“DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, DIPLOMACY & DIPLOMAT”

Diplomatic History, Diplomacy & Diplomat

Sayed Shah Guloon

National University of Modern Languages

Date: October16, 2018

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 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY:-

It deals with the history of international relations between states. Diplomatic history can be

different from international relations in that the former can concern itself with the foreign policy

of one state while the latter deals with relations between two or more states. Diplomatic history

tends to be more concerned with the history of diplomacy, but international relations concern

more with current events and creating a model intended to shed explanatory light on international

politics.

i. Diplomatic relation: Diplomatic relations refers to the customary diplomatic intercourse

between nations. It involves permanent contact and communication between sovereign countries.

As a part of the diplomatic relations two countries send diplomats to work in each other’s

country and to deal with each other formally.

ii. International relations: The study of the relations of states with each other and

with international organizations and certain sub national entities (e.g., bureaucracies, political

parties, and interest groups). It is related to a number of other academic disciplines, including

political science, geography, history, economics, law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy.

iii. International law: It is also called public international law or law of nations, the body

of legal rules, norms, and standards that apply between sovereign states and other entities that are

legally recognized as international actors. The term was coined by the English

philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832).

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iv. Foreign policy: General objectives that guide the activities and relationships of one state

in its interactions with other states. The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic

considerations, the policies or behavior of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical

designs. Leopold von Ranke emphasized the primacy of geography and external threats in

shaping foreign policy, but later writers emphasized domestic factors. Diplomacy is the tool of

foreign policy, and war, alliances, and international trade may all be manifestations of it.

Diplomatic tasks:-

According to the Vienna Convention, the functions of a diplomatic mission include; (1) the
representation of the sending state in the host state at a level beyond the merely social and
ceremonial; (2) the protection within the host state of the interests of the sending state and its
nationals, including their property and shares in firms; (3) the negotiation and signing of
agreements with the host state when authorized; (4) the reporting and gathering of information
by all lawful means on conditions and developments in the host country for the sending
government; and (5) the promotion of friendly relations between the two states and the furthering
of their economic, commercial, cultural, and scientific relations. Diplomatic missions also
provide public services for their nationals, including acting as a notary public, providing
electoral registration, issuing passports and papers for military conscription, referring injured or
sick nationals to local physicians and lawyers, and ensuring nondiscriminatory treatment for
those charged with or imprisoned for crimes.

Diplomatic agreements:-

If a negotiation succeeds, the result is embodied in an international instrument, of which there

are several types. The most solemn is a treaty, a written agreement between states that is binding
on the parties under international law and analogous to a contract in civil law. Treaties are
registered at the UN and may be bilateral or multilateral; international organizations also
conclude treaties both with individual states and with each other.

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Agreements are usually bilateral, not multilateral. Less formal and permanent than treaties, they
deal with narrow, often technical topics. They are negotiated between governments or
government departments, though sometimes nongovernmental entities are involved, as banks are
in debt-rescheduling agreements. The United States has long used executive agreements to
preserve secrecy and circumvent the ratification process.
A protocol prolongs, amends, supplements, or supersedes an existing instrument. It may contain
details pertaining to the application of an agreement, an optional arrangement extending an
obligatory convention, or a technical instrument as an annex to a general agreement. It may
substitute for an agreement or an exchange of notes, which can be used to record a bilateral
agreement or its modification.

International instruments have proliferated since World War II; between 1945 and 1965, there
were about 2,500 multilateral treaties, more than in the previous 350 years. As the countries of
the world have become more interdependent, this trend has continued. Most multilateral
agreements are negotiated by conferences. The negotiations are numerous and often protracted,
sometimes producing multivolume treaties.

 DIPLOMACY:-

The established method of influencing the decisions and behavior of foreign governments and

peoples through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence. Modern

diplomatic practices are a product of the post-Renaissance European state system. Historically,

diplomacy meant the conduct of official (usually bilateral) relations between sovereign states.

The term diplomacy is derived via French from the ancient Greek diplōma, composed of diplo,

meaning “folded in two,” and the suffix -ma, meaning “an object.” The folded document

conferred a privilege—often a permit to travel—on the bearer, and the term came to denote

documents through which princes granted such favours. Later it applied to all solemn documents

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issued by chancelleries, especially those containing agreements between sovereigns. Diplomacy

later became identified with international relations, and the direct tie to documents lapsed (except

in diplomatic, which is the science of authenticating old official documents). In the 18th century

the French term diplomate (“diplomat” or “diplomatist”) came to refer to a person authorized to

negotiate on behalf of a state.

This article discusses the nature of diplomacy, its history, and the ways in which modern

diplomacy is conducted, including the selection and training of diplomats and the organization of

diplomatic bodies. For a discussion of the legal rules governing diplomatic negotiation and the

preparation of treaties and other agreements.

Nature And Purpose

Diplomacy is often confused with foreign policy, but the terms are not synonymous. Diplomacy

is the chief, but not the only, instrument of foreign policy, which is set by political leaders,

though diplomats (in addition to military and intelligence officers) may advise them. Foreign

policy establishes goals, prescribes strategies, and sets the broad tactics to be used in their

accomplishment. It may employ secret agents, subversion, war, or other forms of violence as

well as diplomacy to achieve its objectives. Diplomacy is the principal substitute for the use of

force or underhanded means in statecraft; it is how comprehensive national power is applied to

the peaceful adjustment of differences between states. It may be coercive (i.e., backed by the

threat to apply punitive measures or to use force) but is overtly nonviolent. Its primary tools are

international dialogue and negotiation, primarily conducted by accredited envoys (a term derived

from the French envoyé, meaning “one who is sent”) and other political leaders. Unlike foreign

policy, which generally is enunciated publicly, most diplomacy is conducted in confidence,

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though both the fact that it is in progress and its results are almost always made public in

contemporary international relations.

The purpose of foreign policy is to further a state’s interests, which are derived

from geography, history, economics, and the distribution of international power. Safeguarding

national independence, security, and integrity—territorial, political, economic, and moral—is

viewed as a country’s primary obligation, followed by preserving a wide freedom of action for

the state. The political leaders, traditionally of sovereign states, who devise foreign policy pursue

what they perceive to be the national interest, adjusting national policies to changes in external

conditions and technology. Primary responsibility for supervising the execution of policy may lie

with the head of state or government, a cabinet or a nominally

nongovernmental collective leadership, the staff of the country’s leader, or a minister who

presides over the foreign ministry, directs policy execution, supervises the ministry’s officials,

and instructs the country’s diplomats abroad.

The purpose of diplomacy is to strengthen the state, nation, or organization it serves in relation to

others by advancing the interests in its charge. To this end, diplomatic activity endeavours to

maximize a group’s advantages without the risk and expense of using force and preferably

without causing resentment. It habitually, but not invariably, strives to preserve peace;

diplomacy is strongly inclined toward negotiation to achieve agreements and resolve issues

between states. Even in times of peace, diplomacy may involve coercive threats of economic or

other punitive measures or demonstrations of the capability to impose unilateral solutions to

disputes by the application of military power. However, diplomacy normally seeks to develop

goodwill toward the state it represents, nurturing relations with foreign states and peoples that

will ensure their cooperation or—failing that—their neutrality.

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When diplomacy fails, war may ensue; however, diplomacy is useful even during war. It

conducts the passages from protest to menace, dialogue to negotiation, ultimatum to reprisal, and

war to peace and reconciliation with other states. Diplomacy builds and tends the coalitions that

deter or make war. It disrupts the alliances of enemies and sustains the passivity of potentially

hostile powers. It contrives war’s termination, and it forms, strengthens, and sustains the peace

that follows conflict. Over the long term, diplomacy strives to build an international

order conducive to the nonviolent resolution of disputes and expanded cooperation between

states.

Diplomats are the primary—but far from the only—practitioners of diplomacy. They are

specialists in carrying messages and negotiating adjustments in relations and the resolution of

quarrels between states and peoples. Their weapons are words, backed by the power of the state

or organization they represent. Diplomats help leaders to understand the attitudes and actions of

foreigners and to develop strategies and tactics that will shape the behaviour of foreigners,

especially foreign governments. The wise use of diplomats is a key to successful foreign policy.

 WHAT IS DIPLOMAT?

A diplomat is someone who is appointed by a nation state to represent and protect that nation's

interests abroad. The four ranks of diplomats are determined by international law, and

include ambassadors, envoys, ministers, and charged affaires. In modern diplomacy there are a

number of ranks below ambassador. These ranks now rarely show a mission's importance, but

rather show the diplomat's seniority within their own nation's diplomatic career ladder.

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This modern ranking system follows a similar, but not exactly parallel, pattern in different

countries, and is as follows:

 Ambassador (High Commissioner in Commonwealth missions); Ambassador at large

 Minister

 Minister-Counselor

 Counselor

 First Secretary

 Second Secretary

 Third Secretary

 Attache

 Assistant Attache

What does a Diplomat do?

A diplomat forms and maintains international relations with regards to issues of peace and war,

trade and economics, culture, the environment, and human rights, and are also the ones who

negotiate treaties and international agreements before they are officially endorsed by any

politicians. A diplomat also has the ongoing responsibility of collecting and reporting

information that could affect national interests, and is often in a good place to give advice about

how the home country should react. He or she should also do their utmost to represent the views

of the home government to the government of the country in which they are posted, and

convince these governments to act in ways that the home government would prefer. In this way,

diplomats are an integral part of the foreign policy formulation process.

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What is the workplace of a Diplomat like?

While some diplomats remain in their home countries, the majority are posted to overseas

embassies and consulates in various places across the globe, but a diplomat's work will take them

outside of the office. Diplomats may travel to the UN Offices in Geneva or headquarters in New

York, or to the homes or offices of heads of state.

Commonly, a diplomat will only spend a period of approximately three years in one country, but

this can vary depending on the availability of vacancies. Most diplomats will serve in at least one

developing country, where there are higher rates of disease, harsh climates, or social unrest.

Some home comforts or amenities might become very hard to come by, and family or spouses

who accompany diplomats are not often entitled to work.

However, diplomats are often considered members of an exclusive and prestigious occupation,

and a state will often give a lot of support to the high status, privileges and self-esteem of its

diplomats in order to maintain its own international image. Since diplomats are very carefully

selected, they are held in this high regard by members of the community. International law grants

diplomats special privileges and immunities.

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