Four major challenges in modern diplomacy: How the specialist diplomatic hierarchy can help

Abstract The 21st century has been accompanied by significant global changes that confound traditional diplomacy. This article focuses on modern diplomacy and the four main challenge areas it faces. These challenges necessitate diplomatic adaptation to remain relevant and effective. To achieve this modernization, the author suggests the implementation of a newly created hierarchy for the selection, training, deployment, ranking, and promotion of a more specialized diplomatic corps. This process is envisioned to occur within four streams of specialization, each with its own type of expert diplomat. This new diplomatic tool is called the Specialist Diplomatic Hierarchy (SDH).