The business of the world has changed almost beyond recognition over the course of the last 100 years. At the turn of the last century, Japan was the first country outside Europe to break into the ranks of the great powers. Yet even until World War II, international affairs were largely Eurocentric in composition, concern and agenda.

There are many more actors on the world stage today, and their patterns of interaction are far more complex. In 1950, the soldier and the diplomat could still be said to symbolize the two lead actors. In 2000, the international peacekeeper, financier and NGO activist have noisily clambered aboard as well -- not to mention the terrorist, the drug smuggler and the currency speculator. The national bureaucrat must work alongside the international civil servant.

Diplomacy is undergoing revolutionary change in consequence. For example, last year in Seattle an odd alliance, including environmental and human-rights activists, organized labor and cultural and economic nationalists, helped to defeat efforts to begin a new round of world trade talks. Trade may be global, but politics is still local, and the alliances of convenience forged to frustrate the World Trade Organization proved more effective than the standard model of diplomatic negotiation among governments.