The execution of foreign policy through government agencies; the conduct of relations between politically independent entities and through bilateral negotiations and multinational conferences and organizations.
The word is derived from the Greek, diploma, as these were the credentials given to official envoys. Since its emergence in Europe after the breakdown of the hierarchical order of the Middle Ages, the nation state has spread across the world as the universal basic unit in international relations. This situation has extended the utility of diplomacy as a strategy, such that very few groups, mainly rebels or refugees from national states, are not included.
Diplomacy is a polite term for official prevarication. It is inseparably connected with placing narrow national interests first, and, among the diplomatic corps, degenerate self-indulgence.