The Renewal of Multi-Power Diplomacy

Abstract

W ZHEN WORLD WAR II came to an end one fact of enormous significance in international relations seemed above dispute: that world politics in the coming years would be dominated to an unprecedented extent by two Super-Powers-the United States and the Soviet Union. Indeed this proved for some years to be the case. At the same time the overwhelming dominance of these two powers, and the Cold War which was its logical consequence, is already in process of passing away. While no one could reasonably deny that the attitudes and wishes of the Super-Powers remain very important elements in contemporary international relations, both are obviously being forced to modify their policies to suit the national interests of other states far more than was the case a few short years ago. The change between I945 and 1953 is clearly illustrated when we consider, one, that in 1945, in the Potsdam Declaration, Germany's future was prescribed for her without benefit of German advice, and two, in I953, by contrast, President Eisenhower publicly reassured Chancellor Adenauer that no important decision concerning Germany would be taken at the Big Three Bermuda Conference without prior consultation with the Germans. No longer is the world and its destinies mere clay to be molded in the hands of the two power giants. Whether the two Super-Powers fully grasp the implications of the great changes now occurring is open to question, but the I953 riots in East Germany and Czechoslovakia and the sharp British criticism of recent American policy in the Far East are symptomatic of the changes even now taking place. So far has the process already gone that no Super-Power conference