College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education2014/2015 – 2016/2017

POLI 212

Introduction to International

Politics

Session 3- Diplomacy in International Relations

Lecturer: Dr. Bossman E. Asarebossasare@gmail.com/beasare@ug.edu.gh

Session Overview

– Overview

In this session students will be introduced to diplomacy

Students will understand the different types of diplomacy

We will also look at the embassies and high commissions

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Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Topic One: Diplomacy

• Topic Two: Diplomatic Missions

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Reading List

• Bossman E. Asare, 2016. International Politics: The Beginner’s Guide- Updated and Expanded, Digibooks, Ghana. Read chapter 1

• Charles W. Kegley Jr. and Shannon L. Blanton, 2010. World Politics: Trend and Transformation, Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. Read chapter 1

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DIPLOMACY Topic One

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DIPLOMACY

• States in the global system interact on a number of levels. In themidst of wars and other conflicts they still try to engage indiscussions and negotiations. Diplomacy is one of the centralmeans used by countries to interact with one another.

• Diplomacy primarily means the practice and process ofconducting negotiations, holding discussions and meetingsbetween accredited representatives of countries andintergovernmental organizations. Those who engage indiplomacy are called diplomats.

• In a number of countries, there are two main ways to become adiplomat. There are career diplomats and those diplomatsappointed by politicians. Career diplomats are those who workwith the departments or ministries of foreign affairs of theircountries and they rise through the ranks to become diplomats.

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DIPLOMACY (Contd.)

• Those appointed by politicians often change with a change ofgovernment, but career diplomats rarely change with a change ofgovernment.

• In many countries, to become a career foreign service officer ordiplomat, one has to complete a bachelor’s degree and passcompetitive examinations and/or interviews.

• Diplomats enjoy diplomatic privileges in the countries where theyare stationed.

• These privileges are referred to as diplomatic immunity.• Diplomatic immunity means the privileges diplomats enjoy on the

job.• Some of the privileges are that, diplomats are immune from

criminal prosecution at their duty posts and they are recognized atimportant functions in the countries they serve.

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DIPLOMACY (Contd.)

• Nonetheless, diplomats can be stripped of their immunity whenthey do things considered unacceptable by the countries wherethey are working and, at times, too by their own governments.

• Some of these can be engaging in espionage activities. This is whendiplomats spy on the countries where they are working and send areport to their home governments that these countries, forinstance, are developing new weapons or engaging in certainactivities that will affect the international community negatively,among others.

• Once countries get to know that diplomats have sent reports likethese outside, they can issue statements indicating that they do notwant the diplomats in their countries anymore. The term used forthis in international relations is persona non grata.

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DIPLOMACY (Contd.)

• Persona non grata means the diplomat is not welcome in the country of duty. Persona grata means the diplomat is welcome in the country.

• Other criminal activities such as money laundering and murder by diplomats could also lead to them being stripped of their immunity.

• Diplomats can also be stripped of their immunities by their home governments especially when they do things abroad considered unacceptable by their countries.

• A typical example is when they give certain important information about their countries to other countries.

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DIPLOMACY (Contd.)

• In diplomacy, once a country declares that the envoys ordiplomats from other countries are unwelcome, thosecountries often respond by declaring that some of theirdiplomats are also unwelcome in their countries.

• During the presidency of George W. Bush in the United Statesin 2006, Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, expelled aUS diplomat (John Correa, a naval attaché to the US Embassyin Venezuela) and the US responded swiftly by declaring thatJeny Figueredo Fias (the chief of staff to the VenezuelanAmbassador in the US) was persona non grata and she wasgiven 72 hours to leave the country.

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Types of Diplomacy

There are several types of diplomacy:

• Standard diplomacy involves the interactions between governments andintergovernmental organizations at the highest levels. Usually you have presidentsor other senior officials of countries and intergovernmental organizations engagingin discussions directed at addressing common problems or promotinginternational understanding between the parties involved in the discussions.

• Bilateral diplomacy is the kind of diplomacy between only two countries. Forinstance, when accredited representatives or diplomats from Ghana engage indiscussions or negotiations with their counterparts in Nigeria or Sierra Leone, thisis bilateral diplomacy, because only two countries are involved.

• Multilateral diplomacy involves at least three countries engaging in diplomacy.This means those engaged in this diplomacy could be as many as all the countriesin the world. With this type of diplomacy, the representatives of the countriesengaged in diplomacy are from different regions of the world. You are going tohave some countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and others involved inmultilateral diplomacy.

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Types of Diplomacy (Contd.)

• Regional diplomacy is a type of multilateral diplomacy thattakes place in a particular region of the world. The differencebetween regional diplomacy and multilateral diplomacy isthat those involved in the latter come from different regionsof the world, and for the former, the diplomats are from oneor a particular region of the world.

• So when three or four representatives of countries from Africameet to discuss issues on African unity, trade in Africa andother topics, this becomes regional diplomacy because all therepresentatives are from a particular region of the world,which is Africa. Similarly, when members of the EuropeanUnion or the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)hold discussions, it becomes regional diplomacy.

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Types of Diplomacy (Contd.)

• Public diplomacy is concerned with the various strategies and waysused by countries and intergovernmental organizations tocommunicate directly to people of other countries rather than thepoliticians and the senior officials of countries. In public diplomacy,countries and intergovernmental organizations can use people whoserve in official capacities or in unofficial capacities.

• The United Nations and its specialized agencies have usedindividuals like Angelina Jolie and Mia Farrow (HollywoodActresses), Wycliffe Jean (Musician), and George Oppong Weah(former world soccer player of the year) in public diplomacy and asGoodwill Ambassadors. Countries and intergovernmentalorganizations at times use movie stars and well-known athletes inpublic diplomacy. These stars often promote the good image oftheir countries and champion programs that are consideredimportant by countries and intergovernmental organizations.

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Types of Diplomacy (Contd.)

• Other types of diplomacy are gunboat, coercive and shuttle. Shuttlediplomacy is where a third party or country serves as a mediator between twoparties who do not want to sit down and talk with each other. The job of thediplomat is to shuttle between the two parties to get them to normalizerelationship. There have been instances where the United States and otherintergovernmental organizations have sent diplomats to the Middle East tospeak to Israeli government officials and Palestinian officials separately.

• The main objective of this type of diplomacy is to get the two parties on thediscussion table and to restore diplomatic relations between them. Gunboatdiplomacy is when countries display their military might in the pursuance oftheir foreign policy. Here countries tell those countries that are the focus oftheir foreign policies that if they do not follow certain directives, they wouldbe attacked.

• This is a direct threat and countries are expected to comply in order to avoidany military intervention. This type of diplomacy was widely used by the greatpowers before World War II and during the Cold War. The United States’military interventions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, respectivelyfit this type of diplomacy.

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Types of Diplomacy (Contd.)

• Coercive diplomacy is when countries threaten orforce other countries to follow certain foreign policydirectives.

• Unlike gunboat diplomacy, where military power isdisplayed so that parties or countries that do notyield are attacked, with coercive diplomacy, countriesare more likely to impose economic sanctions ratherthan military intervention. Military intervention isusually a last resort in coercive diplomacy.

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Sample questions

• Identify and explain any three types of diplomacy.

• Discuss any two importance of diplomacy.

• What are diplomatic privileges?

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DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS Topic Two

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Diplomatic Missions

• Diplomatic missions are a group of people from one country who workin another country on behalf of their country. Countries that aremembers of the United Nations have diplomatic missions to the UNcalled Permanent Mission to the UN. Diplomatic missions are typicallycalled Embassies or High Commissions.

• The Embassies and High Commissions are pretty much the same thing.The main difference is that, the High Commission is a diplomaticmission from a Commonwealth country to another Commonwealthcountry. Ghana, Britain, India, Canada, Nigeria, Australia, and Kenya areall members of the Commonwealth. The diplomatic mission fromanyone of these countries to the other becomes a High Commission.

• The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization made up of54 independent countries. Most of these countries were once coloniesof the British Empire.

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Diplomatic Missions (Contd.)

• The Embassy is when the diplomatic mission is from a Commonwealthcountry to a country that is not a member of the Commonwealth, or whenthe diplomatic mission is from a country that is not a member of theCommonwealth to another country that is not a member of theCommonwealth.

• The United States of America is not a member of the Commonwealth, sothe diplomatic missions from the United States to Ghana and vice versaare Embassies. In the same way, both France and Italy are not members ofthe Commonwealth, the diplomatic missions between the two countriesare Embassies.

• The head of the High Commission is the High Commissioner, and the headof the Embassy is the Ambassador. Vatican City also has diplomats calledApostolic Nuncios or Papal Nuncios. These diplomats represent the Popeand Vatican City in other countries and regions of the world.

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Diplomatic Ranks

• Apart from the rank of Ambassador/High Commissioner,diplomats of the ranks of Envoy Extraordinary and MinisterPlenipotentiary (simply Envoy), Minister Resident, and Chargéd'affaires (literally charged with the affairs), can also head themissions in the absence of the ambassador or the highcommissioner.

• These ranks follow the ambassador/high commissioner inorder. This means the rank of chargé d'affaires is the lowestdiplomatic rank and the ambassador/high commissioner is thehighest.

• Some countries refer to their ambassadors as AmbassadorExtraordinary and Plenipotentiary. The plenipotentiary meansthe diplomat has the full authority to represent his or hergovernment in other countries.

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Functions of the Embassy/High Commission

Diplomatic missions perform some functions in the country where they work:

• One of these functions is consular services. Here, diplomatic missionsissue visas to those who want to visit their countries. The section of theEmbassy that issues the visa is the Consulate or Consular Section. Attimes, this office will be in the same building as the Embassy or the HighCommission. It is also possible for the Consulate to be in a differentbuilding.

• Embassies or High Commissions give information to their homegovernments. This information could range from political development(democracy, transparency in public management, human rights violations,corruption), economic development (per capita income, gross domesticproduct (GDP), private sector participation in the economy, interest rates,and etc.) to social development (literacy and numeracy rates, access toquality healthcare and housing, road infrastructure, and etc.). A numberof countries require their diplomatic missions to submit such reports onregular basis to inform the policies of their governments.

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Functions of the Embassy/High Commission (Contd.)

• Cultural and educational exchange programs also featureprominently in the activities of diplomatic missions. Usually, themissions have specific offices responsible for cultural andeducational exchange programs so that those interested in suchprograms can get the relevant information.

• In Ghana, for instance, we have a number of international studentson educational and cultural exchange activities in our publicuniversities who came to the country largely through collaborationsinvolving Ghana’s diplomatic missions in their countries,educational and cultural institutions in Ghana, and institutions intheir countries.

• United States’ diplomatic missions in almost all countries havepublic affairs sections or departments that give information topeople who want to study in the United States and other relevantinformation about the US.

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Functions of the Embassy/High Commission (Contd.)

• Moreover, diplomatic missions sign agreements on behalf of theircountries. These agreements can involve a number of issues, such asfinancial assistance (loans or grants), technical assistance, capacitybuilding for some professionals, and several others. In most instances,these agreements should be signed by presidents or prime ministers andbecause they have a lot of domestic commitments, at times, they allowthe heads or senior officials of their diplomatic missions to sign on behalfof their countries.

• Some diplomatic missions also sponsor programs in the countries wherethey are located. These are more often than not diplomatic missions fromrich countries. In Ghana, as a quintessential case, diplomatic missionsfrom Canada, France, Britain, the United States, Germany, theNetherlands, and Denmark have been known to financially and technicallysupport a number of programs.

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Consulates in International Relations

• As far as diplomatic missions are concerned, some countries also havewhat is called Consulates.

• According to international law, diplomatic missions can only be located inthe capital cities of countries. However, some countries are too large thatthe Embassy or the High Commission in the capital city cannot attend toall the people who want to do business or acquire some vital information.As a result of this, diplomatic missions (or the home countries of themissions) set up offices in other parts of the countries so that those officescan attend to the needs of the people in these areas. These offices areknown as Consulates.

• For example, countries like the United States of America, India and thePeoples Republic of China (hereafter China) are so large that havingEmbassies in Washington, District of Columbia (DC), New Delhi andBeijing, respectively, will not be able to attend to the many people living indifferent parts of these countries. Based on this, a citizen in Los Angeles(about 1000 miles from Washington, DC) who wants to travel to Ghanawill be required to go to Washington, DC for the visa to go to Ghana.

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Consulates

• For the reason that it is difficult for those living far away fromthe capital cities to access the services of the diplomaticmissions, this necessitates the setting up of Consulates.Although Ghana’s Embassy in the United States is located inWashington, DC, we have Consulates in New York City,Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles to serveGhanaians in the United States, United States’ citizens, andnationals of other countries living outside the Washington, DCarea.

• According to the website of the Ghana Embassy inWashington, DC, consular services are performed atWashington, DC and New York City. This means those who willcontact the other Consulates will be assisted to contact theoffices in Washington, DC and New York City.

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Consulates (Contd.)

• Another meaning of the Consulate is that, due to several factors including financial, even rich countries do not have Embassies or High Commissions in all countries of the world.

• What countries do is that they will have the Embassy or the High Commission in one country, out of say three or four countries, in a particular region of the world, but neighboring countries will have Consulates.

• For instance, the Embassy or High Commission may be in Ghana, but Togo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast will have Consulates. The implication here is that, people who want visas to travel to countries where they do not have Embassies in their countries will have to apply for visas through the Consulates. The officials of the Consulates will then have to send the visa applications to the nearest Embassy or High Commission so that visas can be issued to applicants.

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Sample questions

• What are the two meanings of consulates in diplomatic relations?

• Describe any three functions of the embassy.

• What is the meaning of Diplomatic Mission?

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Conclusion of Session Three

• This session has looked at diplomacy in international relations.

• We have discussed the various types of diplomacy, the meaning of diplomacy, and the distinction between the embassy and the high commission.

• The session has also explored the diplomatic missions against the backdrop of their functions and consulates in diplomatic relations.

• I am certain you are now conversant with Diplomacy.

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References

• Bossman E. Asare, 2016. International Politics: The Beginner’s Guide- Updated and Expanded, Digibooks, Ghana.

• Charles W. Kegley Jr. and Shannon L. Blanton, 2010. World Politics: Trend and Transformation, Wadsworth: CengageLearning.

• Art, Robert (2007) Coercive Diplomacy, in Robert Art and Robert Jervis, International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues (8th edition). Pearson Longman, New York, USA.

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