Summit diplomacy refers to face-to-face meetings between the leaders of sovereign nations — presidents, prime ministers, or monarchs — to negotiate high-stakes disputes or establish the direction of a bilateral relationship. Unlike working-level talks between ministers or envoys, summits carry symbolic weight and can shift policy rapidly because the leaders themselves make commitments. Summit diplomacy dates at least to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and gained Cold War prominence through Nixon-Brezhnev meetings and the Camp David Accords. Critics note that summits can produce headline-grabbing announcements without binding enforcement mechanisms, while supporters argue that only leaders have the authority to break diplomatic logjams that lower-level officials cannot resolve.