Buddhist Philosophy in the Practice of Diplomacy

Abstract

Contemporary diplomacy is facing systemic decline. The proliferation of powerful non-state actors, the dominance of coercive strategies, and the repeated failure of peace negotiations collectively indicate not a crisis of diplomatic skill but a crisis of diplomatic foundation. This paper argues that the failure of contemporary diplomacy is ontological rooted in the false premise that states and actors make decisions in isolation, their interests fundamentally separate from one another. This premise produces zero-sum thinking, coercive choices, and the treatment of negotiation as an instrument of narrow self-interest. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, this paper proposes that the doctrine of Pratītyasamutpāda or dependent origination dismantles this false premise at its root by establishing radical interdependence as the fundamental nature of reality. From this ontological foundation, the paper applies the ethical framework of Panchsheel across two levels individual diplomatic conduct and state foreign policy as a philosophically coherent and historically grounded reorientation of diplomacy away from coercion and toward sustainable peace.