Question

How do countries come to diplomatic agreements—and what happens when two nations cannot reach a diplomatic agreement?

Answer 1

To come to a diplomatic agreement, two countries need to hold negotiations.

They need to agree on the place and the format of the negotiations (who will talk with whom and where). If the two countries were on bad terms, they might choose a neutral ground. For instance, a third country may offer itself as a mediator and its territory as a neutral ground for negotiations.

Then, the negotiations start. Usually the principal negotiators discuss the most important details and their aides work out the smaller details of the agreement. Then a preliminary agreement is concluded. After consultations with two governments which may entail several modifications, a final agreement is signed. It comes into force when ratified by both countries.

If two countries are unable to come to agreement, they have several options:

Continue to look for an agreement;
Ignore each other or treat each other with hostility, imposing sanctions and the like;
Start a war.
The third solution is less popular now than it was traditionally but it is not yet obsolete.

Answer 2

Many more meetings take place until they reach the agreement....if the issue is war related then sometimes a nation might intentionally not reach a diplomatic agreement and the ICJ has to interfere