International Relations

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between accredited persons representing groups or nations. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through professional diplomats with regard to issue of trade and war. International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians.

There are two major forms of diplomacy. The simplest and the oldest is bilateral diplomacy, between two states. Bilateral diplomacy is still common with many treaties between two states (e.g. the Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement) and it is the main concern of embassies and state visits.

The other form of diplomacy is multilateral diplomacy involving many states. Formal multilateral diplomacy is normally dated to the Congress of Vienna in the 19^th century. Since then, multilateralism has grown in importance. Today most trade treaties, such the WTO, arms control agreements or environmental agreements are multilateral. The United Nations is the most important institution of multilateral diplomacy.

Diplomatic Protocol is the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of states. A protocol is a rule which guides how an activity should by performed, especially in the field of diplomacy. In the diplomatic and government fields protocols are often unwritten guidelines. Protocol specifies appropriate respect to a head of state, ranking diplomats in chronological order of their accreditation at court, and so on.

Diplomatic Immunity. Diplomats stationed in a foreign country enjoy privileges known as diplomatic immunity: they are not subject to local civil and criminal laws, they are free to communicate with their government, and the embassy buildings and grounds are treated as the territory of their state. A country can expel a foreign diplomat whom it considers undesirable by declaring the diplomat persona non grata.

Diplomats, foreign services, diplomatic missions

A diplomat is someone involved in diplomacy between two countries; the collective term for a group of diplomats from a single country is a diplomatic mission.  Since the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomats have had diplomatic immunity which protects them from being persecuted or prosecuted while on a diplomatic mission.

In times of hostility diplomats are often withdrawn for reasons of personal safety, and in some cases diplomats are withdrawn when the host country is friendly but there is a threat from internal dissidents. Ambassadors and other diplomats are also sometimes recalled by their home countries as a statement of displeasure with the country they have been serving in.

An ambassador is the official representative of one state to another or to an international organization such as the United Nations. The host country typically allows the ambassador and any consul  control of specific territory called an embassy or consulate respectively. The territory, staff and even vehicles used by the mission are usually afforded diplomatic immunity to most laws of the host country.

Representatives of the mission in cities other than the capital are called consuls.

Previously, ambassadors were known as minister, e.g. "Minister for France."

The term diplomatic rank is not defined, but is used in this context to describe the range of appointments in a diplomatic mission which by tradition entitle the holders to full diplomatic privileges and immunities. Until the early 19^th century, each European nation had its own system of diplomatic rank. In an attempt to resolve the problem, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 formally established an international system of diplomatic ranks. The four ranks within the system were:

1.     Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, or simply Ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador.

2.     Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, or simply Envoy. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy would be called a Legation.

3.     Minister Resident, or simply Minister. A diplomatic mission headed by a minister resident would also be called a Legation.

4.     Chargé d´Affaires, or simply Chargé. As the French title suggests, a chargé d´Affaires would be in charge of an embassy’s or a legation’s  affaires in the (usually temporary) absence of more senior diplomat.

The foreign service. A foreign service is an organization of trained career officials who help implement the foreign policy of their government by representing their country in its relations with other countries or with international organizations. A foreign service is typically part of a foreign ministry (the Department of State in the United States). Most major foreign services maintain an embassy (in head the Ambassador), consulates, and trade and cultural centers in each country with which they have diplomatic relations.

The president (in countries where the president is the head of state) appoints the ambassadors, their tenure may be limited to five or ten years. An ambassador is the most senior diplomatic rank. Of the four diplomatic ranks, only the ambassador represents the Head of state in other country. Originally only the ambassador was entitled to use the honorary title “His/Her Excellency.”

The Ambassador is assisted by a staff of diplomats and attaches who have various functions. The political and economic sections report on developments in the host country. The consular section assists its nationals living or traveling in the host country with commercial and legal matters and issues visas to local residents who wish to travel to its country. The cultural section promotes the culture of its own country.

The terminology of diplomacy is often obscure and misleading, and the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations usefully defined the staff of a diplomatic mission: Head of the mission, members of the mission, members of the staff of the mission, members of the diplomatic staff, diplomatic agent, members of the administrative and technical staff, members of the service staff and private servant.

A diplomatic mission consists of a diplomatic representative duly nominated by one state and accepted by another, together with his staff and established in the diplomatic capital of the state. Head (or Acting Head) of mission is the most responsible representative, which is only one person who may represents another state. He may, and does, delegate various functions to his staff. He is entirely responsible for its activities, his staff, strictly speaking, have no direct representative function and merely assist their Head of States and government. The collective body of all diplomats resident in a particular country is called a diplomatic corps.

The function of a mission are reflected in its structure, and the following pattern remains valid even if, as may happen in some instances. They are all performed by a single person.

?After-reading activities

1 Comprehension questions

1 What are the forms of diplomacy?

2 What are the most common types of multilateral agreements?

3 What is diplomatic protocol?

4 What is diplomatic immunity?

5 What is the difference between withdrawing and expelling diplomats?

6 What is diplomatic mission?

7 Under what circumstances can diplomats be recalled?

8 What are the basic diplomatic ranks?

9 What is the difference between Foreign Service and diplomatic mission?

10 What rank can act as the representative of the head of state (f.ex. president) in other country?

Work with the dictionary and consult the text to do tasks 2 and 3

2 Translate  words and word combinations  from English into  Ukrainian and use them in your own sentences

   To conduct negotiations; accredited person; professional diplomat; treaty; bilateral; embassy; multilateralism; environmental agreement; etiquette; civil and criminal law; to expel; persona non grata; persecute; prosecute; threat; host country; appointment; ambassador; implement policy; maintain; to be entitled to; diplomatic corps

3 Translate from Ukrainian into English

Двостороння дипломатія; багатосторонній; дипломатичне представництво; дипломатичні відносини; дипломатичний корпус; дипломатична недоторканість; дипломатичний етикет; глава дипломатичного представництва; член дипломатичного представництва; голова держави; надзвичайний і повноважний посол; надзвичайний і повноважний посланник; міністр-резидент; повірений у справах; консул; консульство; дипломатична служба; Державний департамент (Міністерство закордонних справ США)

4 Complete the sentences with words or phrases from the list

          treaties; expel; immunity; negotiation; diplomatic interactions; professional diplomats; foreign ministry; bilateral; embassy; diplomatic missions; hostilities

1.     Thus politics at international level can be seen to depend on compromise and ______, rather than upon authoritative decision making by representative organs.

2.     Governments set these experts alongside the ____  ____ (whose expertise lies in dealing with other governments) both at home and also at the negotiating table.

3.     First, there are the ‘traditional’ ____      ____ between states – things like trade negotiations, ______ treaties, decisions to go to war or attempts to try to avoid war.

4.     For ex-colonial states a resident ____ in the capital of the former colonial power is the most obvious need.

5.     The ______ gave them the right to enter into alliances with foreign powers and to declare war.

6.     A recognizable system of diplomacy (including the _____ of envoys) can be seen in the dealings of the ancient Greeks.

7.     In fifteenth century Italy saw the formation of a recognizably modern system of permanent resident ____   ________ that was to develop through the French system in the middle of the twentieth century to the permanent diplomatic conferences of the League and the UN.

8.     Even where members of an embassy staff are deemed by a state to be guilty of espionage in violation of the accepted rules, the universal custom is still to ______ them rather than to arrest them, and the occasional exceptions do not disprove the validity of the rule.

9.     The second war in Europe was a delayed bout of the first catastrophe, which was largely responsible for the more immediate causes of the resumption of ________.

10. There is therefore a constant correspondence and discussion between embassies abroad and the ____ _______ at home about the misconceptions by foreign reporters, and on ways of making the information services of the ministry more capable of ensuring a favourable picture of the country and its government.

5 Say if the following statements are true according to the text.

1 Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between accredited persons representing individuals.

2 International treaties are usually first negotiated by diplomats and then are discussed by politicians.

3 Bilateral diplomacy is the oldest form of diplomacy.

4 multilateral diplomacy involves 2 states.

5 A protocol is a set of rules in diplomacy.

6 Diplomats stationed in a foreign country are not subject to local laws.

7 Diplomatic immunity existed in Ancient Greece.

8 Country can withdraw  diplomats for reasons of their safety.

9 Secretaries represent states in the UN.

10 A foreign service is typically part of a foreign ministry.

 Write an essay on diplomacy. Give your arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ diplomacy in XXI century.

Diplomacy as an institution

Diplomacy should be seen as an institution, understood broadly as a relatively stable collection of social practices consisting of easily recognized roles coupled with underlying norms and a set of rules or conventions defining appropriate behavior for, and governing relations among, occupants of these roles. These norms and rules prescribe behavioral roles, constrain activity, and shape expectations. Institutions may or may not involve organizations, or groups of individuals who pursue a set of collective purposes. Organizations are entities that normally possess physical locations, offices, personnel, equipment and budgets. According to this distinction, the market is an institution, while the firm is an organization. Marriage is an institution, the family its organizational manifestation. By the same token, diplomacy is an institution and foreign ministries are organizations.

This distinction is not always upheld, and the terms “institution” and “organization” are frequently used interchangeably. However, diplomacy illustrates the importance of keeping the two terms apart. Whereas diplomacy as an institution, as we have seen, has quite a long history, the organization we today associate with diplomacy, the foreign ministry with its diplomatic corps, is of recent origin. Only in 1626 did Richelieu institute the first foreign ministry in the modern sense, and England established its Foreign Office as late as 1782. Generally speaking, organizations, in contrast to institutions, are specifically located in time and space. Hence, we conceive of diplomacy as an institution at the level of international society as a whole, foreign ministries as organizations at the level of individual states.

The key concepts in understanding of institutions are “norms,” “rules” and “roles.” Norms “represent the customary, implicit end of the authoritative social regulation of behaviour,” and rules “the more specific, explicit end.” Rules, prescribing appropriate behavior in particular settings, may be more or less precise, formal and authoritative. In any case, they provide a framework of shared expectations that facilitates purposive and predictable action among the occupants of certain roles, in our case diplomatic agents. Thus, the institution of diplomacy has supplied norms, rules and conventions for individuals assuming diplomatic roles throughout the ages, even in the absence of such organizational frameworks as chanceries or foreign ministries.

Diplomacy is an institution representing a response to a common problem of living separately and wanting to do so, while having to conduct relations with others.  Exchange – be it of goods, people, information or services – seems to be central to the origins of diplomacy. Whenever and wherever there are polities with distinct identities, who see the need to establish exchange relations of some kind and realize their interdependence, diplomatic rules and roles are likely to emerge. This can be seen as an instance of the common notion that institutions reduce transaction costs.

The fundamental idea behind the notion of transaction costs is that the execution of an economic transaction involves not only production costs, but also costs for arranging and enforcing a contract. The process of drafting, planning and negotiating a contract is costly, as is the process of solving contractual disputes. Institutions, then, fulfill the function of reducing transaction costs. While developed in relation to economic

phenomena, the notion of transaction costs is neither by nature nor by definition restricted to economic demands. In the political realm as well, international institutions, including diplomacy, perform the valuable function of reducing the costs of legitimate transactions, while increasing the costs of illegitimate ones, and of reducing uncertainty.

Students of institutions throughout the ages have made a distinction between “evolved” and “designed” institutions. It dates back to the debate among Ancient Greeks over “nature” and “convention.” Institutions, according to this distinction, are either constructed by humans to suit their needs or arise spontaneously, sometimes as the unintended consequences of self-interested human action. This distinction need not be understood in either-or terms: institutions may be the result of the inextricable interplay of the two different processes of development. Diplomacy is a case in point. Diplomatic norms, rules and roles represent a mix of spontaneous and designed elements. The common wisdom is that the spontaneous elements were more apparent in the early development of the institution, and human design more prevalent in recent history; but the interplay presumably figured from the very outset.

         Another distinction can be made between “primary” and “secondary” institutions. Primary international institutions are durable and recognized practices that are constitutive of both polities and international society, whereas secondary institutions regulate practices among polities once legitimate actors are established, the basic rules are in place, and the game of international relations is underway. Diplomacy can be seen as a primary institution, and the various issue-based regulative arrangements analyzed by regime theorists can be said to represent secondary institutions. This is in line with Reus-Smit’s treatment of diplomacy as a “fundamental” institution, from which issue specific regimes can be derived. However, the distinction between primary and secondary institutions is not always easy to uphold, and different authors suggest varying lists of primary international institutions.

         Kalevi Holsti makes a related distinction between “foundational” and “procedural” institutions, where foundational ones define and give privileged status to certain actors and procedural ones regulate interactions and transactions between actors. He places diplomacy among the procedural rather than foundational institutions, which include sovereignty and territoriality.

Our conclusion from this conceptual and classificatory confusion is that diplomacy represents a hybrid institution, insofar that it encompasses foundational as well as procedural elements and includes traits of primary as well as secondary institutions. The foundational or constitutive aspects of diplomacy have to do with its role in the reproduction of international society and the recognition of legitimate polities; at the same time, the institution of diplomacy throughout the ages has provided more or less detailed rules of appropriate procedures in the intercourse between these polities.

?After-reading activities

1 Comprehension questions

1 What are the components of diplomacy as institution?

2 How can organizations be defined?

3 What is the difference between institution and organization? Can you give examples of institutions and organizations?

4 Where and when was the first foreign ministry established?

5 What are the key concepts of institutions? Can you define each of them?

6 What are the functions of institutions?

7 What are the two traditional types of institutions?

8 What is the difference between “primary” and “secondary” institutions?

9 What type of institution does diplomacy belong to?

10 What is the role of diplomacy?

Work with the dictionary and consult the text to do tasks 2 and 3

2 Translate  words and word combinations  from English into  Ukrainian and use them in your own sentences

Institution; appropriate; behavioral; entity; by the same token; interchangeably; conceive; authoritative; purposive; origin; to emerge; transaction; distinction; to date back to; inextricable; primary; secondary; to uphold 

3 Translate from Ukrainian into English

         Організація, установа; норма; правило; конвенція; сутність; дипломатичний корпус;  "канцелярія" (група  працівників англійського посольства за кордоном, що займаються політичними питаннями); Міністерство закордонних справ (Велика Британія); суперечка; законний; первинний; суверенітет; визнання; держава

4 Complete the sentences with words or phrases from the list

Foreign Office; legitimate; polities; institutions; sovereignty; chancery; organizations; illegitimate; intercourse; conventions

1.           If the trend continues, other states will be obliged to accept that where they were formerly able to conduct a bilateral and multilateral diplomatic dialogue with more or less independent European states, they now need to negotiate on many subjects at different levels and with different interlocutors, including nongovernmental _________.

2.           Independent states deal bilaterally with each other and meet together in multilateral _________ not only because they have interests in common, but also because they have interests which conflict.

3.           The second task of producing a coherent picture of the issues and developments abroad on which decisions are needed, falls on the other major innovation of European diplomatic society, the ministry of external affairs (variously called the ___  _______, the State Department and so on), and therefore on that part of the diplomatic service which at any given moment is stationed at home.

4.           Where the continued existence of independent states is accepted as probable and desirable, and the need for a diplomatic dialogue and for some management of international society is fully recognized, there are also certain criticisms of the existing mechanisms of diplomacy—of the forms and ____________ practiced today or at any rate yesterday.

5.           His envoys were backed up by an effective _____ which served as an embryonic ministry of foreign affairs.

6.           As ideas of right and justice change, what was regarded as ______ and proper comes to seem _____: that is, unacceptable and unjust.  

7.           In circumstances where there is no authority above the _________ of states to govern the clash of rival demands, then power restrained by prudence is the final argument of those governments capable of compelling the ones which cannot otherwise be persuaded.

8.           While such claims are nonsense, they do illustrate the way in which diplomatic ________ between two powers, especially great powers with many interests, develops its own techniques and practices.

9.           The book The Limits of Independence author examines the diplomatic dialogue with states that are nominally fully independent but in practice only partially so, as well as with quasi-independent __________ that do not enjoy nominal independence.

5 Say if the following statements are true according to the text.

1 Diplomacy is an institution.

2 Foreign ministry is an institution.

3 Terms “institution” and “organization” are very distinct and are never used interchangeably.

4 The first foreign ministry was established in 1782.

5 Foreign ministries operate at the level of states.

6 Norms are social regulation of behaviour.

7 The institution of family has supplied norms, rules and conventions for individuals assuming diplomatic roles throughout the ages.

8 Diplomacy is rooted in exchange.

9 In the political realm diplomacy increases the costs of legitimate transactions.

10 There are 3 types of institutions.