In conclusion, the discussion between old and new diplomacy is often uncertain. Sofer criticizes the discussion as both "simplistic and inaccurate"(1988:195);Nicholson,early in the debate,stressed that diplomatic principles and methods had not fundamentally changed but rather adopted to an altered political environment (1939:57). Wight not only dismisses the notions of old and new diplomacy,but raises the fundamental question of the exclusiveness of the concept of diplomacy (1992:181).