Bilateral Disputes Research Articles

Do populists escalate international disputes?

Abstract Among the potentially most consequential effects of populism is its impact on countries' international conflict behaviour. However, empirical evidence about populists' approach to international disputes is inconclusive. We develop a theoretical framework focused on mobilization and personalization, which we argue are particularly relevant characteristics of populist foreign policy-making. We hypothesize that, on a conflict–cooperation continuum, a country's approach to a bilateral dispute will become more conflictive under a populist government if that dispute is strongly used for domestic political mobilization, and if decision-making on that issue is highly personalized. Conversely, foreign policy will not become more conflictive in cases of weak mobilization and personalization. We carry out in-depth qualitative within-case comparisons of non-populist and populist governments' policies in Bolivia (2002–2019), India (2004–2022), and the Philippines (2010–2022), focusing on two selected bilateral disputes per country. Drawing on a broad range of sources, including 71 expert interviews conducted in the three countries, we find that populists in power escalate international disputes if they strongly use foreign policy issues for domestic mobilization and, at the same time, strongly personalize decision-making. This finding nuances existing assessments about the effect of populism on foreign policy change.

Good Neighbourly Relations: Norm Emergence and Adoption

ABSTRACT This article studies the politics of regional cooperation and regionalism, with particular attention to “good neighbourly relations”, which has emerged as a new concept in the field. Since the early 1990s, the Balkan countries have pursued attempts to link with each other in regional platforms and networks. Applying the concept of “good neighbourly relations”, this article seeks to reveal how the countries of the region have pursued regional cooperation while facing the reality of persistent bilateral disputes among themselves. While influential studies point to a growing cleavage among neighboring countries, this article seeks to further the understanding of regional cooperation with an assessment of the emergence and rise of the concept of “good neighbourly relations” to a norm of regionalism. By applying a social constructivist perspective this article investigates whether, and how, “good neighbourly relations” functioned as a channel of diffusion of norms pertaining to regionalism and regional cooperation in the Balkans. The article suggests that “good neighbourly relations” provided an opportunity for norm diffusion. By allowing the emerging norm of “good neighbourly relations” to guide regionalism efforts, the ambitions to promote the norm regionally as well as globally were supported.

Maximizing Trade Benefits Through Strategic WTO Dispute Filings: A Quantitative Analysis of Optimal Initiation

The study investigates the asymmetrical distribution of bilateral dispute initiations at the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System (WTO-DSS) between specific country pairs. The study introduces a novel concept of dispute depth to examine how the asymmetrical bilateral dispute initiation affects bilateral trade among disputing dyads and to optimize the number of disputes that a country should file to maximize its trade benefit. By using the augmented Structural Gravity Model of trade and the PPMLHDFE estimator with extensive trade data for the years 1995–2022, across selected WTO member countries, the article demonstrates that an increase in the dispute depth decreases the bilateral trade between disputing dyads. Further, the study finds that the WTO member countries should strategically file no more than three disputes per year to maximize their trade gains. The study has important ramifications in the ambiguous world of WTO-DSS and paves the way for implementing the optimal number of disputes into trade dispute strategy, policy-making decisions and business environment of the constantly evolving international trade landscape.

Роль Евросоюза в (де)стабилизации постъюгославского пространства

Since the launch of the Stabilization and Association Process in 1999, the European Union has become the main conflict mediator on the post-Yugoslav space. The EU’s policy towards the region of the so-called Western Balkans implies the juxtaposition of integration and conflict settlement goals, which was not the case during the previous enlargement waves. Besides promoting peacebuilding initiatives through traditional foreign policy instruments, Brussels has been practicing a complicated system of incentives and sanctions related to the European integration procedures. Progress of the post-Yugoslav republics in enlargement is conditional on their willingness to implement particular requirements. The article analyzes the efficiency of the European Union’s conditionality from the perspective of regional stability. The ambivalence of such approach lies in politicization of peacebuilding agenda as the EU advances its specific image of recent civil wars in the Balkans. Using the methods of retrospective analysis of European politics, including foreign policy documents, the author substantiates the political nature of the demands made by Brussels on the parties to the conflicts. The distinct feature of the EU enlargement policy is the hierarchization of actors in foreign policy processes, which provides various countries with different negotiating power. This conditionality, due to the value contradictions within the communities, leads to the point when the applied measures of settlement lead not to the expected normalization, but to the aggravation of the situation and polarization of the parties. Thus, the author identifies the discrepancy between the declared objectives of the European Union as a mediator and the practical results. This inconsistency has prompted the decay of neighbor relations on the post-Yugoslav space as the EU member states attempted to instrumentalize their position within the Union for the ultimate solution of bilateral disputes with candidate countries, blocking the integration process in general.

Dometi meke moći Republike Srbije na postjugoslovenskom prostoru

The states created after the breakup of Yugoslavia, in modern circumstances, continue to cooperate in various socio-political areas, although their mutual relations are largely shaped by a rich history and burdened by events from the end of the 20th century, which often represent an obstacle in fulfilling the full potential of cooperation and mutual influence. Regardless of the obstacles that objectively exist, it is necessary to take into account the similarities between the people of states that emerged from Yugoslavia, which significantly affect the manifestation of soft power. The research is theoretically based on Joseph Nye's concept of soft power. In the methodological sense, the research is based on the scientific method of interview. During the research process, methods of content and discourse analysis, historical methods, as well as induction and deduction methods were used. The basic research question that the authors strive to answer is: What is the perception of the soft power of the Republic of Serbia in the post-Yugoslav area? The paper offers the answer to the question What are the basic obstacles and the most prominent potentials of the soft power of the Republic of Serbia in the post-Yugoslav space? The research results indicate that the countries of the post-Yugoslav area are to a high extent susceptible to the soft power influence of Serbia, which is facilitated by the factors of mutual historical, cultural, and linguistic interconnectedness. However, the findings of the research show that in addition to the factors of mutual connection, which facilitate the influence of the soft power of the Republic of Serbia, other factors tend to weaken the possibility of the influence of Serbia's soft power. The scope of Serbia's soft power in the post-Yugoslav countries is most visible in the sphere of culture, music, films, TV series, and contemporary literature. In addition, Serbia's potential is reflected in its capacity to initiate social, political, and cultural regional initiatives, as well as reconciliation initiatives. The results indicate that Serbia is seen as a regional factor that can influence the expansion of soft power in the post-Yugoslav sphere through economic activity. The biggest obstacles to projecting Serbia's soft power relate to the war legacy from the end of the last century, opposing narratives about controversial historical events, unresolved bilateral disputes, but also prejudices associated with the negative image of Serbia at the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Migration control entangled with local histories: The case of Greek–Turkish regime of bordering

Migration and border studies have reconceptualized and examined borders as sites of contestation, stressing the productive effects of (illegalized) migration control on established notions of citizenship. These accounts have predominantly focused on illegalized migration and on contemporary contestations around these mobilities. This article expands these efforts by suggesting that migration control and contestations (and the limits thereof) can be understood only by considering the dynamic yet historically and geographically specific modes of any given border, which I aim to capture through the concept of regime of bordering. This concept refers to the fact that contemporary borders against illegalized migration are founded on pre-existing regimes of citizenship, bilateral relations, and migration. My historically informed ethnographic research on both sides of the Greek–Turkish border in Thrace demonstrates the continuing impact of unresolved bilateral disputes and centralized state power in a highly militarized region to align state and nonstate actors with migration control at an “external border” of the EU. Studying politics of migration control from a long durée perspective and as part of a composite regime of bordering takes us beyond a “presentist” view on recent contestations around illegalized migration, deepening our understanding of (the lack of) local acts of citizenship.

Revisionism and (evil) the use of history by Bulgaria towards Northern Macedonia and its integration into the European Union

History is a social science, which is concurrently humanistic since it offers not only knowledge about the past, but through the study of historical processes and phenomena influences the creation of a representation of today's concepts and social processes. History is the foundation on which the personality of each individual is built and formed, particularly in education where history models the mankind about their knowledge of themselves and others. Unfortunately, in more or less all Balkan historiographies there is a certain extent of history mythologizing, reinterpretation of facts depending on the needs of usually the government or certain structures and centers of power, and the imposition of truth that should not be discussed, or what is written in textbooks. That is why the mentioned structures create purposeful crises, and then they manage them and, if necessary, resolve them. Socio-political relations are changing and most frequently, apart from a small circle of people who have an interest, ordinary people and society as a whole suffer from long-term harmful consequences that can often get out of control. That is why history has become a powerful weapon that is very often used to manipulate and achieve various, mostly political goals. That is why it is difficult to be a historian in the Balkans! It is quite normal and logical for historians to argue and disagree about certain historical processes and phenomena, but the problem is that because of the above mentioned, historians become an instrument for achieving a certain goal and ideology. One such example is North Macedonia, which suffers consequences in its development, position in the world and realization of its strategic goals precisely because of the (mis)use of history and historical revisionism. This is particularly pronounced by the blocking of North Macedonia to start the negotiations for EU membership by Bulgaria due to the history and processes in the past that are not in line with the so-called Bulgarian historical narrative. Using an argument of force, not facts, using its better international position, Bulgaria creates and imposes a narrative on the Bulgarian identity of the Macedonian people, and the Macedonian language for the Bulgarian dialect, with the relativization of the then Bulgarian participation in the fascist coalition, and the negation of the occupying regime. This is utterly inappropriate for one state to intervene in this way on the history and historical facts of another state. Bilateral disputes are not new to Europe, but the way and pressure that Bulgaria is exerting on North Macedonia is morally and legally unjustified, in which a large part of historians are co-sponsors, becoming an instrument of certain structures. In addition to the analysis of controversial attitudes and positions as a result of historical revisionism of Bulgarian institutions and „historians“, the paper shows that the development of relations between the two countries is directly correlated with changes in government and governing structures, i.e, their ideologies and needs. The resolution of disputes related to the past is possible only with the application of modern approaches and depoliticization of history and its role in modern society.

Challenges of Ensuring the Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union within the Brexit Process

The UKs withdrawal from the European Union (EU), which is unprecedented and unique in the development of international integration processes, challenges the formalization of Brexit. The Brexit process was conditioned by the requirements of the EU legal order, including the need to ensure its basic principles. The Agreement on Britains withdrawal from the EU created the basis for regulating future relations between the parties, as well as the interaction of their legal orders. One of the most important aspects of Brexit is the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice. Based on the Withdrawal Agreement, the Court of Justice retained separate powers over the UK, despite the special dispute settlement mechanism, which can be considered a means to ensure the principle of the detachment of the EU legal order and the continuity of the Europeanization of the UKs national legal order. However, the specified mechanism for the settlement of bilateral disputes in the context of the EU Courts practice of observing the principle of detachment may complicate the implementation of the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, as well as in the future regulation of bilateral relations. In this article, well-known general and particular methods of scientific research are employed. This work aims to study the relevant problems of legal support for the UKs secession from the EU, considering the observance of the principle of autonomy, to analyze the established dispute settlement mechanism between the UK and the EU in the context of the practice of the EU Court of Justice, as well as issues of enabling its jurisdiction regarding a third state.

The Japan Differential? China's Policy toward Japan during the Trump Era

executive summary: This article seeks to explain China's seemingly preferential treatment of Japan during the Trump administration in the U.S.—in comparison to its harsh, "wolf warrior" style of diplomacy toward other countries that challenged its core interests—by examining the perspective of the Chinese government and policy elites with regard to Japan. main argument In recent years, Japan has been spared China's diplomatic intimidation to a large degree because of its uniquely advantageous bargaining position vis-à-vis China, derived from its economic and technological strength as well as its crucial role in an emerging security network in the Indo-Pacific. Japan's importance to China's regional ambitions was only magnified during the Trump administration when China battled the headwinds of both domestic and international challenges. But China's softer attitude to Japan proved more of a short-term gesture than a genuine change of heart toward the country, and most Chinese elites have felt little need for China to make substantial compromises to address Japan's deep-seated security concerns or to resolve thorny bilateral disputes. This argument complements two other commonly mentioned factors to explain a "Japan differential" in China's foreign policy during the Trump years: Japan's artful diplomacy in balancing its interests between the U.S. and China, and China's need for Japan as a counterweight to hedge against the Trump administration. policy implications • Treating Japan and other countries differentially was consistent with the advice of some Chinese strategists for moderation and retrenchment at a time when China faced an increasingly antagonistic U.S. and global isolation amid the Covid-19 pandemic. These factors created a policy space for China to forge limited détente with countries like Japan that were deemed to be a secondary threat (compared to the U.S.). • Because China's conciliatory gestures to Japan were for tactical expediency, Sino-Japanese relations in the foreseeable future will likely continue the cyclical pattern of alternating between friction and friendship that has been present over the past decade. • The Japan case shows that, due to China's security and economic anxieties under the shadow of the U.S.-China strategic rivalry, countries that are probable targets of China's coercive diplomacy have a chance to improve their position if they can identify and acquire certain key leverage points vis-à-vis China, either on their own or through international coordination.

EU Enlargement in Disregard of the Rule of Law: A Way Forward Following the Unsuccessful Dispute Settlement Between Croatia and Slovenia and the Name Change of Macedonia

EU enlargement has always been a political process. That said, the rule of law is an important aspect and principle of the EU enlargement policy. Implementation of EU driven reforms in candidate countries largely depends on the rule of law-based enlargement as well as on a clear EU perspective. Overpoliticisation of the enlargement process renders the EU’s enlargement law futile and undermines both the transformative effect of the pre-accession process and EU’s own values. The implementation of the enlargement condition for settlement of bilateral disputes, which became pronounced in the EU enlargement towards the Western Balkan countries, is having the negative effect of contributing to deterioration rather than promotion of the rule of law in both EU candidate countries and the EU’s enlargement process. Lack of predictability and rule of law accordingly, makes the effective application of the principle of conditionality impossible. A genuine reconsideration of the condition for settlement of bilateral disputes within the EU enlargement framework, clear EU perspective and viable way forward are urgently needed for bringing rule of law and the EU’s credibility on track.

Resolving Multilateral Transfer Pricing Disputes under the Current Tax Treaty and European Frameworks: Shortcomings and Possible Suggestions for Improvement

Over the past years, the number of transfer pricing disputes has been growing exponentially, while their nature is becoming more complex and multilateral. These trends are only expected to further intensify in the future. This article examines to what extent the currently available international and European dispute resolution frameworks, which have traditionally focused on bilateral dispute resolution, could be used by taxpayers and competent authorities to also resolve multilateral transfer pricing disputes in an effective and adequate manner.

Justifying economic coercion: the discourse of victimhood in China’s unilateral sanctions policy

China remains reluctant in claiming unilateral economic sanctions as a valid form of statecraft. China has consistently withheld official acknowledgment of its use of unilateral sanctions despite using them in different disputes. This has resulted to observations arguing that China is increasingly approaching the use of sanctions in a stealthier, therefore, more aggressive manner. It begs to ask, how does China’s reluctant attitude towards its use of unilateral economic sanctions fit into China’s overall foreign policy logic? More specifically, how does China’s victimhood discourse justify unilateral sanctions and at the same time, promote a positive identity of itself in light of coercion? This paper argues that China’s consistent vague acknowledgment and denial in claiming a direct hand on unilateral sanctions comes from its broad foreign policy objective of maintaining a positive identity through its discourse of victimhood. To uncover this understanding, this paper analyzes China’s official positions in six bilateral disputes where China has resorted to unilateral sanctions. While existing observations only stop at ‘plausible deniability’ as primary explanation for China’s vague rhetoric, analyzing China’s predication strategies provides a necessary nuancing in terms of how this peculiar behavior remains consistent with China’s overall foreign policy logic.

Serbia’s relations with its Western Balkan neighbours as a challenge for its accession to the EU

Serbia, as the second regional frontrunner (after Montenegro) in the EU accession process, hopes to be able to meet the required conditions and join the EU by 2025 which the European Commission 2018 enlargement strategy declared as the earliest possible date for the admission of new EU members. However, some of the EU’s expectations and requirements which Serbia has to meet, particularly those regarding the ‘normalisation’ of its relations with Kosovo and the resolution of ‘bilateral disputes’ which it has with some other neighbours, seem to be very tough and challenging for the Serbian government. The article discusses the recent developments in Serbia’s relations with its ‘most problematic’ neighbours and critically assesses the strength of problems in these relations as an obstacle for Serbia’s accession to the EU. The article shows that thanks to EU assistance and the commitment of interested parties to find a common ground, Serbia’s relations with Kosovo may become even less of an obstacle to its accession than its relations with its three western neighbours, particularly Croatia.

A AKIBAT HUKUM PEMBATALAN PERJANJIAN BILATERAL TERKAIT PINJAMAN KEPADA CHINA DALAM PERSPEKTIF HUKUM INTERNASIONAL

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) project initiated by the Chinese Government has gripped countries in the international community. Especially to Southeast Asia, where Malaysia and Indonesia are borrowing countries to China. Replacement of government in Malaysia related to corruption cases 1 MDB, resulting in changes in government policy Malaysia. The cancellation basis, because all the raw materials or the materials used are from China following also engineers and unskilled laborers, thus causing a massive migration from China to Malaysia. In the case of this cancellation, of course, the legal consequences for Malaysia as a borrowing country and China as a lending country. Unlike Indonesia, which until now, it is known that the Indonesian Government has established bilateral relations with the Chinese Government in terms of infrastructure development, such as: toll road and airport in Indonesia. The main problem in this study, namely if this bilateral dispute is brought to the International Court of Justice, is the mechanism for executing an international court decision to be issued later.

Bilateral relations in the Western Balkans as a challenge for EU accession

ABSTRACT Although the European Union pledges to ‘maintain [and reaffirm] the credible enlargement perspective for the Western Balkans,’ some of the new requirements which it demands the Western Balkan candidate states to meet in order to gain membership seem to be very demanding for the political leaderships of these states. This is particularly the case for the requirement that candidate states solve all their ‘bilateral disputes … as a matter of urgency’. While Montenegro hopes to solve its only remaining (though nearly thirty year old) dispute with Croatia over their maritime border sometime soon, the second regional frontrunner for EU membership, Serbia, and the other remaining Western Balkan states (with the partial exception of Albania) have many more (and more serious) problems to resolve with their neighbours. This article discusses the nature and origins of problems in several most complex bilateral relationships in the Western Balkans and critically assesses the difficulty these problems pose for the Western Balkan states’ accession to the EU.

The India–China bilateral relationship: a ‘serious and enduring rivalry’

ABSTRACT Sino-Indian relations have seen many ups and downs since the late 1940s. This paper surveys the bilateral relationship by considering their border dispute, status-competition, and economic relations before it examines various geostrategic points of contention, including: relations with Pakistan and the United States; bilateral water disputes; China's Belt and Road Initiative; nuclear weapons policies; and maritime competition in the Indian Ocean. The Galwan Valley incident in June 2020 – which saw Indian and Chinese soldiers killing each other with improvised weapons – is treated as an inflection point; thereafter the bilateral relationship has deteriorated from what T.V. Paul called a ‘managed and enduring rivalry' in 2018 into a ‘serious and enduring rivalry’ now. This finding provides wider context for the papers which follow in this special edition; these consider whether Sino-Indian rivalry presents, on balance, more opportunities or greater challenges to the smaller states in the Indian Ocean region.

Nuclear learning and US–China strategic stability in Asia

With intensifying US–China strategic rivalry in Asia, an increasingly salient issue of bilateral strategic stability is drawing growing attention from scholars and policy analysts alike. This paper examines how the nuclear arm competition between the two great powers, each driven by its (mis)perceptions of the other’s strategic intentions, and in the absence of adequate bilateral dialogues at the official level, runs serious risks of mutual misapprehension and miscalculation. Nuclear learning, in a way, offers some unique pathways for both countries to reassess their perceptions and find ways to engage each other and modify worse-case scenario preparation for war. With growing US–China strategic rivalry and a Trump administration determined to check if not derail China’s modernization process, one would expect Beijing to assess the situation, set its priorities, and develop strategies to manage the challenges. One of its priorities would be ensuring that bilateral disputes over security issues do not escalate to open military conflicts and risk escalation to nuclear exchanges largely as a result of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and miscalculation. At the same time, Beijing should be open to bilateral nuclear dialogue with Washington, not with an aim of revealing or accepting an upper limit on its nuclear arsenal, but to get a better understanding of the strategic, technical, and security implications of various potential agreements. Nuclear arms control measures remain viable options for the two powers to avoid nuclear Armageddon.

The Termination Agreement of Intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties: A Spaghetti-Bowl with Fewer Ingredients and More Questions

This article deals with the issue of the implementation of the Achmea judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) through the Termination Agreement of Bilateral Investment Treaties (‘Termination Agreement’, TA) between some Member States of the European Union (EU). The article focuses on the analysis of the TA provisions that terminate Bilateral Investment Treaties (‘intra-EU BITs’) and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) among EU Members. It also describes TA provisions regulating concluded, new, and pending arbitration proceedings having as a reference the date the CJEU issued the Achmea judgment. Also, it examines how the TA regulates pending arbitration proceedings and discusses how TA Members are allowed to resort to transitional measures to resolve their dispute, throughout an amicable resolution proceeding, if they fulfil some conditions. Further, the article analyses some systemic issues of the TA, some related to the EU investment protection regime, others regarding the legal implications for intra-EU BIT provisions for EU Member States which did not sign the TA. Further, the article examines some possible issues related to the legal nature of the TA under international law and EU law.

ICSID, Jurisdictional Basis, and Its Arbitral Perspectives: The Arbitral Tales of Umbrella Clause and Its Future

The development of international investment law in the last 50 years changed the paradigm of the standing before international law that individual investors have the right to directly institute investment claims even without having any contractual relationship with the host state. This non-privity nature of arbitration is more developed through a jurisprudence of arbitration tribunal adjudications. In this regard, the role played by ICSID is very pivotal. Among the jurisdictional basis of ICSID tribunals, the umbrella clause is one of a common basis of jurisdiction that frequently existed in the majority of Bilateral Investment Disputes. But, the heyday of this century seems not a time of both ICSID as well as umbrella clauses after 50 years' ups and downs of the development of international investment law. Two situations can be easily grasped. On the one hand, ICSID has now faced different critiques, such as lack of consistency of decisions and predictability, and on the other hand, the prominent umbrella clause also faced such inconsistency of application and interpretation before ICSID tribunals. The way outs employed by the stakeholders seems that reforming ICSID, and retreating from adopting the umbrella clause in BITS. Therefore, the paper argued that centric approach should be adopted to heal out of the ill syndrome of the international investment legal regime and adjudication.

Traditional or Modern Diplomatic Approaches Vis-Á-Vis Indo-Nepal Relations

Nature and destiny have put India and Nepal so close to each other that it is difficult to find a parallel example of two independent and sovereign countries which have so much multidimensional and involved relationship in common. In geographical terms, Nepal is a northward extension on the Indo Gangetic plain. The two countries share a common environment and landscape. Nepal situated on the southern - slopes of the Himalayas separates Tibetan region of China from the Indian sub-continent. It shares its border with India on three sides. Hence it has strategic importance and occupies a significant position in relation to India’s security and defence system in the north. At the same time, Nepal is a landlocked country which has posed serious limitations to its efforts economic, mobilization and development. India alone provides sea route to Nepal. It has enhanced Nepal’s economic dependence on its neighbour to a very considerable extent. In fact, Nepal’s economy is inextricably attached to the Indian economy. India and its relation with Nepal goes a long way and it is filled with cooperation and mutual understanding. Both countries have established many feats by following diplomacy and many approaches to it. Treaties like Peace & Friendship Treaty, 1950; financial aid to Nepal after 2015 earthquake, Nepal citizens serving in the Indian army, free movement of citizens across borders and many more such unique aspects that are not present anywhere else between two countries. But as always, thorns are always present in a relationship. India and Nepal have some border issues that has stretched for quite a long time without any resolve. India's latest diplomatic row with Nepal erupted on May 8 when New Delhi announced the inauguration of a Himalayan road link that passes through the disputed area of Kalapani. According to experts, with India engaged in the Galway Valley against China, the cartographic war between India and Nepal can further deteriorate the security of its borders in the North. In the backdrop of a de facto border dispute between India and China-the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a frontier that remains unmarked, there is a further barrier to that. However, the ruling Communist Party government in Nepal has approached China in recent years for investment and better connectivity, which worries India. Amid the tensions, the second in six months over Kalapani and the most intense bilateral dispute since the unofficial blockade in 2015, observers at each side have begun calling on Kalapani to pursue a diplomatic solution. A diplomatic solution is the way out and forward is believed by both sides, analysts, think tanks as well as political leaders and hence this paper studies the different approaches to diplomacy and applies them in the context of Indo-Nepal bilateral relations, thus making an argument and logically reasoning out the best diplomatic ways and approaches to take in the future.