Economic diplomacy as a symbiosis of science and politics

The article defines the very essence of economic diplomacy as a science of international economic relations and a tool of the foreign economic policy of the state, which is a set of nonmilitary practical measures, techniques and methods (with a predominance of economic over political ones) used taking into account the specific conditions and nature of tasks. The author also considers its main elements such as objects, entities and functions, as well as the place of the economic diplomacy in the system of international relations. This makes it possible to identify the economic diplomacy as a separate area of the economic science, which is characterized by subordinate categories (derived from such concepts as economy and economic system on the one hand, and international relations and diplomacy on the other hand). The criteria of economic diplomacy is belonging to the field of international economic relations and foreign economic policy of the state; negotiations as the main tool of creation of interstate economic relations by peaceful means; availability of the institution of public servants and diplomats, who directly negotiate and perform all other functions stipulated in the Articles of Association of the diplomatic service of each state. As follows from the detailed analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that the economic diplomacy turns into a specific direction of economic knowledge and is a kind of symbiosis of the economic science and political practice. From a practical standpoint, the economic diplomacy is not just an alternative to economic warfare. It does not end with the outbreak of such a war, because in the modern context diplomatic methods are widely used for the needs of the economic struggle (often camouflaging it, especially in the context of a “hybrid war”). The relationship between politics and economics is determined by the rule that can be called the “law of strong coffee”: the more significant economic component of politics, the stronger and more stable it is (just as the coffee beverage is stronger and thicker, the more ground coffee is in it). This is explained by the fact that economic interests are usually longer-term and transparent (that is, understandable and more credible), as well as based on mutual interests (under free competition). The classification of types of economic diplomacy (in particular, the importance of energy, environmental and food diplomacy as separate areas of the economic diplomacy) is considered and its role in the system of modern international economic relations is analyzed. Special attention is paid to the role of economic diplomacy in the context of globalization of the modern economy, as well as to the changes caused by modern globalization processes (in particular, in the field of information exchange), such as the emergence of “network diplomacy”.