It is the contention of this article that general rules of diplomatic conduct have been neglected and to a dangerous extent even abandoned; that democracy is ill-equipped to face Soviet diplomacy effectively; and that democracy has failed to exploit new diplomatic opportunities among the nations of Latin America, Africa and Asia. In order to present this thesis more fully—and to defend it—three aspects of modern diplomacy are offered for consideration: one, its general rules; two, the relative strengths and weaknesses of a democracy's diplomatic methods vis-a-vis Soviet diplomatic methods; and three, the Western powers' diplomatic opportunities toward the non-Communist world.