Diplomat

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For other uses, see Diplomat (disambiguation).
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with one or more
other states or international organisations. The main functions of diplomats are:
representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state;
initiation and facilitation of strategic agreements; treaties and conventions; promotion of
information; trade and commerce; technology; and friendly relations. Seasoned
diplomats of international repute are used in international organisations (e.g. United
Nations) as well as multinational companies for their experience in management and
negotiating skills. Diplomats are members of foreign services and diplomatic corps of
various nations of the world.
Diplomats are the oldest form of any of the foreign policy institutions of the state,
predating by centuries foreign ministers and ministerial offices. They usually have
diplomatic immunity.

Contents
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1 Etymology

2 Career diplomats and political appointees

3 Diplomatic ranks

4 Function
o 4.1 Advocacy
o 4.2 Negotiation

5 Training

6 Status and public image

7 Psychology and loyalty

8 References

9 External links

Etymology[edit]
Diplomat is derived from the Greek (diplmts), the holder of a diploma
(a folded paper, literally a "folding"), referring in this case not to an educational
certificate but to a diplomat's letters of accreditation, which enable him or her to carry
out duties on behalf of one country or institution within the jurisdiction of another
country or institution.

Career diplomats and political appointees[edit]

Though any person can be appointed by a state's national government to conduct said
state's relations with other states or international organisations, a number of states
maintain an institutionalised group of career diplomatsthat is, public servants with a
steady professional connection to the country's foreign ministry. The term career
diplomat is used world-wide[1][2][3][4][5][6][2][7][8] in opposition to political appointees (that is,
people from any other professional backgrounds who may equally be designated by an
official government to act as diplomats abroad).[9][10] While officially posted to an
embassy or delegation in a foreign country or accredited to an international
organisation, both career diplomats and political appointees enjoy the same diplomatic
immunities.

Diplomatic ranks[edit]
Main article: Diplomatic rank
Whether being a career diplomat or a political appointee, every diplomat, while posted
abroad, will be classified in one of the ranks of diplomats (secretary, counselor, minister,
ambassador, envoy, or charg d'affaires) as regulated by international law (namely, by
the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961).
Diplomats can be contrasted with consuls and attachs, who represent their state in a
number of administrative ways, but who don't have the diplomat's political functions.

Function[edit]
Diplomats in posts collect and report information that could affect national interests,
often with advice about how the home-country government should respond. Then, once
any policy response has been decided in the home country's capital, posts bear major
responsibility for implementing it. Diplomats have the job of conveying, in the most
persuasive way possible, the views of the home government to the governments to
which they are accredited and, in doing so, of trying to convince those governments to
act in ways that suit home-country interests. In this way, diplomats are part of the
beginning and the end of each loop in the continuous process through which foreign
policy develops.
In general, it has become harder for diplomats to act autonomously. Diplomats have to
seize secure communication systems, emails, and mobile telephones can be tracked
down and instruct the most reclusive head of mission. The same technology in reverse

gives diplomats the capacity for more immediate input about the policy-making
processes in the home capital.
Secure email has transformed the contact between diplomats and the ministry. It is less
likely to leak, and enables more personal contact than the formal cablegram, with its
wide distribution and impersonal style.

Advocacy[edit]
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The home country will usually send instructions to a diplomatic post on what foreign
policy goals to pursue, but decisions on tactics who needs to be influenced, what will
best persuade them, who are potential allies and adversaries, and how it can be done are for the diplomats overseas to make.
In this operation, the intelligence, integrity, cultural understanding, and energy of
individual diplomats become critical. If competent, they will have developed
relationships grounded in trust and mutual understanding with influential members of
the country in which they are accredited. They will have worked hard to understand the
motives, thought patterns and culture of the other side.

Negotiation[edit]
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The diplomat should be an excellent negotiator but, above all, a catalyst for peace and
understanding between peoples. The diplomat's principal role is to foster peaceful
relations between states. This role takes on heightened importance if war breaks out.
Negotiation must necessarily continue but within significantly altered contexts.

Training[edit]
Most career diplomats have university degrees in international relations, political
science, economics, or law.[11]

Status and public image[edit]

Diplomats have generally been considered members of an exclusive and prestigious
profession. The public image of diplomats has been described as "a caricature of
pinstriped men gliding their way around a never-ending global cocktail party".[12] J. W.
Burton has noted that "despite the absence of any specific professional training,

diplomacy has a high professional status, due perhaps to a degree of secrecy and
mystery that its practitioners self-consciously promote."[13] The state supports the high
status, privileges, and self-esteem of its diplomats in order to support its own
international status and position.
The high regard for diplomats is also due to most countries' conspicuous selection of
diplomats, with regard to their professionalism and ability to behave according to a
certain etiquette, in order to effectively promote their interests. Also, international law
grants diplomats extensive privileges and immunities, which further distinguishes the
diplomat from the status of an ordinary citizen.

Psychology and loyalty[edit]

Further information: Clientitis
While posted overseas, there is a danger that diplomats may become disconnected from
their own country and culture. Sir Harold Nicolson acknowledged that diplomats can
become "denationalised, internationalised and therefore dehydrated, an elegant empty
husk".[14]