Professional paper
FOREIGN POLICY OF THE DUBROVNIK REPUBLIC (EXAMPLE OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DIPLOMATIC SKILL)
Svjetlan Berković
; Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Foreign policy and diplomatic skills played a key role in the survival and
development of the Dubrovnik Republic for more than four and a half centuries.
Throughout the period, the Dubrovnik Republic had foreign-policy sovereignty,
which was manifest in the fact that it autonomously decided upon
its relations with other states (including recognition of other states), signed
international contracts, and established and maintained diplomatic and consular
relations. Through timely awareness of the advantages of their geopolitical
position and through their orientation towards the sea, the people of Dubrovnik
entered into numerous international political and trade relations, both
with countries in their continental background and with countries throughout,
and beyond, the Mediterranean. They were able to assess and utilize such geopolitical
and other relevant characteristics wisely and skilfully in the defence
of their independence, sovereignty and economic growth, resorting almost
exclusively to diplomatic means and diplomatic skill. The Dubrovnik foreign
policy was based on the principle of remaining neutral in international conflicts
and of stressing its position of the last Christian enclave in south-eastern
Europe. As a small country with no military force, Dubrovnik managed to
survive by seeking protection of powerful states, such as the Ugric-Croatian
Kingdom, the Pope, the Spanish King and, finally, Turkey. In spite of the
fact that first the Ugric-Croatian Kingdom, and then Turkey, provided it with
“supreme protection”, the Dubrovnik Republic succeeded in establishing and
preserving for centuries all relevant components of state sovereignty.
Keywords
Dubrovnik Republic; foreign policy; international cooperation; diplomatic-consular activity
Hrčak ID:
55178
URI
Publication date:
12.4.2010.
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