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DIPLOMACY (CONTINUED):Diplomatic Procedures & Practices, Functions of Diplomacy

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International Relations-PSC 201
VU
LESSON 11
DIPLOMACY (CONTINUED)
Instruments of Diplomacy
Most nation-states maintain state departments of Foreign Affairs or a Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign
office officials include career diplomats and political diplomats appointed by home governments.
Ambassadors head foreign missions and serve as the personal representative of the home state in host
country (they can be career diplomats or political appointees).
Councilors of embassies rank second to the ambassador and are career diplomats.
Secretaries, with first, second and third rankings are mid-career officials implementing foreign policies of
their home countries.
Attaches are junior career or non-career personnel focusing on specific areas (commercial, agricultural,
naval, press attaches are common).
Diplomatic Procedures & Practices
Presentation of credentials and assuming charge in host country involves interaction with host
governments.
Agreation: involves presenting credentials of diplomatic envoys, which are then approved by host countries
where they are to be appointed.
Diplomatic missions and personnel enjoy certain immunities and privileges like the rights of
extraterritoriality and inviolability. Home states can dismiss diplomats or they can be declared persona-non-
grata by host countries, due to different reasons, including rising tensions between the two states in
question.
Functions of Diplomacy
Diplomatic functions include reporting socio-cultural, economic and political conditions of the host country
to the home country for formulating diplomatic strategies and formulating foreign policies.
Negotiating includes transmission of messages between foreign ministries of host and home states and the
pursuit of agreements by compromise and direct contact.
Diplomatic Prerequisites
Diplomacy must be divested of crusading spirit. Those who try to achieve higher cause become impractical
and impede negotiations. Instead it is necessary that foreign policy objectives must be defined in terms of
national interest and supported by adequate power, to enable diplomats to negotiate effectively.
Diplomats must be able to realize the objectives and interests of other nations as well. In turn, nations must
be willing to show flexibility on issues not vital to them or else diplomacy will be in vain.
Diplomatic recognition is perhaps the most important factor in determining whether a nation is an
independent state. Receiving recognition has long been difficult, even for countries which are fully
sovereign. For many decades after becoming independent, even many of the closest allies of the Republic of
Netherlands refused to grant it full recognition.
Today there are a number of independent entities without widespread diplomatic recognition, most notably
the Republic of China. Almost all nations do not officially recognize the ROC's existence on Taiwan, but
rather retain informal links. The United States, for instance, maintains relations through de facto embassies
known as the American Institute of Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representation Office.
Informal diplomacy has been used for centuries to communicate between powers. Most diplomats work to
recruit figures in other nations who might be able to give informal access to a county's leadership.
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International Relations-PSC 201
VU
In some situations, such as between the US and China a large amount of diplomacy is done through semi-
formal channels using inter-locus such as academic members of think-tanks. This occurs in situations where
governments wish to express intentions or to suggest methods of resolving a diplomatic situation, but do
not wish to express a formal position.
Relevant Vocabulary
Prerequisite: requirement or precondition
Divest: disassociate from or deny
Impede: obstruct or hinder
Transmission: to broadcast or transmit
Compromise: conciliation, negotiation
Suggested Readings
Students are advised to read the following chapters to develop a better understanding of the various
principals highlighted in this hand-out:
Chapter 4 in `"A Study of International Relations" by Dr. Sultan Khan.
Internet Resources
In addition to reading from the textbook, please visit the following web-pages for this lecture, which
provide useful and interesting information:
Diplomacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy
Table of Contents:
  1. WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND WHAT IS ITS RELEVANCE?
  2. APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THEORIES IN IR
  3. APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:Traditional Approach
  4. THE NATION-STATE SYSTEM:Further Evolution of Nation-State
  5. THE NATION STATE SYSTEM: BASIC FEATURES OF A NATION-STATE
  6. NATIONAL INTEREST:Criteria for Defining National Interest
  7. NATIONAL INTEREST:Variations in National Interest, Relevant Vocabulary
  8. BALANCE OF POWER (BOP):BoP from a historical perspective
  9. BALANCE OF POWER (CONTINUED):Degree of Polarization, Functions of BoP
  10. DIPLOMACY:How Diplomacy Functions, Traditional Versus Modern Diplomacy
  11. DIPLOMACY (CONTINUED):Diplomatic Procedures & Practices, Functions of Diplomacy
  12. COLONIALISM, NEO-COLONIALISM & IMPERIALISM:Judging Colonization
  13. COLONIALISM, NEO-COLONIALISM & IMPERIALISM:Types of Neo-Colonialism
  14. COLONIALISM, NEO-COLONIALISM & IMPERIALISM:Objectives of Imperialism
  15. NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER:Criticism of IEO, NIEO Activities
  16. NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER:Prerequisites for the NIEO
  17. NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT:Origin of NAM, NAM’s Institutional Structure
  18. NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT (CONTINUED):Cairo Summit, Egypt - 1964
  19. NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT:Criticism of NAM, NAM and Pakistan
  20. THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS - INTRODUCING THE COLD WAR PHENOMENON
  21. THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS (CONTINUED):Truman Doctrine, Marshal Plan
  22. THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS (CONTINUED):End of the Cold War
  23. DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL:History of Disarmament
  24. DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL (CONTINUED):Other Disarmament Efforts
  25. THE RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
  26. THE RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (CONTINUED)
  27. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:Need for IGOs, Categorizing IGOs
  28. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (CONTINUED):United Nations, Criticism of the UN
  29. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (CONTINUED):European Union, World Bank
  30. THE ROLE OF DECISION MAKING IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
  31. DECISION MAKING (CONTINUED):Rational Actor Model, Group Politics Model
  32. SYSTEMS APPROACH TO IR:Underlying Assumptions, Elements of the System
  33. SYSTEMS BASED APPROACH (CONTINUED) – DISTINCT SYSTEMS IN IR
  34. LIBERALISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY:Neoliberalism
  35. LIBERALISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY (CONTINUED):Liberalism vs. Social Democracy
  36. INTEGRATION IN IR:Preconditions for Integration, Assessing Integration
  37. GLOBALIZATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS:Advocates of Globalization
  38. THE GLOBAL DIVIDE:World Social Forum, Can the Global Divide Be Bridged?
  39. FOCUS ON FOREIGN INVESTMENTS:Pro-poor Foreign Investments
  40. CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION:Components of a Conflict
  41. CONFLICT RESOLUTION:Creative response, Appropriate assertiveness
  42. THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:Global Concern for the Environment
  43. THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:Environmental Concerns and IR, Some Other Issues
  44. HOW IR DIFFER FROM DOMESTIC POLITICS?:Strategies for altering state behavior
  45. CHANGE AND IR:Continuity in IR, Causality and counterfactuals, IR in a nutshell