The present and the past, the dawn of the distant future and the flickering shadow of the bygone centuries - all this can be described in just one word - history.
This science arose as soon as a person learned to write, read and count when people came to the top of their evolutionary status. History allows not only to see the past through the prism of time, shrouded in mystery, but also to predict some events of the future. At its core, history is not an isolated science. For a clear view of the past, in order to know the way of life, the foundations of society, the political system, architecture and culture of bygone times, the history includes a whole array of other sciences, each of which has its own importance. All these sciences help in small pieces to collect the whole picture of the distant past.
What is diplomacy?
Modern scientists are increasingly trying to understand and see the history of past years. But in the process of long studies, people were able to see and describe almost all historical events in general. Thus, it was possible to create a kind of “historical tree”, the facts of which are known to everyone who graduated from high school.
But the “tree" itself is not true in its purest form, therefore, scientists of the 21st century are increasingly engaged in the reconstruction of microhistory, which will help to more accurately see what was once.
In the process of creating this category, people study almost everything: life, culture, architecture, law, etc. But documents of the time having legal status are of the greatest importance. It follows that diplomacy is a historical science that studies historical documents or acts, as they are most often called. Documents include not only domestic acts of legislative bodies, but also interstate treaties. Many people think that diplomacy is an auxiliary discipline, although this is fundamentally not so, because it has its own functions, tasks, subject and methods. Consequently, it is impossible to talk about the supporting role of this science, since diplomacy is a kind of boundary between general history and microhistory.
Types of documents studied by diplomacy
Diplomacy as a special historical discipline studying not all documents, but only those that have unique historical value, and they, in turn, are very few. Their characteristic features allow us to distinguish several major groups, namely:
1. Legal acts first appeared when people learned to write and read, and also moved from a community to a slave system. This led to the creation of a complex mechanism whose goal was management.
Relying only on brute force became impossible, so people began to use special acts to rule each other in the middle of the state. The first group can include domestic acts of various authorities. Therefore, diplomacy is a science that studies the acts of the authorities of a single state.
2. The second group includes international acts whose purpose was to create certain relations between states, for example, diplomatic or commercial.
3. The third group includes domestic acts, but there is one point.
If the first group included acts of
legislative power, then the second group includes legal acts that implemented internal
power policy.
Subject of science diplomacy
What does diplomacy mean? To answer this question, it is necessary to study in detail the subject of this science. The subject of diplomacy is historical legal acts that are of particular value. With their help, you can find out those relations (domestic or foreign) that were relevant at the time of adoption of the act. Thus, the subject of diplomacy is a kind of framework in which its object is studied - state-legal relations contained in legal acts. In the framework of the subject, historical events that were before and after the adoption of the act, as well as the structure of the document, are studied.
Diplomacy methodology
No science can exist without a special circle of methods that it uses to study its subject. Diplomacy in this sense is no exception. The mere meaning of the word "diplomacy" (from the French - letter, document) makes it possible to understand the methodological basis of science.
The main method of diplomacy is the historical and legal method. Its essence is that it studies the legal essence of the act itself and helps to see the historical and political situation that accompanied the adoption of the document. The methodological base can help not only in the process of studying the document, but it will also answer the question of what diplomacy is. Because in the process of its application, a comprehensive knowledge of a certain situation takes place, for the elimination or creation of which a legal act was issued.
Diplomacy: science and academic discipline
Such a scientific category as diplomacy can be considered in two different dimensions: as a science and as an educational discipline. The science of diplomacy is of practical importance for scientists engaged in the scientific research of historical documents. It is science that affects the process of cognition by people of legal acts of different times. Also in the field of view of science is the process of creating theories and concepts that will make it possible to more effectively implement the entire methodological base of diplomacy.
As an academic discipline, diplomacy is a “school” that trains real professionals in the field of research on ancient texts. It is with the help of this discipline in special educational institutions that highly qualified specialists in their field are trained.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it must be said that diplomacy is an important science in the entire array of historical disciplines. It helps to see the distant past in a much more detailed way, by studying the legal acts of various powers.