DIPLOMATIC TRAINING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT A NEW CHALLENGE FOR THE HUMAN RESOURCES SPECIALISTS IN DIPLOMACY

With the end of the cold war, the high level of certainty and predictability in international and national environments has been replaced with dynamic international relations. Diplomats are often called upon to deal with situations for which they cannot prepare in advance, for which they cannot find instructions in diplomatic manuals and they need to adapt quickly and to find the best solution analysing the impact of their decision in local, national and international context. Knowledge management offers great potential in the areas of knowledge transfer and training. It is important to keep in mind that diplomacy both uses and produces knowledge. Diplomats use knowledge in order to perform their function; simultaneously they produce new knowledge. In this sense, diplomacy is "knowledge perpetum mobile". In this paper we aim to provide a comprehensive view about the topic of knowledge management in diplomacy and the new role played by the diplomatic education in this context. Firstly, we provide a short presentation of knowledge management. Next, we consider specific features of diplomacy that limit the way knowledge management can be implemented. Then, we try to present a short evolution of training in diplomacy, the new methods of diplomatic training and what it will be the role of the European Diplomatic Training Initiative. Finally, we consider some important questions about the role of the diplomatic training in diplomacy career and we finish with a short presentation of the training system in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.