy has been questioned; see, for instance, Pierre Chaplais, English

Diplomatic Practice in the Middle Ages (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003),

pp. 1 online

Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.com; the free encyclopedia

FSC 731 ASSIGNMENT (GROUP 3)

INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION SEEKING

BEHAVIOUR OF DIPLOMATS.

CARRIED OUT BY

ADESUYI ADEKUNLE G. 152537

AJAYI AYOOLA OLUWASEUN 129328

AREO HENRY ABOLADE 152540

ASUBIARO VICTOR TOLUWASE 152877

FADITAN AYODELE OLANIYI 115649

OYAWALE RONKE OLUWAYEMISI 152883

SALAMI WASILAT OLAYINKA 152884

TAIWO YOMI MICHEAL 153386

COURSE LECTURER: DR. (MRS.) ADEYINKA

AFRICA REGIONAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE,

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN

MAY, 2010